Isaiah 11:1-10
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them. . . .
They will not hurt or destroy
On all my holy mountain.
Those words have captured the imagination of people for almost 3,000 years. They emerged from the religious experience of ancient Israel, and they were expressed by one of the greatest pf all Jewish prophets, Isaiah. And hundreds of years after they were first spoken, those words found renewed meaning and energy in the life and witness of Jesus of Nazareth, another Jewish man. And I say that deliberately: Jesus was born as a Jew; he lived as a Jew; he died as a Jew. I feel the need to emphasize that this morning because, as we all know, disturbingly, anti-semitism in this country is on the rise. Recently a number of public figures have made vile statements disparaging the Jewish people, and hate crimes against Jews across the nation are increasing. That is an awful trend, and the church needs to offer clear testimony here: that kind of thinking and behavior is repugnant. Any bigotry directed at people because of their religion, their race, their ethnicity, their gender identity, or their sexual orientation is deplorable and morally wrong. And it’s always wrong: it’s wrong when it’s done by conservatives and it’s wrong when it’s done by liberals. And it is especially abhorrent when it’s done by people who claim to be Christians, because Christians should know better. That kind of prejudice goes completely against the person Jesus is and the Gospel Jesus proclaims.
Sadly, Christian anti-semitism is not new. Too many times over the centuries Christians have been guilty of hateful speech, unjust acts, and outright atrocities against the Jewish people. It would take many hours to relate that dismal history, but ultimately it’s not just terrible, it’s nonsensical. As our readings today indicate, as our worship invariably demonstrates, we are the fruit of ancient Israel. Our roots as a church are deeply Jewish. We worship a Jewish Savior . . . which makes it all the more compelling and necessary that we denounce anti-semitic bigotry and ignorance.
I have to say that, but that is not actually what I want to focus on today. As followers of Jesus Christ, we need to stand against evil certainly, but our primary calling is not negative but positive: not just to stand against what’s wrong, but to stand for what’s right, to stand for the vision of God and humanity that Jesus proclaims. And to do that, let’s look again at that reading from Isaiah. Two things about it really leap out at me. The first is how inclusive it is. This offspring of Jesse the prophet talks about, whom the church understands to be Jesus, will care for all persons, including the meek, the poor, and the powerless. And just as Isaiah envisions all sorts of different creatures living in harmony on God’s holy mountain, so too he looks to the time when all sorts of different nations and peoples will also live in harmony. The root of Jesse will stand as a signal to all the peoples of the earth, he says. Isaiah elaborates on this later on in chapter 25 when he says, On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines. There is no sense at all here that there will just be one people, one nation, or one religion; no sense that everyone will either become Jewish or perish. The earth will be full not only of circumcised Jews or only of baptized Christians. N0, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the seas. If anything, Isaiah prophesies a time when religious differences will not matter, a time when humans will encounter the truth and reality of God directly. And that fully accords with the teachings of Jesus, who celebrates faith wherever he finds it, including among the gentiles, and who loves and welcomes everyone. The biblical ideal we stand for is not uniformity, but unity, a unity in diversity that is grounded in love. And in that vision, there is just no place for denigrating or excluding anyone.
The second thing that really strikes me is that this unity can never be imposed or established through force. Isaiah’s vision does not look to a great king or a mighty warrior for its fulfillment. Rather he says a little child shall lead them. It’s a vision that leaves no room for violence or coercion: they will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain. And Jesus himself lives this: he comes to us as a child, and when he grows up he never forces faith on anyone. He would literally rather die than resort to violence or oppression. The only power he exercises is the power of love. This idea that some of our fellow believers have that we should somehow establish an exclusively “Christian state” or forcefully impose Christianity on others against their will is unbiblical and directly opposes the teaching and the example of Christ. The truth we stand for is that God’s kingdom will ultimately be ushered in through love and through love alone.
Advent is the season where we remind ourselves that we are waiting for the coming of that kingdom. Only God can finally bring it to pass, but until God does, we do not wait passively. We hope for it, we pray for it, and to the degree that we can, we work for it. And certainly we are called to be signs of that kingdom, to be yeast in the loaf, salt of the earth, and light for the world, to use Jesus’ words. And when it comes to confronting anti-semitism, racism, and other forms of hatred, it really matters that our lives reflect the values of Christ and point to God’s kingdom. That includes acknowledging and confessing any prejudices we might have, and asking for forgiveness and grace to change. It means refusing to participate in hateful speech of any kind. And it demands that we practice being loving and inclusive. At the very least, we can look at people in our own lives who are different than we are and make a point of treating them with kindness and respect. There are some terrible currents moving in our society and no one of us can control that. But each one of us can do our part, in our thoughts, our words, and our actions, to illustrate, to manifest to the world, what we are looking for when we pray, “your kingdom come” — and in doing so, bring that wondrous vision of Isaiah at least a little closer to fulfillment.
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