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| Sunrise at Arches National Park |
After Elwood Blues picked up his brother Jake from the Joliet Prison, they set out on a “Mission from God.” This divinely authorized mission involved raising money to prevent the bank foreclosure on the Catholic orphanage where they grew up. Although their mission from God was a race against time, nothing, not even the Illinois State Police, which was authorized to use “all unnecessary violence to apprehend the Blues Brothers,” was going to stop them from saving their childhood home.
In our reading from Isaiah 49, a prophet commonly known as Second Isaiah, may face different kinds of obstacles than the Blues Brothers, but he also found himself on a mission from God. The prophet speaks to Jewish exiles living in Babylon, offering them hope, encouragement, and their own mission from God. In an earlier chapter, God tells the people: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” (Is 42:1).
In our reading this morning from Isaiah, the prophet, on whom God placed the Spirit so he might help “bring forth justice to the nations,” claims that God had called him and the nation of Israel to be a light to the nations. This call, according to the prophet, came while he was still in his “mother’s womb.” Not only did he receive this divine calling, but God also gifted him through the Spirit with a mouth like a sharp sword and made him like a polished arrow. So, he did not lack in any spiritual gifts he might need to fulfill his mission.
Now, the prophet doesn’t seem too excited about his prophetic calling, but then that was true of most prophets. Jeremiah claimed that God had called him to a prophetic ministry before his birth, and yet Jeremiah told God that he was but a boy who didn’t know how to speak. Nevertheless, despite Jeremiah’s protests, he went on to become an important prophet (Jer. 1:4-10). Then there’s Jonah, who ran the other way when God sent him to Ninevah.
The message Isaiah delivered to the people living in exile offered a word of encouragement to people who had lost their sense of purpose. Having lost their homes, their temple, and their homeland, they wondered whether the God who made a covenant with them had abandoned them. The prophet seems to have the same concern when he complains to God: “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.” Nevertheless, he then confessed that “my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.” He may have resisted his calling at first, but like Elroy and Jake, he knew that it’s not easy to say no to God.
Sometimes we might feel like this religion thing we’re engaged in involves laboring in vain. We might ask ourselves, what good does following Jesus do for me and for the world? After all, the world we live in seems to be in disarray. Things don’t seem to get better with time. We might not have the Illinois State Police and the Good Ole Boys chasing after us, but churches, families, and friends find themselves divided over politics and religion. While the United States might be observing the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year, many of us aren’t sure that our democracy is going to survive much longer.
I have a group of interfaith friends that gathers somewhat regularly over coffee to discuss the state of the world and the challenges facing our faith communities. My Muslim friend Amin once raised a good question. What good is it to believe in God and practice our faith? What difference does being devout mean in daily life? What benefit does it provide?
That is the question the exiles were asking. It’s the same question the author of Ecclesiastes raised when he declared:
Utter futility! —said Koheleth—
Utter Futility! All is futile!
What real value is there for a man
In all the gains he makes beneath the sun? (Eccl. 1:2-3 Tanakh).
Some translations use the word vanity, but “utter futility” seems like a good translation. If life seems utterly futile, what should we do? Should we follow the lead of the ancient Epicureans and embrace the motto of “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
The prophet may have felt like he had labored in vain, but God responded to the servant whom God called while he was still in his mother’s womb and commissioned him to bring Israel back to God. Here I’m using the New Living Translation:
5b The Lord has honored me,
and my God has given me strength.
6 He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me.
I will make you a light to the Gentiles,
and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Is. 49:5-6 NLT).
Restoring the people to their homeland was only the beginning of the servant’s mission from God. Once the people returned home, God would make them a light to the nations so that God’s word of salvation might spread to the ends of the earth. So, in a sense, what we see happening in our reading from Isaiah 49 is God renewing the covenant first made with Abraham and then through Moses, so that they might reclaim their sense of purpose as God’s people.
This morning we gather on the Second Sunday of Epiphany, which is a season of light. We also gather on Martin Luther King Weekend. It’s been more than fifty years since Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, and while his dream remains unfulfilled, his call for justice is still with us. So, although it may not seem possible at this moment, we can embrace King’s vision that “the arc of the moral universe is long, . . . it bends toward justice.” It is our calling as followers of Jesus to participate in the bending of that moral ark toward justice, even if this mission from God at times seems utterly futile. The good news is that God promises to walk with us along the way through the presence of the Holy Spirit, who gifts us with every spiritual gift.
The season of Epiphany begins with the baptism of Jesus, which inaugurates his ministry. According to Matthew’s Gospel, on the day John baptized Jesus, the heavens opened up, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, and God claimed him as the beloved Son of God. After that, Jesus went into the wilderness, faced down the devil, and then took up a ministry that ended with him hanging from a Roman Cross. However, when all seemed lost, God raised Jesus from the dead, after which the risen Jesus commissioned his disciples to go make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:16-20). In doing this, they would fulfill the mandate first given to the one we call Second Isaiah, the servant of God, who, along with Israel, was called to serve as a light to the nations. When Jesus gave his disciples this commission, he also promised to be with them always, to the end of the age. This calling, first given to Isaiah and the exiles and then taken up by Jesus’ earliest disciples, has been given to us as well. Yes, we too are called to be God’s lights to the nations, offering words of justice, of hope, of salvation, and God’s love to a hurting world.
When Jake and Elwood received their mission from God, they gathered up their old band and headed out in search of venues where they could earn the $5000 they needed to pay off the orphanage’s mortgage. They faced lots of challenges, including being chased by the Illinois State Police, who sought to arrest Elwood because he was driving with a suspended license due to his 116 parking tickets and 56 moving violations, along with a mystery woman who wanted to kill Jake, and the country western band they offended by trying to impersonate them. Despite the challenges, they would not be deterred! In the end, they got their money and paid off the mortgage at the very last moment.
So, what about us? What is our mission from God? What does God have in store for us?
Richard Ward suggests that “Epiphany is the season where the church finds its way again through confusion and uncertainty. Our mission is to become a ‘light to the nations’ by becoming agents of God’s order of compassionate justice.” [Feasting on the Word, p. 247].
If we’re going to join Jesus in shining a light into the darkness of this world by pursuing the common good, we’ll need to think outside the box and seek new ways to be present in the world as representatives of God’s realm. Since our identity is rooted in our relationship with the Living Christ, he serves as the foundation for our witness. That witness is rooted in the call of Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. This calling is mediated to us by the Spirit of God through God’s covenant people, the people of Israel. Our participation in this effort is due to our status as Abraham’s adopted children, who have been given grace through Jesus Christ by the God who is always faithful.
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
Tyrone Community Presbyterian Church
Tyrone Township, MI
Epiphany 2A
January 18, 2025
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