Suffering Servants

(Uriel Presbyterian Church )

Sermon

“Suffering Servants”

9 January, 2011

Baptism of Christ , A

If you are suffering without succeeding, then someone will succeed after you; 

if you are succeeding without suffering, then someone suffered before you. 

Gospel Text:Matthew 3.13-17

NRSV 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Text: Isaiah 42.1-9

NRSV 1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching. 

5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it: 6 I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the LORD, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. 9 See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

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There’s an old saying that it’s always darkest before the dawn, but sometimes there is darkness that just gets blacker. Take today for instance, January 9th. At the approach to Charleston Harbour, just before midnight, an unarmed merchant vessel from New York, christened the Star of the West, silently moved into place far beyond the lights of the city, waiting for daybreak to begin her final, dangerous run to a coastal island, right smack in front of her in the middle of the harbour. 

All this happened, not this morning, but  exactly 150 years ago today. Forewarned by a telegraph from up North that the Star of the West was on its way, student cadets from the Citadel in Charleston out on Morris Island opened fire on the ship creeping towards Fort Sumter just as the first red clouds poured out along the horizion. As the Star came about, guns on the opposite side of the harbour at Fort Moultrie began hurling cannon shot towards the ship as well. Stuck on the island in the middle, US Maj. Robert Anderson decided not to defend the ship since we were firing at the ship and not actually  at Fort Sumter. From the walls of the island fort the trapped and hungry U. S. Army watched as the ship carrying its supplies and munitions turn around and returned to New York.  Today was a beginning. Those red sky in the morning was certainly a warning: ominously , this was the first time Americans had ever made war on each other marking today as the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

Historical sticklers might argue that it really started  four months from now in April 1861, when South Carolina militias attacked Fort Sumter; and just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, the country wasn’t split with a single shot, yet as we celebrate the Baptism of Christ, the waters of Charleston remind us of a baptism of fire, when the reality of war was brought to our very doorsteps.

As Isaiah puts it:  “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare” (Isaiah 42.9a)

Already before Christmas 2010 in Charleston, period balls were being given, naïve parties and festivities were thrown to mark this 150th anniversary. As far as I am concerned, they are dancing blithly away just as their forefathers did. As we look back on the start of this time that not only changed our country, but changed our families and our own understanding of who were are forever, the truth is that we are still struggling with the issues and the aftermath in so many subtle ways even 150 years later.  So let’s consider what this conflict can teach us. One remarkable thing about the Civil War was that both the North and the South assumed God was on their side, and that God was going to make the other side suffer greatly for their presumption. Both sides felt the Lord was speaking when we heard the words of Isaiah: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him” (42:1).

This verse begins the so called “Suffering Servant” passages in Isaiah. On the surface, the reading seems to be alluding to a righteous servant who is called upon to endure pain and hardship in order to be true to God. At the beginning of the war, there were many who saw themselves in this model.

The South, in particular, was very comfortable with the idea of servants. For years powerful and persuasive preachers used the good book to defend the “biblical” institution of slavery and white priviledge. Using the Bible literally, we preached that humans had no business questioning the Word of God when it said, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling” (Ephesians 6:5); “Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor” (1 Timothy 6:1); “Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect” (Titus 2:9); and “Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh” (1 Peter 2:18).

We found it easy to stick to the slogan, “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” So the people of the South believed God was on their side.

The preachers of the North were just as creative in their biblical interpretation, and they, too, found a way to use the bible. Some emphasized that the Union had to be preserved because without it the advance of the gospel around the world would be slowed or even stopped. They equated America with God: “If America is lost, the world is lost,” said one preacher from his pulpit.

Some Northern ministers looked to the book of Revelation to primly suggest that a victory over the South might prepare the way for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. Still others preached that God would allow the North to win if it took decisive steps to end slavery.  The North was convinced that its zeal was the stamp of approval of God. Actually, both sides were convinced they were acting as the Lord’s servant, with God right beside them. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln got closest to the truth: “My concern is not whether God is on our side,” he said. “My greatest concern is to be on God’s side.” That’s the question we’re left with today, in the middle of our contemporary civil and not-so-civil wars: Are we on God’s side?

Traditional Hebrew wisdom understands the servant to be Israel, the community of God personified.  To serve the God of Israel is to bring, as a people, righteousness and justice to the world through service to other people. The audacity of such a claim was breathtaking in its context. This is not God’s conquering lieutenant who, though bloodied, wins the battle-- this is a bruised reed that still writes, a smouldering wick that still gives light, a still, small voice that still creates hope and through its very lowliness becomes the tool God can powerully use.

We can embody Isaiah’s tool, the one who “will not cry or lift up his voice” but instead “will faithfully bring forth justice” (vv. 2-3). Those who serve the Lord have a mission to be “a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon” (vv. 6-7). Christians who do these things will always find themselves right where they need to be: on the side of God.

Our servanthood doesn’t lead us to take a particular stand but to  be a particular kind of person.  The rightness of North or South is beside the point, as are fights between Right-Left, Blue-Gray, Gay-Straight, Republican-Democratic. Wherever we find ourselves on the cultural-theological-political spectrum, we are challenged — when shots are being fired — to be the Lord’s servant.

Jesus was caught up in the civil wars of his time too. As he stood there on the banks of the Jordan, the people in Jerusalem were taking sides. Some were sharpening knives to go join the Essene community who were preparing to slaughter Romans, some were supporting the rebuilding of the temple that the rich economy of the Pax Romana had brought to the region. Both groups claimed to be following God.  Surely Jesus was struggling with these conflicting sides. His plan was  not to take a particular stand but to  be a particular kind of person. So when Jesus walked into the waters of the Jordan, he came out the other side changed; he had crossed a frontier, accepted a calling, claimed a birthright.

 As we celebrate the beginning of Christ’s ministry, inaugurated in the Jordan River, those who are hearing this scripture for the first time, might well  wonder “who IS this person?” “Who is this person with whom God is well pleased? What sort of character is this that the voice of God speaks to in the wilderness?”

And every time we come to the waters of Baptism we are looking for something. We are trying to figure out who Christ is and what we have to do to be with him. The answer is in today’s readings. Each time a person is baptized, infant or adult; every year as we renew the promises made for us at our baptisms,  the people  of God are given another chance to nurture God’s love and justice; to be a particular kind of person.

And here is where the suffering part from Isaiah crosses Jesus’ Baptism as a servant. Because we know where Jesus’ baptism and service ultimately brought him...to the cross. Jesus is still the suffering servant and so are we. A hundred and fifty years ago, those college freshmen firing cannons on a boat in the harbour had no inkling what was in store for them. Like with Jesus, there is no guarantee about what will happen in this year, but we are still called to, stand fast and find out. A century ago, Jessie Penn-Lewis observed that God intends to refine believers,  to make us closer to the  likeness of Christ: She also reminded disciples not to be discouraged if things don’t seem to be working. She wrote: “If you are suffering without succeeding, then someone will succeed after you;  if you are succeeding without suffering, then someone suffered before you. ”

We stand here today with the benefit of hindsight. We know that the events of 1861 were dreadful, and misguided. We are intimately related to the trials and sufferings of our ancestors 150 years ago. Many of us, black and white, have stories and traditions of what it was like to be plunged into the War Between the States and the grim years since then. Their bitterness and hardship inspired our great grandparents to make sure that our lives were much different as possible; they sacrificed, and to the best of their abilities made sure that we would not suffer the same agonies and in ways large and small gave us the gift of a stable future.  Each succeeding generation is faced with the same dilemma in different scenario. We are products of our decisions, but if we are wise and attentive we also place ourselves in the hands of God not to lead, but to be led, to serve others rather than to be served.

In a few minutes we will be renewing our baptismal vows, mentally walking down into the Jordan river just as Christ did. We are making a decision to leave ourselves behind.   We are making a decision to “be called  in righteousness, to be taken by the hand and kept; to be given as a covenant to the peoples, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and from the prison those who sit in darkness” (vv. 6-7).  

To that God who does all these things and so much more, be glory and power and dominion now and forever.  Amen