. . . human life will only continue because of human beings with strong characters, flexibility, creativity,
cooperative attitudes, inner resources, values which promote communal survival above individual
acquisition, and the inner strength that is nourished
by engaging that which is divine in us.

Today's reflection reads Jeremiah 31 alongside Isaiah 43 . . . .

Background: Sixth century BCE (same as second Isaiah) speaking to the community in the Babylonian exile.

Context:

People in exile, suffering under Babylonian oppression.

They were in the midst of desperate times facing an uncertain future.

Asking how God could have let this happen. Felt forsaken by God.

Some became bitter and depressed. (Ps 137)

We begin with the prophet reminding us of what has been the one single most defining moment of our history and remains the most significant aspect of our religious identity: the Exodus event.

This is odd. The prophet reminds us of our past only to tell us not to remember it anymore! Why would Isaiah do that?

Here is the turning point upon which the whole poem is built. God is about to do something new, something different, and it is even now springing forth. There is an interesting and rather enigmatic parallel in Jeremiah 31 that reads;

The Hebrew at the end of verse 22 is difficult to translate and commentators aren't at all sure exactly what is meant here. One suggestion is that it represents the reversal of roles in the new age that God is inaugurating.

If we read a little further in Isaiah's poem, Isa 44:3-5 lists three particular events that characterize this new age:

That last one is intriguing. Does it refer to Israelites who had fallen away and now are returning to the fold, or is it a reference to gentiles who are now becoming part of the covenant community of faith? I am inclined to see it as the later. This would certainly be a more radical reversal and a more new and novel development within the history of the community of faith and seems more in line with the spirit of Isaiah's theology.

But I can't get over the fact that this new thing that God is doing is presented as being so radically different from the previous things God had done, especially since they were the foundational events of Israel's faith and history: the Exodus event and the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. It's as if a modern-day prophet were to say to the Christian Church, "Thus says your God, 'Remember the cross, and how I vindicated my anointed one, and raised him up on the third day, and sent my Holy Spirit to empower you . . . Well, don't remember these things of old, behold, I am about to do a new thing . . . .'"

This is rather startling and helps bring home the sense that Isaiah and Jeremiah were trying to convey to the people. God was not done writing their sacred history yet! The story's not over so don't close the book. It is still incumbent upon us to attempt to perceive what new things God is doing in the world today and not assume that everything God wanted done was done in the past. This is a radical call to wake up and stay awake!

Isaiah 43:20-21 reads;

We have a tendency to think that God's chosen people are a fixed group; people who are faithful and believe as we do. Yet I hear the prophet suggesting that it may be much more open than we realize, and that God is free to chose whomever God wants. Perhaps God has already picked everyone to be among the chosen people and it is only our prejudice and ignorance that prevents us from realizing this.

There is a startling newness to all this, a newness that may be exhilarating or intimidating depending on your point of view. And we carry the seeds of this new thing within our own hearts and within our own history, a history that is still being written. I believe, with Tillich, that "Love is the power of the new in every person and in every history. . . . It is working even today toward new creation." (Paul Tillich, THE SHAKING OF THE FOUNDATIONS)

We cannot help but to be a part of something new. But we can awaken to the seeds of transformation that lie within us, nourish them well, and trust that in the midst of life's changes, there is a larger view, there is a greater power that is forever free to choose love. This is the sacred hope that makes all things new.

Isaiah was an eighth century BCE prophet, but the portion of Isaiah that we will hear today comes from a later time period. It is referred to by scholars as Second-Isaiah and it was written in the sixth century BCE at a time when Babylon had conquered Israel and sent many of the Israelites into exile, far from their homeland. We will be hearing a portion of a longer poem that begins with Isa 43:14 and ends at 44:5.

Thus says Yahweh, who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

Who brings out chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

They lie down, they cannot rise,

They are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

Do not remember the former things,

Or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing;

Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

The wild animals will honor me,

The jackals and the ostriches;

For I give water in the wilderness,

Rivers in the desert,

To give drink to my chosen people,

The people whom I formed for myself

So that they might declare my praise.