It's The Idols That Flex--December 12, 2017
"See, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
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." [Isaiah 40:10-11]
God picks strange ways to show “might,” don’t you think?
We are used to obvious, overt, “tough-guy” kinds of ways to show off strength and power—the cocky muscle-bound man flexing his biceps as someone else walks into the gym, or the arrogant dictator making wild threats about launching missiles or doing “military exercises” to threaten surrounding countries. We are used to “Superman” pictures of might and strength—where the bullets bounce off the strong, and the mighty leave a trail of destruction behind them so that everyone else will know how powerful and potent they are. These days we are drowning in a sea of pop culture superhero movies and TV shows, from the Justice League to the Avengers, with Wonder Woman bringing in big bucks at the box office and Supergirl, Green Arrow, a young Bruce Wayne/Batman, and lesser known vigilantes with names like "Iron Fist" or "the Punisher" all having their own tv shows. And for all the various movies, shows, and characters, in a way, they all just give us the same thing in different-colored costumes: people whose “specialness” is defined in terms of punching and kicking, whose “might” is measured in the body count of enemies vanquished in their wake. You see enough of that on big and small screens, and you come to believe that’s what “might” really looks like.
We have all fallen for it.
And that is at least part of what is wrong with us. That is part of what is literally broken with the human condition--we have all fallen for the mistaken picture that real "power" is demonstrated in the rattling of sabers or the waving around of guns. We have all bought the world's argument that the way to get things done in this life is in having bigger guns or bigger muscles or more fighter planes or a large enough stockpile of bombs and missiles to make the other guy afraid of you.
Surely, that was the conventional wisdom when these words from what we call the fortieth chapter of Isaiah were first spoken. The thinking of the day was that Babylon was the most important... because Babylon had the armies and the might to conquer the people around them--including the Israelites. And the rest of that train of thought was that since Babylon was winning on the battlefield, it must have also meant that their gods were stronger than Israel's God. If your army wins the war, you are more important... and your gods are more important... that was the accepted theology of the day. So, of course, it was no wonder that people felt--and so often still feel!--the need to have to defend the reputations of their gods with firepower. You can't let your "side" lose--it will look bad for your "god", right?
We do that, too, more often than we care to admit. We have the same thinking sometimes--that it's up to us to defend God, or to defend our religion, or else we'll look "weak" or we'll look like "losers," or--most frightening of all, we think--our God (or is it a "god"?) will look weak and like a loser, too. And that thought just scares us to the core.
But let's take a listen. Let's actually look at how the God of Israel gets introduced--and how there is a surprising turn when the prophet starts describing this God's kind of power. We start out here expecting God to flex some divine muscle or trample on some bad guys here. There are all these images that bait us for those usual shows of force: “God comes with might,” the prophet says, and we are a little riled up about the “recompense” he will dole out. We’re ready for the Superman-god, the Punisher god, the god of the Iron Fist who leaves a trail of destruction in his wake so that we will be impressed.
Now we're hooked. And the prophet is about to yank the rug out from under us. Because at the very moment it sounds like we're going to get Tough Guy Deity, the very next image is of God as a nurturing shepherd—carrying little lambs right up against his body. This isn’t the superhero/vigilante deity we are used to. There isn’t even any arm-flexing from this God: his arms are too full from having lambs in them to pose and posture to show off any biceps!
To hear the prophet tell it, God is just not interested in showing off strength in order to be fawned over or intimidating. God isn’t looking to flex muscles or do military exercises in order to attract attention. That's part of how you know the real living God from the idols--the living God doesn't need to impress or scare or protect the divine reputation or worry about looking weak. Bullies and blowhards worry about what other people think, and whether they are getting enough attention or respect, but not the real and living God. It's the idols that have to flex--they are desperate for your attention. The living God just doesn't care about that.
And that, dear ones, is the good news. The real and living God ain't so desperate for attention as to go around threatening and blustering just to get some semblance of respect. The real and living God doesn't need to get you to notice divine strength or firepower, because the real point of God’s strength, according to Isaiah, is for God to be strong for us. God is not looking to win any body-building championships or gain hero-like fame.
God is strong and mighty because we need a strong God to carry us, weakling sheep that we are. There is no path of destruction in this scene—there is, rather, the God who picks up the pieces that we leave behind. And God picks up those pieces—and us—precisely because we need a God who can be strong for us and carry us in arms. That’s the thing about the God of the Bible: we expect Superman and get a Shepherd. Of course, beyond our expectations, it’s a Shepherd we need after all.
Now, we Christians have been hearing these words from the book of Isaiah for two thousand years as a signpost pointing to Jesus. He's the fulfilment of these promises; he's the true object of the prophet's focus. And if that's true, then the surprise is even greater than we had first thought--because it means that ultimately the true strength in God's arms is the way they take nails. It means that the real power of God is the unexpected appearance of the divine in a food trough.
For us to take seriously the call to prepare for Jesus means to be ready to see in Jesus the true power of God. And if we dare to do that, it will also mean that we learn to unclench our minds' grip on the old idolatrous idea that "God" is just another word for "whoever has the most brute force to get his way." It will mean recognizing that the real power that orders and sustains the universe shows up in things we would usually call "weakness" or "surrender" or "self-giving." It will mean recognizing real power in the incarnation of the Eternal One in the tiny fingers of a Jewish baby who flees from the bluster of the local king and spends his preschool years as a refugee.
"See, the Lord GOD comes..." says the prophet. And we all turn to look, expecting to see a Divine vigilante locked and loaded to intimidate bad guys....
"See, the Lord GOD comes..." says the prophet again... and the one who shows up counter to the wisdom of the day is a powerless baby laid in a borrowed crib.
Look for God in such unexpected places, and you will see a whole new kind of power... and you will see that it is the same power that holds the universe together.
Lord Jesus, give us the eyes to see you, to see your kind of strength, and to dare to let go of our idols of might and force.
We have all fallen for it.
And that is at least part of what is wrong with us. That is part of what is literally broken with the human condition--we have all fallen for the mistaken picture that real "power" is demonstrated in the rattling of sabers or the waving around of guns. We have all bought the world's argument that the way to get things done in this life is in having bigger guns or bigger muscles or more fighter planes or a large enough stockpile of bombs and missiles to make the other guy afraid of you.
Surely, that was the conventional wisdom when these words from what we call the fortieth chapter of Isaiah were first spoken. The thinking of the day was that Babylon was the most important... because Babylon had the armies and the might to conquer the people around them--including the Israelites. And the rest of that train of thought was that since Babylon was winning on the battlefield, it must have also meant that their gods were stronger than Israel's God. If your army wins the war, you are more important... and your gods are more important... that was the accepted theology of the day. So, of course, it was no wonder that people felt--and so often still feel!--the need to have to defend the reputations of their gods with firepower. You can't let your "side" lose--it will look bad for your "god", right?
We do that, too, more often than we care to admit. We have the same thinking sometimes--that it's up to us to defend God, or to defend our religion, or else we'll look "weak" or we'll look like "losers," or--most frightening of all, we think--our God (or is it a "god"?) will look weak and like a loser, too. And that thought just scares us to the core.
But let's take a listen. Let's actually look at how the God of Israel gets introduced--and how there is a surprising turn when the prophet starts describing this God's kind of power. We start out here expecting God to flex some divine muscle or trample on some bad guys here. There are all these images that bait us for those usual shows of force: “God comes with might,” the prophet says, and we are a little riled up about the “recompense” he will dole out. We’re ready for the Superman-god, the Punisher god, the god of the Iron Fist who leaves a trail of destruction in his wake so that we will be impressed.
Now we're hooked. And the prophet is about to yank the rug out from under us. Because at the very moment it sounds like we're going to get Tough Guy Deity, the very next image is of God as a nurturing shepherd—carrying little lambs right up against his body. This isn’t the superhero/vigilante deity we are used to. There isn’t even any arm-flexing from this God: his arms are too full from having lambs in them to pose and posture to show off any biceps!
To hear the prophet tell it, God is just not interested in showing off strength in order to be fawned over or intimidating. God isn’t looking to flex muscles or do military exercises in order to attract attention. That's part of how you know the real living God from the idols--the living God doesn't need to impress or scare or protect the divine reputation or worry about looking weak. Bullies and blowhards worry about what other people think, and whether they are getting enough attention or respect, but not the real and living God. It's the idols that have to flex--they are desperate for your attention. The living God just doesn't care about that.
And that, dear ones, is the good news. The real and living God ain't so desperate for attention as to go around threatening and blustering just to get some semblance of respect. The real and living God doesn't need to get you to notice divine strength or firepower, because the real point of God’s strength, according to Isaiah, is for God to be strong for us. God is not looking to win any body-building championships or gain hero-like fame.
God is strong and mighty because we need a strong God to carry us, weakling sheep that we are. There is no path of destruction in this scene—there is, rather, the God who picks up the pieces that we leave behind. And God picks up those pieces—and us—precisely because we need a God who can be strong for us and carry us in arms. That’s the thing about the God of the Bible: we expect Superman and get a Shepherd. Of course, beyond our expectations, it’s a Shepherd we need after all.
Now, we Christians have been hearing these words from the book of Isaiah for two thousand years as a signpost pointing to Jesus. He's the fulfilment of these promises; he's the true object of the prophet's focus. And if that's true, then the surprise is even greater than we had first thought--because it means that ultimately the true strength in God's arms is the way they take nails. It means that the real power of God is the unexpected appearance of the divine in a food trough.
For us to take seriously the call to prepare for Jesus means to be ready to see in Jesus the true power of God. And if we dare to do that, it will also mean that we learn to unclench our minds' grip on the old idolatrous idea that "God" is just another word for "whoever has the most brute force to get his way." It will mean recognizing that the real power that orders and sustains the universe shows up in things we would usually call "weakness" or "surrender" or "self-giving." It will mean recognizing real power in the incarnation of the Eternal One in the tiny fingers of a Jewish baby who flees from the bluster of the local king and spends his preschool years as a refugee.
"See, the Lord GOD comes..." says the prophet. And we all turn to look, expecting to see a Divine vigilante locked and loaded to intimidate bad guys....
"See, the Lord GOD comes..." says the prophet again... and the one who shows up counter to the wisdom of the day is a powerless baby laid in a borrowed crib.
Look for God in such unexpected places, and you will see a whole new kind of power... and you will see that it is the same power that holds the universe together.
Lord Jesus, give us the eyes to see you, to see your kind of strength, and to dare to let go of our idols of might and force.
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