Awake And Sing
THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
This morning's Old Testament lesson is taken from the twenty-sixth chapter of the prophet Isaiah verses twelve through nineteen. But if you don't read the first verse of chapter twenty-six, you won't know that these verses are part of a song; in fact, the entire chapter is a song. Verse one says, "In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah" (26:1). This song is a song of praise, and it is a song of hope. And, it is a song to be sung in the future.
One could say that all of the preceding chapters, chapters one through twenty-five, are a lament. Throughout these chapters, the Lord God has indicted the sinful straying and rebellion of his people, saying, "Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand." The prophet then adds this commentary in verse two "Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged" (vv. 1-2).
Then, a future day of Divine judgment is pronounced upon the people, "Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah is fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord... The LORD has taken his place to contend; he will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people" (3:8, 14). But God's judgment is upon the wicked not the righteous, woe to them who proclaim their sin like Sodom, for they have brought evil upon themselves. But God says to Isaiah, "tell the righteous that it shall be well with them" (3:19).
The subsequent chapters tell us that not only will the unrighteous among God's people be judged, but also the nations who defy the Lord of Heaven and remain in their unbelief: Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Cush, and Egypt. In fact, in chapter twenty-four, the Lord God pronounces judgment upon the whole earth, declaring, "Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants" (24:1). In summary, there is a future day when the righteous and the unrighteous shall be judged. The wicked shall receive their just reward, and the righteous will be vindicated.
"In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah, "we have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. You [God] keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock" (26:1-4).
From Psalm one-hundred and three, we are reminded that Divine judgment and discipline are necessary but temporary, they do not last forever, "He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." And why? Well, hear the psalmist again, "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (v. 8).
Divine Mercy and Divine grace. These are the two great themes for this Eleventh Sunday After Trinity, which, as so often is the case, are found in the appointed Collect, "O GOD, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen+"
God declares his almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity. Wait, you're saying that God's almighty power is chiefly or prominently declared when he is merciful? Yes. And if you remember anything from this morning's homily, remember this amazing doctrine: that God the Father manifests and reveals his omnipotence primarily when he makes known and shows his mercy and pity to undeserving sinners.
Now before we return to our passage from Isaiah, I want to flesh this out a bit. In his Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas writes: "It is proper to God to exercise mercy, and he manifests his omnipotence particularly in this way." At first glance, it might seem odd to equate God's mercy with power. When we contemplate God's power, we are more drawn towards images of His creative power, how he created the cosmos (every created thing) out of nothing. Or how He parted the Red Sea when He led His children out of Egypt or how Jesus, with but a word, calmed the stormy sea.
Yet there is an intimate connection between God's mercy and his power: only because God truly is omnipotent can God truly be merciful. His divine omnipotence is particularly shown in sparing and having mercy because, in this, it is made manifest that God has supreme power, and yet He freely forgives sins. God is free and all-powerful. And yet, he uses his freedom and power to be merciful.
The Divine qualities of mercy and power necessarily go together. Certainly, God had ample reason to strike down Israel for all the sins they committed; justice even demanded it. And yet, demonstrates His power with restraint. Yes, the disciplines of famine and hard times, even captivity and exile, were difficult, but Israel was allowed to continue living in covenant with their God: He did not utterly destroy or wipe them from the face of the earth, as he had done in Noah's day. And friends, He doesn't strike us down for our sinfulness but continually forgives us when we repent: and there, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace kiss each other" (Ps 85:10)
God's omnipotence is not the arbitrary power-wielding gods of the Greeks and Romans, who act capriciously towards humans. No. Our God is all-powerful but in accord with His nature of being Goodness, Truth, and Love. There is no contradiction within the Divine Triune God and therefore wields power only in accord with Goodness, Truth, and Love. Thus, while justice might demand punishment for our sins, God's mercy goes far beyond justice because he is love and loves everything that he has made. God's power is chiefly displayed in mercy and grace because it reflects the Divine Nature: love. God is love.
And it was the love of God that compelled his mercy and grace towards rebellious Israel. Nothing is more soothing, more comforting, more wonderful than the promises of mercy and grace spoken to a sinner. It brings forth a song from even the saddest and most self-loathing of hearts. Such was the case with Israel whom God would bless even though they worshipped other Gods and wandered far from their Lord, which brings a song of praise and hope, even amid their difficulties,
"LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, and they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish." Not only would the Lord deliver his people from the dominion of false gods and idols, but utterly destroy the enemies of his people who entice and lure them away; not even their memory will remain. God will give them peace and cause them to only mention the name of the true and living God. He will crush their enemies under his feet, for they are dead and shall not rise.
But the righteous shall live. Beloved, let this song of mercy, grace, and hope wash over your soul. "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." What a glorious contrast, not only between Israel and the dead and impotent tyrants of her past who would not see life but remain in death but also with Israel's own strenuous yet ineffective endeavors to bring forth spiritual fruit in keeping with their covenantal promises made to the Divine Bridegroom.
Do you remember the oath Israel took at the base of Mt. Sinai, where God married Israel and gave them the Law by which their marriage was to be governed? A marriage covenanted in blood: "(Exodus 24:6-8) "And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."
Israel made their vow. They promised to do all that was commanded of them. And yet they failed. But Divine mercy and grace remained steadfast. Oh, how much of ourselves we see in the church of Israel! Married to Christ through baptism, we have taken a vow, a baptismal vow re-asserted at our confirmation to renounce our sinful ways, neither to be led by them, but to walk in the way of life the way of faith.
And yet we stumble before God. And though in wisdom the Lord allows us to experience the consequences of our actions and often lays his chastening hand upon us, he does so with love: he tempers his almighty power from destruction to instruction, from the penalty of death to the promise of eternal life. He declarest his almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity.
Today, the Lord doesn't desire to judge you for your mistakes or condemn you for present failings in this Christian life. Neither is he telling you to be ashamed or to step it up and try even harder. No, today, our God desires to remind us that he is merciful and gracious to his people, even on their worst days or when they are laden with the sorrows of sin. Whatever failings you are carrying today, whatever sin (past or present) weighing upon you and choking the very life out of your soul... repent of it.
Lay it down before the Lord Jesus Christ; let his grace unburden your conscience and put a new song upon your lips. God can do it. God will do it. He has ordained peace for all who love him. He has and will produce every good work in you because he loves you. St. Paul tells us this morning to remember the gospel which was preached unto us, which also we have received and whereby we stand, by which also we are saved, "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."
The cosmic event of propitiation and expiation at the Cross of Calvary where the Incarnate Son of God shed his blood as a sacrifice for sin, in order to reconcile us to God, his Father is the penultimate display (not of God's power, but His mercy and love). Here, the almighty power and generosity of God, which created the universe and keeps it in motion, dealt with the enormity of human sin and cosmic evil and overcoming them brought in for the world salvation, redemption, reconciliation, pardon, justification and sanctification.
The power of mercy is the means by which we live out this imperfect Christian life. And it is in our imperfection that we experience the grace of God. Unto the Apostle Paul, our Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." The power of God is manifested by being merciful to weak and frail sinners. And our strength is the Divine gift of daily grace.
My friends, we are what we are by the grace of God. Do not squander nor render it to have been given in vain. Rather, receive his mercy and pity. Humble yourself as the lowly tax collector and be exalted unto life: life not only for today but eternally. Hear the gracious promise of God: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Amen+
