Scripture of the Day. April 3, 2022

Isaiah 43:16-21

16
Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters,
17
who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.
19
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
20
The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,
21
the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Reflection/Sermon:

I. When people say to you: “What’s new?” What do you say? “Same old, same old?”
Is there anything really new? Why do people say that? Through the prophet Isaiah, God said: “I am about to do a new thing.”
Four hundred years later, the writer of Ecclesiastes said:
“Did I miss something? One generation goes its way, the next one arrives, but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old planet earth.
Everything is boring — utterly boring— no one can find any meaning in it. Because — what was will be again, and what happened will happen again. THERE’S NOTHING NEW ON THIS EARTH!
Year after year it’s the same old thing. Does someone say, “Hey, this is new”? No—it’s the same old story. Nobody remembers what happened yesterday. And today and tomorrow? Nobody’ll remember that either. And don’t think people will remember you.
What’s new? Nothing. Nothing is new.”

II. God says, “I’m about to do a new thing.”
Ecclesiastes says, “I don’t see it.”

III. So — what’s new?
And who’s telling the truth? God or Ecclesiastes?
Are they both true?
Ecclesiastes said: The sun comes up over there — and it goes down there. For thousands of years. Same thing. And he’s right.
He says there are always good people and bad people, rich and poor. Always have been and always will be. Things repeat themselves, Ecclesiastes says. “Nothing is new.”
And yet — this IS a new day. We are new — we’re not who we were yesterday. Each of us woke up this morning, a person we had never been before, and will never be again. In each of us, God is doing a new thing.
So both God and Ecclesiastses are true. Nothing is new — and every moment is a new creation.

IV. THE BIBLE IS THE LAND OF PARADOX: “a self-contradictory, absurd statement that may still be true.”

V. Jesus told parables — absurd stories that were true. The Prodigal Son — is a crazy, absurd story.
The younger brother was immoral, wasteful, greedy, selfish, lazy, disrespectful — but he’s the one who got the reward. He won! The older brother who is good, responsible and respectful — law-abiding and hard working — was the loser.
In a rational and just world, these would be reversed. The older brother would get the reward and the younger brother would go to prison. But in Jesus’ story, the lazy, immoral, good-for-nothing gets the celebration and the father’s affection. The brother who does everything right ends up angry and bitter.
God did something new in Jesus, and it turned the world upside down. We’re still trying to make sense of it. One of my professor’s in seminary said, “When you read the Bible, sometimes two times two equals three.”

VI. In Jesus Christ, God did something new.
Jesus said — “you were taught to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Get even! Pay back the evil done to you! But I tell you — love your enemy. Do good to those who hurt you. Pray for those who try to make your life miserable.”
You were taught not to murder. But I say — don’t even be angry with your brother or sister. Do not insult and if you so much as say, “You fool!” — you’re already in hell.
God said: “I am about to do a new thing.”
And that new thing was the love of Jesus Christ.

There are glimmers and sparks of light, every day, where Christ appears to us. Jesus comes to us as thoughts and acts of love scattered through the day. Every one of these is a brick in the new creation, the new world, that God is making right now.