The Joy of God’s Righteousness
Luke 1:46-55; Isaiah 11:2-9
One of the most powerful images from the storm last
week
Was the
image of the survivor tree in
I
don’t know if you heard the story but this tree
Was
one of the few survivors from the
When
the ice storm hit
They
told the story of a conservationist
Who
woke up at
And
was at the tree pounding
on it’s lower
branches so that
they would
not break
with
all the ice.
My initial reaction was:
“Why would anyone get up at that hour to pound
on a tree?”
But
as they told the story it made sense and resonated
With
the Isaiah story we read this morning.
This
The
shoot from the stump of the destruction
It
was more than a tree;
it was a
living symbol of hope.
And that’s how the people of
They
were the remnant, the shoot from the stump of Jesse,
After
the people had been exiled into
This
prophecy of Isaiah assured the people
That
if even a stump survived that there would be
New
life, and new hope for the people of God.
I
was traveling in
After
the hurricane that ravaged that country
And
is was amazed that where new fences
Had
been planted with young cut saplings
As
fence posts that they sprouted new growth.
That was the promise for the people of
The turmoil and struggle of being displaced and exiled.
There
would be new growth.
And
that new growth would have to grow straight.
The Isaiah text says “with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of
the earth…
Righteousness shall be the
belt around his waist
And faithfulness the belt around his loins.”
The challenge for the people of
Was
to be a righteous people,
And
that is the challenge for us today.
The
problem is, that there is fine line between
Being
a righteous people
And being self righteous.
The last part of the passage in Isaiah
grants us insight.
“The wolf shall live with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down
with the kid,
The calf and the
lion and the fatling together,
And a
little child shall lead them.”
This image, even though it has been
immortalized in the painting
Of
the Quaker artist, Edward Hicks, is an impossible image.
If
you really did put a wolf and a lamb together,
A
leopard and a kid, the wolf would eat the lamb
And
the leopard would eat the kid.
We
were traveling at a Zoo in
Natural
enemies in cages side by side and you could
Almost
read the mind of the wolves
who were next
to the deer.
And
they were not thinking that if the fence were gone
They
would live with or lie down with the deer.
They
were thinking that
they would eat
the deer.
So the dream of a society of people that
can demonstrate and live
The
righteousness of God is an “eschatological dream”.
That
means it is a dream that cannot be fulfilled
By
human means alone but rather
by the
intervention and the will of God.
And so when we read this Isaiah passage
from a Christian perspective
And
when we hear the phrase: “And a little
child shall lead them”\ we
think immediately and rightly of Jesus Christ.
The
righteousness that is spoken of in Isaiah 11
Is
not the righteousness of any one people,
Even
the chosen people of God but rather,
The
righteousness of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
Mary’s song The Magnificat, is the expression of that righteousness.
When
Mary sings her song
she is not
speaking of her own righteousness.
Instead she is singing with joy of
God’s righteousness.
“My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in
God
my savior for he has…
looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant…
shown strength in his arm…
scattered the proud…
brought down the powerful…
lifted up the lowly…
filled the hungry…”
Mary’s Magnificat is a great reminder to
all of us who
Minister
in Jesus’ name for the glory of God’s kingdom
By
the power of the Holy Spirit,
That
nothing we do or participate in is our own work. It is the work of God
who works upon us,
through us, around us
and sometimes
even in spite of us.
It is God’s righteousness not our own
that is around us like a belt.
That’s why we can talk about
righteousness on the Sunday of Advent
That
is designated with the theme of Joy.
It
is not a duty bound righteousness that
is around us.
It’s
not self righteousness that we impose on others.
It’s
not a righteousness that points out
the faults of others.
As Paul said in Corinthians:
“it doesn’t rejoice in the wrong,
but rejoices in the
right.”
It
is God’s righteousness that is revealed in Jesus,
The
babe born in a humble setting in
“and a little child
shall lead them”.
So during this Advent we receive the
call to righteousness
From the Prophet Isaiah and the Song of Mary.
It is a time to do the right thing for
the right reasons,
Not for fear of God but
because of Joy in Christ.
We
live right lives not because we are afraid of God
But
because we want to thank God
For
the love God has poured out in Christ.
We
seek to live right lives because it is the way
That
we grow straight and strong for God.
We are like the Psalmist who likens our
growth in God to a tree
Planted by a stream of water.
I
once lived by a huge 300 year old Ash Tree.
I
wondered how the tree had grown so large.
Was it
because the owners before me had taken
Good
care of the tree, and fertilized the tree,
And
put supports to make it grow straight.
No,
the reason the tree was so big and strong and straight
Was
that the roots of the tree were fed by a stream of water
And
that water was a constant source of nourishment
So
that the tree would grow strong and straight
And wide and healthy.
God’s love is the stream that nurtures
our lives
So that we might grow straight and strong for God.
And
for that we rejoice in God our savior.
Amen