Stumbles and Seeds

Spoken through the Prophets–6
Isaiah reference / Chapters 7-10
Format / Hebrew versets

A young girl will be with child
  and will give birth to a son.
She will call him Immanuel.
  He will eat curds and honey.
He will learn to reject evil
  and choose the good.
But before this
  there will be
    an invasion of your land.

How long do I sing
  Until across the land
    great desolation reigns
Until the country is empty
  and only a seed remains
Do not fear these things
  Though kingdoms are at the gate
    there will be a sign

Yahweh spoke to me.
  The hand of the Master seized me.
Do not follow them
  for these people go astray.
They stumble in the darkness;
  fear me and not them.
You shall proclaim me holy
  though they have become lost.
They will consult with wizards
  that whisper nonsense.

From least to greatest
  all of them chase gain
from prophet to priest
  all of them work lies
They acted shamefully
  yet they were not ashamed
    All the rage was based on lies

They shall stumble and fall
  because they forgot God
    and put their trust in the lie
They prophesy a lying vision
  and a groundless divination
There will be no hope
  until the truth is told

There will be a time
  when those wandering in darkness
    will see a great light.
For a child will be born
  who will break the burdensome yoke.
He will take the rod 
  of the oppressors himself
    on his own shoulders.
He will sustain us with love
  with wisdom and boundless peace.
He will be called
  our counsellor, our protector,
and our prince of peace,
  a king and not a king.
Give him your cares and burdens
  and trust in our God forever.

Reflections and Connexions

Handel uses three of the sections of these chapters 7-10 as separate choruses in the Messiah. I have listened to them over and over during Advent and Christmas seasons for about the last 50 years. I love the scripture he uses and the music he makes. Yet often, since we believe that much of this is prophesy about Jesus, we think we know what it means. We think we know God’s plan, but in thinking this way we can think we know the mind of God – we really don’t. Not only that, but in giving Jesus our purposes we can objectify and instrumentalize his coming and turn him into a mere cipher. We can believe Jesus knew about the Messianic prophesies, but he knew them not because of some divine implant but because he heard or read them. And he didn’t automatically think, “Oh these apply to me.” He had the humility to see that the prophets were for all of us.

Look again at all the human qualities in these verses of Stumbles and Seeds. We should not just remember that he came to save us while forgetting that he came also to be an example of God’s kingdom and love. We also live in a time when all of them work lies / they act shamefully / yet they are not ashamed / all their rage is based on lies / They do not even realize that / they forgot God and put their trust in the lie / They believe in a lying vision and a groundless (and therefore godless) delusion / There will be no hope until the truth is told.

What Isaiah (and writers of the New Testament) was writing about were not primarily some days of future past or predictions of particular events. What Isaiah cared about was how the goodness and truth of humans might be restored by God and the humans to follow. Our work is to tell the truth and be open to the fullness God poured into our hearts. The good parts prophesied in Stumbles and Seeds are regular human events such as conceiving and giving birth, growing in God’s perspective and the lessons that the human family been making implicitly for millennia, a willingness to suffer, and a hope for the repair of the world. Live into the glow of the light; follow the flow; forget signals from the cipher.