What Shall I Cry?
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
December 4, 2005
Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15; Mark 1:1-8
Isaiah 40 1 ¶ Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 ¶ A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
6 ¶ A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.2 Peter 3 8 ¶ But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
11 ¶ Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
14 ¶ Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.Mark 1 1 ¶ The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
I. BEGINNING
Those of you who made it back from Thanksgiving break last week in time to come to worship services saw something out of the ordinary: me at a loss for words.
It happened at a perfect time of course: right during the benediction. There I was, standing right at the base of the chancel steps with hand raised in blessing and I couldn’t remember what to say. It was only the Apostle’s Benediction, the one I use most Sundays. I’ve only said it something like 250 times over the past three and half years, and I was unable to figure out how it went. It’s times like that where you are praying really hard inside your head: “God! What do I say? Help me out.” Well, I stammered my way through something resembling a benediction and went to the back of the chapel, red-faced to greet you all.
II. TEXT
I am gratified to read the same question arising in tonight’s Old Testament reading. It is not clear who is speaking. We are told simply: “A voice says, ‘Cry out!” And I said ‘What shall I cry?’”. Perhaps the voice is God and the “I” is the prophet. Perhaps the voice is a member of the Heavenly Court, and the “I” is another member. Perhaps some combination of the two.
This passage in the Book of Isaiah is separated from the chapter that comes before it by about 150 years. We don’t know who wrote the latter chapters of the Book of Isaiah, but most scholars believe it was someone other than Isaiah of Jerusalem, who wrote in the 8th Century BC in the time of King Hezekiah. The first 39 chapters of the Book of Isaiah contain the prophet’s warnings to the kings of Judah that unless the nation repents of its injustice and idolatry, it would suffer the same fate that the Northern Kingdom of Israel had suffered some years before: it would be destroyed by its enemies and its people carried off into exile. The last passages in chapter make warnings about Babylon.
And then a skip.
It is now nearly 150 years later. The Jews are in exile in Babylon, and another prophet, perhaps of the tradition or school of Isaiah, this “Second Isaiah” picks up his pen and writes:
¶ Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 ¶ A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
A promise of restoration. A promise of return. And of more than that: divine intervention. In order for the valleys to be lifted up and the mountains made low, we either need to wait for a couple billion years of erosion and plate tectonics, or we need divine intervention. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
And then a command from Heaven comes: “Cry out!” and we are left to ask, “What shall I cry?”
III. WHAT SHALL I CRY?
It seems a simple question on its surface. We have received a message of the coming glory of God—every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low. And we wonder at what we’re supposed to cry out. We’ve had a harder time answering that question than it at first would seem.
A. Evangelism
I had a friend in seminary who told me that the church he attended ended every worship service by saying to the congregation: “Now go out and be sure to spread the word!” And he used to wonder: what word is it that we’re supposed to be spreading? That we have a really good time here?
There’s a lot of that kind of confusion when it comes to churches sharing the gospel. There’s a lot of talk about sharing the gospel but not a lot of specification.
The word “evangelical” means ‘gospel based’. In Europe, it’s the word for ‘Protestant’—and usually describes churches that are for the most part liberal. In this country, evangelical generally means ‘conservative’ –it was chosen by churches back in the 20’s and 30’s to distinguish themselves from the fundamentalists.
In reality, all churches should be evangelical. Especially churches in the Wesleyan traditions, the Methodist denominations and our related denominations. That is, we should be about the business not only of social justice and compassionate ministry (which we’re good at), but also about sharing the good news and inviting people into relationship with God (which we’re not as good at).
But it’s not just the mainline denominations that are lacking when it comes to the evangelical message. It seems that for a great many of us, the question “What shall I cry?” is much harder to answer than we would have thought.
In fact, many churches might talk about the idea of sharing the message—as my friend’s church did—but never really be explicit about what that message is. Perhaps it’s because the church leadership assumes everyone knows what the message is. Perhaps it’s because the church leadership is not really sure how to articulate it.
B. The “Good News”
And indeed, the ways that some Christians have articulated the ‘good news’ doesn’t always sound like good news.
There’s the ‘gospel’ message that says, “Unless you think like us about the following theological/political/ideological issue you are damned.” That doesn’t sound like good news to me.
There’s the “Jesus is coming soon and then you’ll be sorry” version. That doesn’t sound like good news to me, either.
There’s the “We have all kinds of missions here to all different kinds of underserved communities, which one would you like to join?” version. That’s encouraging. But what is the good news, exactly? “We’re busy”?
None of these options really sounds like the kind of ‘good news’ you’d want to hear from a herald or messenger.
IV. THE GOOD NEWS
To be fair, the next thing we read in Isaiah doesn’t sound that promising either.
A. Isaiah 40:6-8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8
That’s not particularly encouraging. “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.” That’s a far cry from being compared to an oak or a redwood. Grass is temporal. Fleeting. The breath of God blows upon it and it withers. The breath of God blows upon the flowers and they fade. We are like fragile plants. When faced with the righteousness of God, we wither. We become as nothing.
Good news yet? Ah, but there is more.
B. Isaiah 40:9-11
The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep
Here, then is the good news: while the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of our God will stand forever. God is faithful. God’s promises are true.
“Get you up to a high mountain, O herald of good tidings to Zion,
Lift up your voice with strength, O herald of good tidings to Jerusalem,
Say to the cities of Judah: ‘Here is your God!’”
The message of the herald is that God is with us. God has come. Come to feed his flock like a shepherd, gathering the lams in his arms and carrying them in his bosom, gently leading the mother sheep.
The rest of the 40th chapter is full of descriptions of God’s awesomeness: “All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness”. This is after all the Lord of heaven and earth who is ruler of the universe: “Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? [that is, the stars]. He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.”
And this helps to make sense of everything. God is awesome and powerful. Creator of everything. Who names and numbers all the stars. To whom the nations are nothing. And yet…
God has made promises to the frail, fragile grass. To the flowers of the field, transient, impermanent, things. God comes to take such as those into her arms, to feed them, to care for them. As one eminent biblical scholar states: “The offer of comfort is not based on the suitability or qualification of the people but upon the resolve of God.” [1]
That, at long last, sounds like good news.
V. CONCLUSION
The good news that we are called to proclaim is that God is faithful to us and loves us unconditionally, without regard to our merit. We Christians have seen this love take on flesh and dwell in our midst, and offer itself up for our sake, in the person of Jesus. We have seen that love vindicated by the Resurrection. We have seen the first fruits of the kingdom: the beginning of the filling of the valleys. The beginning of the leveling of the mountains. We have seen the beginnings of the arrival of God in our midst. An arrival for whom we prepare a way in the wilderness, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
For this is the Good News: God loves us. Every one of us. As we are—though we be fragile grass of the field that withers when the breath of God comes upon it. That’s good news. But sadly, that is news to all too many people. Not enough people are being told a message that is truly good news.
We no longer need to worry about what it is we shall cry. As we go out into the world to ‘spread the word’ we can confidently spread the word to those we meet that God loves them as they are and loves them now. That God invites them into relationship even now. That God cares about their sufferings and their sorrows and will bring deliverance.
Today we light the second candle of our Advent wreath: representing Love. If ever words should fail us, if ever we become unsure of what to say about our faith. If ever we hear the words “Cry out!” and we are tempted to ask “What shall I cry?”, this is the message we have to proclaim:
God loves you. God comes into your life even after long periods of exile. Even when we are feeling impermanent, insignificant, like grass or flowers of the field, God still loves us, and still comes to us out of love to gather his lambs in his arms.
Note 1. Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66, Westminster John Knox Press, 1998 p. 20
