Sexagesima Sunday :: Isaiah 40: 21–31 / Psalm 147: 1–12, 21c / I Corinthians 9: 16–23 / Mark 1: 29–39
This is the homily prepared for St.
John’s, Huntingdon, PA by Fr. Gene Tucker for Sunday, February 7, 2021.
“A RAY OF LIGHT WHEN THERE IS LITTLE HOPE”
(Homily
texts: Isaiah 40: 21–31 & Mark 1: 29–39)
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel, and
hopefully it’s not another train.” Perhaps those of you who know me wouldn’t be
the least bit surprised to hear this coming from a railroad man like me.
Is there light at the end of the dark tunnel we
currently find ourselves in this troubled world these days? There’s no shortage
of cause for worry and despair, is there? We’re in the midst of a global
pandemic caused by the eruption of the coronavirus, economies the world over
have been disrupted, many people have lost jobs, and businesses have failed. In
addition, ours is a contentious age, an age when there’s no shortage of rancor
and deep division in society, in our governing bodies, and elsewhere. And these
are just a short litany of things that are affecting nearly all of us these
days.
In the Church, too, there is cause for concern. The
Church has lost much (if not nearly all) its former influence and place in
society. Ours is a diminished voice nowadays. The Church is facing an uncertain
future, one that surely must look like it will be a far different future than
the past we’ve known until now.
The question must be asked: “Have God’s people been
here before? Have things looked this bleak at times in the past?”
The answer is, unequivocally, “Yes”.
Our Scripture readings from Isaiah and from Mark’s
Gospel account point to very troubled times, times where there seemed to be
little hope for a better tomorrow.
Let’s explore this just a bit.
Our Isaiah reading comes to us from what biblical
scholars call “Second Isaiah”. This title deserves some unpacking: Second
Isaiah was written, many scholars believe, by an unknown author (perhaps
someone who was a member of what we might can an “Isaiah School”, writing at
the time of the Babylonian exile (which lasted from 586 – 538 BC). This unknown
author is writing to God’s people, who are living in a foreign land against their
wishes. They cannot go home to Jerusalem and Judea, the Temple in Jerusalem,
along with the rest of the city, lies in ruins. There’s little to hold onto in
terms of hope for a better tomorrow.
Into the midst of this despair, Second Isaiah
reminds his readers and listeners that God possesses the power to reverse all
this hopelessness. God can, and will, restore the fortunes of God’s people.
“Lift up your drooping hands, and strengthen your weak knees,”[1] this
unknown writer seems to be admonishing God’s people. “God can do this,” he
maintains.
And, of course, God does. In the fullness of time,
King Cyrus of Persia conquers the Babylonians in a bloodless takeover, and then
Cyrus allows God’s people to return home.
Now, let’s fast-forward about six hundred years to
the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry.
In Mark, chapter one, we read that Jesus is going
about, healing many who were sick, and casting out demons. Our passage,
appointed for this day, records these events.
We would do well to put ourselves into the shoes of
those who lived in that time, for there was little to be hopeful about, and
plenty to be worried and concerned about. God’s people were living under the
yoke of an oppressive Roman occupation. Life was brutal and often
unpredictable. Taxes (one estimate claims that about 2/3 of people’s assets
went to taxes!) were high, and the tax collectors padded the amounts due,
pocketing the difference for themselves. Life was short (average age at the
time of death was, perhaps, about forty), disease was common. Moreover, the
leadership of God’s people was distant and self-serving. The priestly caste,
the scribes, and the Pharisees where more concerned for their own place in the
scheme of things than they were about the welfare of their own people.
Depressing descriptions, aren’t they, of the
conditions that pertained to the sixth century BC and to the first century AD.
Yet God breaks into this bleak scenario, sending
our Lord Jesus Christ, equipping Him with the power to demonstrate God’s
authority and power to create and to re-create. (After all, that’s the basic
understanding that is to be applied, I think, to the accounts of Jesus’
healings and His other miracles.)
God has done such things in the past, and we can be
assured that God will do such things in the future, at a time and in the
circumstances of His own choosing.
What do we, as Christian believers, do in the
meantime, and especially in a “mean time” like the times we are living in how?
I think the answer is that we are to remain faithful, we do not lose hope in
God’s sovereignty and power to make things better.
But there’s something else we need to do: We need
to respond to God’s power. Going back to the time of the Babylonian exile, we
know that God’s people, once King Cyrus had made it possible to return home,
packed up and left, returning to their ruined homeland, where they rebuilt the
Temple and Jerusalem. And in response to Jesus’ healings, people gathered
around, believing that He could make things better, bringing new life and hope for
the future.
You and I can’t sit around, waiting for God to do
all the work. We have work to do ourselves. Maintaining our hope and faith in
God is the starting point, and then responding to that faith and hope by doing
the things God would have us to be doing to make things better.
You see, this is a partnership we’re in with God.
There is hope for a better day tomorrow, with God’s help.
AMEN.
[1] Hebrews 12:12
