Advent Four 21/12/2014
Sermon preached at
Prestbury Methodist Church 9am and Wesley Methodist
Church 6pm
Isaiah 49: 8-16
Luke 1:26-38
Isaiah 49:15 I
will not forget you. 16 See, I have
inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Luke 1:30 The
angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with
God.
Introduction:
Q:
If you want to remember to do something – and you really, really do not want to
forget it: what do you do? Who writes on your hands?
.........
Today I want to speak about God writing on his hands!
We
have two stories – one from Isaiah and the other from Luke – both of which tell
us of a God who does not forget his people.
The first story takes place in 580BC.
Nebuchadnezzar II colonised the children of Israel.
Their leaders were taken off to Babylon, while the peasants stayed behind to
produce crops for their new rulers. Apart from building his empire, Nebuchadnezzar
began building the Etemenanki ziggurat.
This was a seven story, 91 meter high monument of gold, silver and precious
stones. He was determined to be remembered by this building – and so he put his
name on the doorway.
In time the Jewish leaders in exile were offered leadership posts in the Babylonian
government, and they began to live more comfortably – so much so that when they
were offered an opportunity to return home, many chose to stay in Babylon.
All this time the poor worked the land to make
Babylon wealthy – and prayed for God to rescue them from their corrupt rulers.
The Prophet Isaiah responds by assuring the
children of Israel that God had not forgotten them.
Isa
49:14 But Zion
said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."
Isa
49:15 Can a
woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her
womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
When God breaks in – each person is remembered.
Fast forward five hundred years and we find the children of Israel have new
rulers. But not much else has changed: this time it is the Romans who rule
them, and the Roman soldiers who collect the taxes from the poor. Something
else that had not changed were the politicians – the leaders of the people
co-operated with the Roman rulers: the Chief Priest was appointed by the
Governor; and King Herod was appointed by the Emperor.
One
other thing that had not changed was the desire of the King to build a monument:
King Herod embarked on an ambitious project to rebuild the temple. Herod
employed 1000 priests as masons and carpenters in the rebuilding, and the new
Temple was finished in a year and a half.
But the poor continued to struggle : Herod taxed them for his
building projects, and the Romans took their fish and wheat to feed the army
and the people of Rome
Again
we discover the intervention of God. Luke tells us that an Angel of God
announced that God was breaking into history:
Luk 1:30 The angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.
Here
is the thing – who was Mary?
Not
who do we now know her to be, but who was she in her time? The reality is that
she was a 16 year old girl from a forgotten village in a forgotten province.
But she was not forgotten by God – in fact God even knew her name!
When
God breaks in – each person is remembered.
So
how does this touch our lives today?
Well
– it seems that some of this story is very familiar:
These
are stories of kings who embark on building projects to show their importance
–
Nebuchadnezzar built a Ziggurat
-
Herod
built a temple
-
Anyone familiar with a story of our
chief ruler building a monument to himself?
These
are stories of politicians who become comfortable –
The
Jewish leaders who are carried off into exile begin to enjoy their status
The
Leaders of Israel in the time of Jesus look more and more like the Romans
It
seems to me that political leaders do not change much through history – and we
still see people who use their positions to look after themselves and their
friends.
We
see the corruption,
and the crime,
and the poverty,
and nations going to war, and Ebola, and Aids
and it is easy to become despondent.
But
the story of Isaiah and of Luke reminds us that God does not forget us.
Hear
the Good news: Christmas is coming – God will break into our history once
again.
Let
me return to the words of Isaiah:
Isa
49:15 Can a
woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her
womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
Isa 49:16 See, I have inscribed you on
the palms of my hands
This takes me back to the image I introduced at the
beginning – “writing on our hands”. Isaiah says that our names are written on
the palms of God’s hands! Can you see your name written there: every time God
looks at his hands he sees your name.
He can never forget you because he knows you by
name.
This
is the Good News of our faith: but I will fail the Gospel if I stop here.
I
am asking us to remember that when God looks at his hands, yours is not the
only name there: there are other names too! Sometimes we reduce our faith to “Jesus and
me” and forget that we are called to live in community. This is not only the community
of the church, but also the human community. Our challenge is to remember other
people in the same way that we are remembered by God. John 3:16 tells us that “God
so loves the world...” This includes everyone.
We cannot pick and choose whose names are engraved on God’s hands: everyone’s names
are there.
Christmas
celebrates a God who breaks into our history and remembers us.
Perhaps
we can demonstrate this by sharing God’s love with others. Let us give gifts as
a sign of the love of God: but here is my challenge: to give a gift to someone
who will not give one in return!
God
bless us all – and may we be God’s breakthrough into the lives of other people.
