The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.
Isaiah 35:4-7
Look to Jesus
Proper [18] B, Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 06 September 2009
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Do you have an anxious heart? Look to Jesus. He has come, still comes, and will come again. Be strong in the Lord.
Note that I didn’t say, “Be strong in yourselves.” We all face times in our lives when our own strength, health, knowledge, or popularity fails. Human love is imperfect. Human forgiveness is incomplete. Human strength grows weary, suffers disease and pain, or meets its match.
Our anxiety grows with piles of work, challenges at school, projects at home. And relationships with other people can be great blessings, and also complicate things at the same time.
Do you have an anxious heart? Look to Jesus. He has come, still comes, and will come again. Be strong in the Lord.
I can identify with you in the pew who heard the Old Testament reading from Isaiah 35 earlier this morning and wondered, “What does that mean? What does it have to do with me?” Our Lord Jesus is the key to understanding the text, one of hope and comfort and peace for you, as it was to God’s people of old.
Jesus has come. His Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter are in our past. For the people of the Lord hearing Isaiah’s Word of the Lord for the first time, Jesus’ coming was seven hundred years in their future. They wanted hope. They wanted a future. They were facing exile. The northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen. The southern kingdom of Judah was threatened by armies. In another hundred years Judah would be no more. Off to exile they would go and we meet folks like Ezekiel, Daniel, and Esther.
Why did the kingdoms of God’s ancient people fall? The First Commandment. You shall have no other gods. Simply put, they had other gods. The people were fickle and forgetful. They thought of themselves first. Their kings became corrupt and idolatrous. They forgot the Lord their God although He was faithful to them. Are people really that different today?
The Lord, then and now, preserves a faithful remnant—always. He directed His servant Isaiah to preach both judgment and promise. Isaiah 35 is an example of the promise of the time of Jesus’ first coming.
Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
Do you have an anxious heart? Look to Jesus. He has come. Be strong in the Lord. You have less than four months to shop for Christmas, the celebration of His first coming. Today’s Gospel reading culminates with this verse: (Mark 7:37) “And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” Jesus fulfills our reading from Isaiah here. Mark 7 is why Isaiah 35 was chosen for today by the Lectionary Committee. Promise made and Promise kept are important for believers to hear together at the same time. God keeps the promises He makes.
Do you have an anxious heart? Look to Jesus. He still comes. Be strong in the Lord.
Yes, Jesus still comes. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. He has promised to be with you always, even to the end of the age. He has promised to be with two or three gathered in His name. He is present when His Word is read, preached, and sung. He is present to forgive when another speaks in His stead and by His command. He is at every Baptism and every Holy Communion. He is present to bless.
The word Christian means “little Christ.” His people are His hands, His feet, His ears, and His lips in action to serve one another and those who do not yet know Him.
Do you have an anxious heart? Look to Jesus. He will come again. Be strong in the Lord.
The Day of Jesus’ Second Coming is known by many names: Judgment Day, the Last Day, Resurrection Day, the Day of the Lord, and even the “Don’t Know” Day because no one knows the day or the hour but Our Father who art in heaven. What we do know is that it is coming. He is coming.
Isaiah 35 gives us insight into what the earthly ministry of Jesus would be like, but also about the Last Day.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
What the Lord doesn’t heal in this life, He will heal on Resurrection Day.
For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
You have heard that the lion will lay down with the lamb. How about peaceful pastures of jackals? That word in Hebrew is so similar to that for serpents, whales, sea monsters, and dragons, yes, the ancient term for dinosaurs, that the King James Version has “the habitation of dragons” as the translation of the last verse of this reading.
If the Lord can make a lion lie down peacefully with a lamb, if the Lord can make streams flow in the desert, and if He can tame howling dogs or dragons, dinosaurs, if He can and will do all of these things on the Last Day, the Day of Jesus’ Second Coming, isn’t He strong enough, loving enough, gracious enough, to calm your anxious hearts and minds and bodies now?
Do you have an anxious heart? Look to Jesus, feed on Jesus, listen to Jesus, trust in Jesus, read Jesus’ own words, pray to Jesus, hold on to Jesus. He has come, still comes, and will come again. Be strong in the Lord. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
