Reading
for Easter Vigil
April 15, 2006
The Rev. Robert Hansen
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
So here’s our reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
This part of the book attributed to Isaiah, from Chapt. 40 thru chapt. 55, has been called “ Second Isaiah” or The Book of the Consolation of Israel.” It is set historically about two hundred years after the first Isaiah held forth. This Isaiah is speaking to a captive people. They’ve been in the Babylonian exile for a long time. And then Israel’s Babylonian captors have been conquered themselves by Cyrus of Persia. Conquerors have a tendency to gloat over the conquered and Cyrus was no exception. In his case, however, he celebrated his victory by releasing the peoples who had been conquered by the Babylonians. So when this Isaiah spoke of comfort and the glory of the Lord being revealed, captives celebrating their release could readily imagine a return to the better days of their history when God had felt closer. Isaiah says God is asking the people to return to Godly ways.
Here are some thoughts culled from a number of places. I’ll entitle it, BUY RIGHT!
Most of us would not be counted to be among the ”filthy rich”, so we want to spend our money wisely. Perhaps we listen when we hear a list of tips for consumers. Here is a summary of what the experts usually suggest:
Now let’s consider these suggestions in the light of how we spend our time and energy and resources. We’ll do so by looking at the buying mentioned in Isaiah 55. The prophet asked, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” (v.2). In other words, if we are involved in a lot of activity and effort on stuff that does nothing to meet our most important spiritual needs, our energy is wasted because we get nothing of real value out of it.
To keep this from happening:
As you do, you will see that the only brand worth buying is the life that is offered by the Ultimate Manufacturer.
Well, that’s a way of putting it.
REFLECTION
When you look over the past week, how much of your time, energy, and money did you give to shallow, short-lived pleasures? How many offers did you get to buy now with no payments for a year, or something like that? How many new credit cards were offered to you? Did you accept any of them?
How much did you invest in the kinds of things that have positive eternal value?
On that basis, would you evaluate myself as a wise or a foolish consumer?
Don’t just spend your time; invest it.
A man realized that he had gone over the edge. He had just taken his 3-year-old daughter to their third fast-food restaurant of the day, searching not for a meal but for a character from an animated film. "Here I was," he said, "driving all over town looking for a little plastic toy."
A national chain handed out 50 million action figures during just one promotion.
This obviously isn't the most crucial problem facing our culture. But in our search for physical or spiritual satisfaction, we can easily and sometimes unknowingly shift from what we need to what we want.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God put His finger on our condition: "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance" (Isa. 55:2).
Isaiah says to his people, get ready. Shape up! If you’re going to be successful in the quest to return to your homeland, you’ve got a lot to do.
This Isaiah says that God tells him to let the people know that they are grass that withers away, but that the word of God is eternal. This is not to belittle them. God is just letting them know that God is God and they are not. God is telling them that they are to put their hope and trust in God and they will find comfort and rescue in their time of need. And------and that they have responsibilities. They have the responsibility to make sure in their hearts that God is God and that they know it.
When we approach God through His Word and prayer, are we seeking food for our soul or merely a spiritual trinket? The choice is ours.
| Updated 4/15/06 |
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