Do you have a member of your family that is the family storyteller? Someone
that can weave the story of their family’s traditions in such a colorful way, that one thinks that they actually are
there with those ancestors. In telling the family story, the storyteller’s
facial expressions change, their voice’s tone and cadence modulates, and they almost seem to take on the characteristics
of the story’s characters. These family storytellers, and the stories they
tell, are very important. These stories help us to move from the confines of
our present challenges, so to be able to remember and draw strength from the challenges of our ancestors.
In 1977 there was a made-for-TV mini-series titled “Roots.” “Roots”
told the story of Alex Haley, an African-American who had grown up hearing the stories about his ancestors—including
“the African” who first had come to America. Fascinated by these stories, Alex
Haley wanted to be able to hear the voice of his ancestor, “the African.” He
therefore researched African village customs and slave-trading ship records. Ultimately
he traveled to the village from which his ancestor, “the African” Kunta Kinte, had come. It seems that in 1767, at 15 years of age, Kunta Kinte, the son of a Mandinka warrior, had been captured
by slave traders and brought to America. The stories of Kunta Kinte’s struggles
to be free, as well as the struggles of his other ancestors, had been sustaining stories for his family.
The Jews in exile in Babylon also seemed
to have lost everything. The Babylonian armies had invaded their homeland, killing
anyone who resisted their power, as well as pillaging and looting homes and businesses alike.
Gone were their homes, their temple, and their beloved city of Jerusalem. The Babylon army then had enslaved the professional and skilled artisans. They then
had to walk “a trail of tears” to that foreign land. In their remembrance
of that difficult journey, they later wrote these words (Psalm 137): By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion. On the willows there, we
hung up our harps. For there our captors required of us song, and our tormentors’ mirth, saying, “Sing us one
of the song of Zion!”
Arriving at their new home in Babylon, they found
that they were living amidst a pagan culture with strange gods and even stranger customs. They told their stories of their
past glories to their children and grandchildren. Yet this new Babylon culture was an advanced, industrial, sophisticated, and winsome culture—a culture, which had given many of them
opportunities to build new businesses and to prosper economically. Their children
had grown up in this new culture, and they were impressed by its glitz and technology.
Some of them were buying into this new culture’s values and morals. Some of their children were taking in marriage Babylonian wives and husbands. Some of them were taking Babylonian names, worshiping the Babylonian gods, and trying
to blend in as Babylonians. At the same time, other parents recognized the corrupting
influence of the Babylonian culture on their children and grandchildren. They
therefore were concerned over how they would pass on to them their own faith tradition and values.
In the midst of this crisis, a new prophet spoke up. His writings are in
the Book of Isaiah, chapters 40-55. He is referred to it as “Second
Isaiah” or “the Isaiah of the Exile.” In contrast to earlier prophets that had condemned the peoples for their sins, and who had told them that
God was allowing them to be conquered as punishment—this new Prophet, Second Isaiah, was bringing a word of hope to
hopeless people.
Second Isaiah recognized that earthshaking international events were unfolding. Further, he recognized that God was
at work in the shaping of those events. He therefore spoke a word of redemption
to people who lived in despair—people who believed that their “glory days” were behind them—people
who were beaten in spirit—people who felt all “boxed in” by all the social and cultural forces that swirled
about them—people who felt that the forces beyond their control were overwhelming their lives.
In the reading for today from Isaiah 43, the prophet employed images of water: images of water as a barrier for travel,
and images of water sustaining thirsty travelers.
First, he spoke of water as a barrier to travelers. He was referring to
the crossing of the Red Sea in the Exodus story. He recalled for them how God had
driven back the waters of the Red Sea in opening up a path for the fleeing Hebrews, “a way in the sea, a path through mighty waters.” He recalled for them how God had drawn in Pharaoh’s troops so close to the escaping Hebrews,
so that the returning waters led the “chariot
and horse to their destruction.” He recalled how God in the Exodus
had fought for the Hebrews against seemingly overpowering Egyptian military odds, and how their enemy had been “snuffed out like a wick.”
At the same time, Isaiah knew that God was not a God that dwelled only in the past. Isaiah’s God was actively
shaping the present. Speaking on behalf of God, Isaiah therefore told the people
to, “stop dwelling on past events and
brooding over days gone by.” Isaiah
knew that his God was different from the Babylonian gods. In spectacular worship
services, the Babylonian people had praised their gods for their creation and ordering of the universe. However, Isaiah’s God not only had been active in the creation and ordering of the universe—Isaiah’s
God had continued to be active in changing the political landscape of their day. Isaiah’s
God was not to be found in nostalgia about how “things used to be.” Rather,
Isaiah’s God was to be found shaping the events of the present day toward creating a redemptive future.
God therefore
declared, “Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” God was telling
his people to wake up, smell the coffee, open their eyes, unstop their ears, and recognize what God was doing in the world. God was doing a “New Thing.” God had delivered their ancestors from
bondage to Egypt in the former days. Likewise,
God now was working through the pagan King Cyrus of Persia to free his people. The Exodus story was happening once again in their lives. Yet this time, God would use water to sustain his people on their journey.
For God declared that he would “provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the barren desert.” God would sustain them in their journey to freedom.
At the same time, something was required of the people. They had to be
open to God’s “new thing”
in their world. They had to be receptive of the new opportunities that God was
bringing about in their very lives. Many of the Hebrew people had taken advantage
of the opportunity that God was giving them, and they left Babylon for Palestine. Sadly, others could not accept that God might do a “new thing.”
Sadly, they chose to remain in Babylon and to become
Babylonians. As a result, they disappeared from history.
It is important for us to realize that when God told the people “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old…” God was not telling them
to forget their past. Rather, God was telling them to “reframe” their
past. God was telling them to allow their memory of God’s mighty acts in
the past to be an impetus for them being alert to God’s present activity. On
Easter morning, God was doing a “new
thing.” In his raising Jesus from the tomb, God reframed the past. Jesus was raised to new life, yet he still bore the wounds of his crucifixion. He bore those wounds—yet he bore them in a new body, a resurrected body. Likewise, in our celebration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper—we
are remembering God’s mighty acts of the past, and we are declaring that God is continuing to do “a new thing.”
Dr. David Livingstone was a great medical missionary to Africa in the
19th century. In lectures that he gave at the University
of Cambridge in 1857, he told of one of his mission trips into previously unexplored regions
of Africa. Livingstone began his lectures by describing the Kalahari Desert—a
land that contained no streams of water and in most years is void of any rainfall. Dr. Livingstone told his listeners that he had been able to witness to some tribes
that dwelled on the border of the great Kalahari Desert.
Dr. Livingstone also related that during his first worship service on the border of the great Kalahari Desert,
he had preached on the urgency of the tribal people accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior.
After that worship service, the Chief of the Bakwain tribe (Sechele), had asked Dr. Livingstone why his people had
not come sooner to proclaim the gospel to them? Livingstone replied to the Chief
that there were difficult geographical challenges that had faced missionaries. However, Dr. Livingston concluded that one
day the whole world would receive Christ as Lord.
The Chief then pointed to the great Kalahari Desert and said, “Will you ever get beyond that with the gospel? We, who are more
accustomed to thirst than you are, cannot cross that desert.” Dr.
Livingstone once again reiterated his belief that one day the whole world would come to know Christ. A few years afterwards, that Chief enabled Dr. Livingstone to cross the great Kalahari Desert. Also, the Chief
himself went further, and he preached the gospel to the tribes that lived beyond it.
God declared,
“Behold, I am doing a new thing…”
God still is calling you and me to wake up, smell the coffee, open our eyes, unstop our ears, and recognize the “new thing” that God is doing in
the world.
