This is the manuscript from the fifth and final movement of my congregations 2014 Lenten theme - God's A-gonna Trouble the Waters. We are exploring images of where God is at work in the waters of the Old Testament.
The first week we read the creation story of Genesis 1 - Creating Waters.
The second week we read the Noah story of Genesis 7 and 8 - Flood Waters.
The third week we read the Exodus story - Redeeming waters.
My sermon manuscript can be read here.
The fourth week we read Psalm 23 - Still Waters.
This week we explored Isaiah 35 Living Waters.
Isaiah 35:1-10
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Today we return to Isaiah, where we began the season of Lent five weeks ago. We marked the beginning of Lent that day with an ashen reminder of our own mortality. We told the truth about ourselves - we are creatures with numbered days. We are dust, or should I say, we are dirt, and to dirt we shall return.
Wrapped up in all the talk of dirt and death, we heard a word that evening from Isaiah about the power of water. We returned to the waters or perhaps God led us to the waters that day, as God always leads us to the renewing waters where we are made new creations by God. We heard a word about becoming watered gardens, and having springs break forth in the parched places of our lives. That is the power of God, to make waters break forth in parched places. As we have put it throughout this season of Lent - God’s A-Gonna trouble the waters.
God has indeed troubled the waters. Over the past several weeks we have heard stories about how God troubles the waters. We began with creation, with God’s spirit moving over the primordial waters of chaos, creating life that God called good. We moved on to the story of Noah and the flood waters, how God saw the world called good unravel into brokenness. The flood waters came crashing, cleansing the earth, the ark delivering Noah and family, God’s hope for the future, to safety.
Two weeks ago we encountered the waters of the Exodus, God’s redeeming waters for the people of Israel, held for so long in the clutches of slavery. God made a way through the waters, creating a people out of the chaos of slavery, out of the stronghold of death, to new life. Last week Pastor Casey led us to the still waters of the 23rd Psalm. “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” Sometimes God leads us to waters of refreshment and renewal.
Tonight we begin to bring our time of lent to a close. We have come to the edge of Holy Week, with the “Hosanna’s” of Palm Sunday just on the horizon. But before we get there we hear a promise of what’s to come. We get a glimpse of what God has in store for us. We hear the promise of how God will once again trouble the waters on our behalf. This promise is found in Isaiah - a fitting bookend to the story we heard five weeks ago.
Isaiah 35 sounds like rain on parched land, refreshing and full of hope - “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom…” As the lines unfold the images bring to mind a vision of new life breaking forth in a desolate place.
God is active and moving and the people are called to respond - “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.” The prophet calls the people to a state of readiness, their waiting is over. The phrase “those who are fearful of heart” has an interesting nuance in the Hebrew understanding. This phrase can also be translated to mean “ones whose hearts are racing.” The prophet calls out to those who hearts are racing - “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.”
This story from Isaiah was written in the darkness of exile. The racing hearts belonged to those who had known for too long what is was to live in the shadow of death. Held captive in Babylon, the people were torn from land, from family, from the temple, far from everything that gave them a sense of who they were. It was Egypt all over again. And the people longed for God to intervene.
Out of the darkness of exile, the clouds break and light begins to shine through. There is hope on the horizon. “Tell the ones whose hearts are racing - “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.” God is going to act once again in the midst of the people. A way will be made for their rescue. In the parched place of the exile, God will stir up the waters and make a way for the people to cross over into new life.
This story mirrors the Exodus. God will once again redeem the people. Life will break forth in the wilderness, the likes of which the world had never scene. Waters will break forth, streams will run in the desert. The haunts of jackals shall become swamps. The burning sands shall become life giving pools.
And in the midst of this budding oasis there shall be a highway for God’s people. This highway will be a Holy Way - God’s way - and it will be for the redeeming of God’s people. Just as God created a way through the waters of the Exodus, God will create a way in the wilderness. God will once again trouble the waters on the people’s behalf.
God will redeem the people. For the audience of this story, for the meta-narrative of scripture, this redeeming has economic and political implications. To redeem a person literally means to buy them out of slavery. The person redeemed is set free. Their standing in the community has changed. Out of the death of slavery God claims the people as God’s own - creating new life. This is what God has done for us through Christ.
Our baptism is a political event. God’s redeeming us marks us as a member of God’s kingdom. We are a redeemed people, bought out of the slavery of sin and death.
We are redeemed from the fallen powers of this world, not removed from them, but set free from them to do work among them on behalf of God. We are citizens of God’s kingdom first. This is a far greater mark on our identity than a driver’s license or passport or voter’s registration card. This citizenship defines who we are and how we engage the world. We are God’s redeemed people.
We are also a people who are familiar with parched places. We just have to walk outside to encounter parchedness. We are in the midst of a drought. For mouths and years we have pleaded for rain - for refreshment and hope. This is real for us, and also a metaphor for our lives. We know the parched places of sin. Of broken relationships. Of Sickness. Of Death. We know the places where our hearts race for hope and healing.
The reminder today, through these water stories, is that God is at work in the parched places. God moves on our behalf - has already claimed us as God’s own through the cross. God does God’s work in the parched places of our lives.
When our own hearts are racing in the parched places of our lives, the reminder of our redeeming by God comes like rain in the drought. This is our promise. Today and always. When our lives become worn out and dry through sin and brokenness, God promises to be there with the waters of healing. In the wilderness of sin and death, God promises to bring new life and make a way upon which we can cross. God claims us as members of God’s kingdom. God troubles the waters on our behalf, over and over meeting us when we are parched and in need.
So wade in the waters friends. That hymn that we have marked our time with here in Lent. Wade in the waters of God’s creating. Wade in the waters stirred up by God’s promise. Wade in the waters where God claims you. Now and forever.
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