Isaiah 50: 4-9; Matthew 4: 18-23
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
January 22, 2017
The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backwards.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
It is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
All of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up. - Isaiah 50: 4-9
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen.
And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. - Matthew 4: 18-23
The words of a teacher have a way of shaping us. Do you remember that one teacher in your life – that coach, or mentor - who saw something special in you? Their words of encouragement empower us to rise to the occasion and soar above our challenges to accomplish amazing things.
God is the greatest Teacher in the life of faith. The prophet Isaiah tells us that God saw something special in the Servant. The Servant had a unique openness to being taught by the Lord God. Those words Isaiah uses to speak of God – Adonai Yahweh (Lord God or Sovereign God) – actually describe the intimate spiritual relationship between God and the Servant.
The Servant was constantly instructed by God for Isaiah states two times that it is God who helps the Servant (Isaiah 50:7, 9). His compassionate and sacrificial love was shaped by learning how to sustain the weary with a word. In Scripture God draws near to the weary because God desires to give power to the faint and strengthen the powerless (Isaiah 40:29). Therefore the Servant was called to humility in order to rise up and bring about God’s reconciliation for God’s people.
As the Servant took on flesh and lived among us as Jesus Christ, he walked by the Sea of Galilee. He began his ministry by seeking out his disciples. Jesus looks for the ones who have that unique openness to come and follow him. Jesus sees God’s possibilities in this rag tag bunch of followers. The disciples were ordinary people like you and me. I am always struck by Matthew's way of describing their sense of urgency to respond to Christ’s call to follow. They dropped everything without question and without exactly knowing where Christ would take them.
To follow a Rabbi (or Teacher) meant spending every moment walking in the Rabbi’s ways. The existing knowledge and skill a disciple had would be further honed and shaped by the Rabbi’s vision. That takes a unique openness to being constantly instructed by the Teacher. Doesn’t that sound like the relationship the Servant had with God in Isaiah?
Jesus would, therefore, hone his disciples’ unique skills according to God’s vision and God’s Way. This vision the disciples would follow was being paved with Jesus’ faithful obedience to God through his teachings, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing the brokenness of humanity.
The disciples see the big picture of Jesus’ teachings, proclamations, and healings in the story that comes right after our text today, The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). We will actually begin a sermon series on The Sermon on the Mount in February – so stay tuned.
But Jesus instructs how we are to live in the abundance of God’s kingdom. We are to love God and love neighbor as we work for God’s justice and reconciliation. This faithful love is a sacrificial love. God's Servant draws near to weary to hear their stories therefore knowing how to sustain them with God's Word. Gods' Servant in Jesus Christ models this for us as Christ drew near to the marginalized and ultimately models this sacrificial love through the cross and empty tomb. Jesus’ teachings invite us to actively work with Christ – our Teacher – to bring about God’s reconciliation in our homes, in our community, and in the world.
Monday we celebrated the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., an amazing preacher and a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement. We pause to remember the lessons history has taught us about how far we have come in embracing human diversity and honoring the image of God in one another. We also pause to confess that the moral arc of the universe is long, as King said, and we must press on and work together as this arc bends towards God’s justice.
Friday our forty-fifth President was inaugurated into office. Inauguration Day is always a historic day. It always begins with a special worship and prayer service. It moves to ceremonies of the change in leadership. Oaths are taken; speeches are made; parades are celebrated.
While many are hopeful in a different Presidential vision for the next four years, there are just as many who are fearful. That fear stems from concerns of justice hanging in the balance for the poor, the marginalized, and those with no voice.
And yet no matter where we stand, the uncertainty that the future holds has brought a lot of questions and division in our country, in friendships, within families, and even among marriages. We cannot deny there is a great need for reconciliation among us, around us, and within us.
And this past week an encouraging word from Martin Luther King, Jr. continues to claim my heart and mind. King looked to the humble teachings of Jesus Christ as a primary model for engaging the world. King said we are to “be the first in loving, be the first in moral excellence, and be the first in generosity” in order for us to achieve greatness.[1]
The humble faithfulness of Jesus Christ teaches you and me how to be God’s servant. It is God alone who helps us, who strengthens us, who sustains us, and who works through us in order to bring about the greatness of God’s kingdom.
And King went on to say, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And we can be that servant" [if we are open to Jesus’ teachings].[2]
Jesus Christ says “Everyone who hears my teachings and acts on then will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock; The Holy Spirit will teach you everything that I have said to you” (Matthew 7:24; John 14:26). Christ’s teachings are foundational for shaping us to serve as the body of Christ.
God has chosen us in Jesus Christ to bear the weight of grace for "the church has been entrusted with God’s message of reconciliation. Christ has called the church to this mission and given us the gift of the Holy Spirit" to do so.[3]
To be chosen means to be a beloved child of God. Being a beloved child of God means that God sees something special within us which God will shape to bring about God’s purposes. God's purposes point us to the important work which Christ began as God's Servant so long ago.
A dear ministry colleague told me last week that a teacher once imparted a real gem of wisdom that daily saves her from moments of pride and discouragement: “Christ calls us to obedience, the results are his.”
May we go out today seeking the one thing that God treasures above all else. God treasured this in the Servant. God treasured this in the disciples. And God desires for you and me to have this too.
This one thing God treasures above all else is to strive daily to have a teachable spirit. A teachable spirit empowers us to worship, study, fellowship, serve, and reconcile with Christ's humility, love, and mutual forbearance.
If we are open to having a teachable spirit then God will surely accomplish more through us than we can ever hope, ask or imagine.
May it be so for you and for me.
In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1]Martin Luther King, Jr. sermon, "The Drum Major Instinct," February 4, 1968.
[2] King, "The Drum Major Instinct."
[3] Part I of the PC(USA) Constitution, The Book of Confessions, "The Confession of 1967," 9.31
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