When I first started singing lessons, one of my party pieces was Imagine by John Lennon. It contains the lines ‘Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too, imagine all the people living life in peace’. It is, in many ways, a beautiful song – though these days I would have some critiques of its assumptions. But the reason I’m mentioning it today is because of today’s useful fact in the sermon series on Isaiah.
Today’s useful fact about the book of Isaiah is this: there’s no countries and no religion.
Now, the intelligent among you will know that this isn’t just a useful fact about the book of Isaiah, this is a useful fact about the ancient world in general. The concept of a country or nation is very modern. The idea that there is a piece of land, with a clearly delineated border, with clearly understood lines of authority, and shared rules and values, is a fiendishly modern idea. When we see the Olympics Opening Ceremony, and all those countries marching in with a flag and a language and an identity, we might imagine things were always like that. But in the time of Isaiah, we are talking about an age of warlords and chieftains – of constantly shifting alliances and loyalties, and of authority resting with whoever had the most wealth and military power. This was true for the people we now call ‘Jews’ as it was for other peoples. While it can be convenient to imagine that there was an homogenous nation and culture for the Jews, the reality was that there was constant variety and evolution, and constant vying for influence and power.
Likewise, there was no ‘religion’ in the sense that we use the term. For Jews in particular, and in the ancient world in general, there was no distinction between religious and non-religious people. The supernatural world was a given, and its interaction with the natural world was assumed. There were people who observed the purity laws and rituals more closely, and there were people who were more learned in some matters than others, but there wasn’t a domain of life called ‘religion’ like we might have today. In fact, as we see again and again in Isaiah, there was no distinction at all between what we call ‘religion’ and what we call ‘politics’. The fortunes and wellbeing of the kings were understood to be absolutely tied up with fidelity and submission to God. So, in the worldview of the prophets at least, the way that sacrifices were offered in the temple and the way that ritual cleanliness was observed among the people had a direct impact on the military and financial state of a particular ruler and their subjects.
So let’s look at Isaiah 60 which we heard today. It’s right towards the end of the very long Book of Isaiah, so we know it is Third Isaiah, the texts which come from after the exile in Babylon. People are returning, rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple, and the fortunes of Judah are being restored. It is not an easy process, and much of Third Isaiah is about offering encouragement that things are going to get better. Notice that there is not distinction between ‘spiritual’ improvement and ‘civil’ improvement. They are one and the same thing.
The picture that is painted is of a bright light shining over Jerusalem, which summons the dispersed and exiled people to return home. This is the light of God, and it will bring all the children home. Not just people, but wealth too. Kings will be drawn to the light, and will bring tribute - the abundance of the sea, the wealth of the nations, camels from all over the joint, gold and frankincense. There will be flocks of sheep, and they will be of a high enough standard to be sacrificed at the altar in the rebuilt temple. Later on we hear about foreign kings coming to minister to the King in Jerusalem, they will bring lots of precious wood with them (the kind of wood you can’t get in a desert), there will be gold instead of bronze, silver instead of iron and so on and so forth.
Now, at the time of the return from exile, these words would have been almost cruel. The city is destroyed, all the precious items from the Temple are lost, and there is a small group of plucky people trying to get the nation going again. But these words are offered almost like a political manifesto – things can only get better. We are a people on the up and up. We are going places!
Many centuries later, the early Christians would look to Isaiah to explain the person of Jesus. The kings from foreign lands would become magi, bearing gold and frankincense and myrrh, following a star and bringing their tribute. The light imagery would be applied to Jesus, the light of the world, the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.
But in Jesus, the idea that military and financial power were to be a sign of God’s support and approval was finally shaken off. Born in humble circumstances, and forsaking any hint of civil or commercial power, Jesus invited people into an alternative kingdom. He did not come to establish a new religion, nor did he come to establish a nation. Rather, he invited people to come close to God as citizens of another place. He asked them, and us, to forsake our earthly allegiances and align ourselves solely with the Kingdom of God.
We read this text today, anticipating the feast of the Epiphany tomorrow, against the backdrop of two significant events. The first of course is the catastrophic fire season and the strident criticisms of the federal government’s response. As Christians, our concern is not with the point-scoring of partisan politics, nor with blaming or accusation. Our concern, as citizens first and foremost of the Kingdom of God, is with those whom God calls us to put first – those in harm’s way, those who have lost much and those who are vulnerable to losing more. This means not only responding with compassion and generosity to those affected by the fires, but also advocating for systemic changes which will ensure a safe and equitable world as the climate continues to change.
The second significant event is the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. The precise geopolitical implications of this event are yet to unfold, but it is a strange and unprecedented action by the US government, which when considered alongside the increased troop deployment to the Middle East, is clearly part of a larger escalation.
A simplistic view of faith might imagine that catastrophic fires are divine judgement against a nation, and military success is a sign of God’s favour. If one only read certain portions of the scriptures, such a view might even seem biblical and reasonable. But because we read the whole of the scriptures, and because we seek to understand those scriptures in the light of tradition and attentive scholarship, we recognise that God is not playing games with elected offices or natural disasters, bestowing blessings here and curses there. God is calling the whole world to repent, to switch allegiance away from the unceasing for power through violence and wealth, and towards the kingdom of justice and peace. That Kingdom is like a light on a hill, calling the whole world to come home and rebuild, and it is in that Kingdom that we place our trust and to it’s King of Love that we swear our loyalty.
The Lord Be With You