God's Promises Unfold

Psalm 146:5-10; Isaiah 35 1-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Strengthen the feeble arms, steady the tottering knees. Say to the anxious, "Be strong and fear not! See, your God comes with vengeance, with dread retribution God comes to save you" (Isaiah 35:3-4).

These are fear-provoking and immobilizing times for many who have labored over the years for a more just society and world. Their arms have indeed grown weary, and their knees totter and shake in the face of the present hour. The Bible is unequivocal in its contention that a frightened and trembling people are unable to act and faithfully stand in their hour of trial. Fear saps their strength and leaves them cowering in a corner, fleeing the harsh realities of their present situation.

Isaiah prophesied to a similarly dispirited and broken people. Judah appeared doomed and its future non-existent. The people were not only anxious about tomorrow but uncertain that they would survive the day. They had lost sight of, and faith in, the promises of God, since all that their eyes could see was desolation and ruin. The prophet challenged them to be strong and to take courage, undergirding one another as they look to the salvation of the Lord. Isaiah triumphantly asserts that God can be trusted and is coming to save you as promised!

This is the testimony of Psalm 146:5-10 as well. To the psalmist, God is creator and savior, a God of power and blessing who can be trusted in every crisis. This God brings justice to the oppressed, feeds the hungry, sets the prisoner free, restores sight to the blind, loves the righteous, takes care of the stranger, gives heart to the orphan and widow, and unseats the wicked from their thrones. This same God, who liberates the people from ancient oppressions in Egypt and makes "a way out of no way" for those in exile, has promised to come to us if we wait with patience.

This is the word of James 5:7-10 to those Jewish Christians of the Diaspora endeavoring to be faithful amid the tribulations of their day. The writer exhorts his readers to be strong, take heart, and patiently hope until the Lord comes. Patient hope, for James, is the active living out of faith in ways that represent clear stances against injustices, always trusting in our God whose purpose is always to save us. Thus the strength to stand in the evil days does not originate with humankind. Our strength comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

Perhaps the diagnosis of our "feeble arms and tottering knees" (our fearfulness and anxiety in the face of injustice) can be located in our tendency to trust ourselves more than we trust God. Could it be that, in our efforts to change the world, we hurry God, chafing at God's ponderous slowness? Could it be that the more committed and involved we are the more impatient we become with the unfolding of God's promise to us?

In Matthew 11:2-7, when the imprisoned John the Baptist sends his followers to inquire as to whether Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, is not his question one of impatience? Isn't he awaiting the initiation of the kingdom in ways alien to that of Jesus? Perhaps John's own fate causes some doubt about God's ways. Therefore, even he questions whether Jesus is really the one.

That is the question of yesterday and today. Isaiah challenged Judah to see the goodness of the Lord and trust the God who promised to save them. The psalmist affirmed in no uncertain terms that we should trust God only. James called upon his readers to stand firm and continue the work of faith, trusting in the nearness of the Lord. Jesus, in his reply to John's question, sent word to him to trust that his saving acts manifested who he was:

Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind recover their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the poor are hearing the good news....

This season the beleaguered are called to trust Jesus and his coming to us. He has not only promised to strengthen us where we are weak and build us up where we are torn down but to be with us in the midst of our struggles and to save us from the evil one and even from our own unfaithfulness. The invitation extended to us is perhaps most fittingly expressed in the following evangelical hymn:

Come every soul from sin oppressed
There's mercy with the Lord
And he will surely give thee rest
By trusting in his word
Only trust him, only trust him now
He will save you, he will save you,
He will save you now.

We are summoned to trust God's trustworthiness and abiding faithfulness to us, no matter what our condition or the circumstance of our lives may be. Thus, in a period which threatens us with selfishness and alienation, who we are and what we seek to do must be rooted in the promises of God as we await a renewed sense of Jesus Christ. We can never forget that God promises to come to us, to be with us, and to go with us to the end.

Psalm 24; Isaiah 7:10-16; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25

Through him I received the privilege of a commission in his name to lead to faith and obedience people in all nations, yourselves among them, you who have heard the call and belong to Jesus Christ. I send greetings to all of you in Rome whom God loves and has called to be his dedicated people. (Romans 1:5-7)

As a seminary teacher in the area of pastoral theology, I have heard students share, discuss, debate, and even argue about their various "calls" to ministry. Some seminarians wear their calls as badges of privilege and special status separating themselves, oftentimes in a hierarchical fashion, from other non-seeking or non-ordained persons. Such questionable clericalism may be extended to other students whose calls do not meet the litmus test requirements of an "authentic" call.

The apostle Paul's understanding of his call and those called by Christ into a new community in Rome is in sharp contrast to those in our day, as well as his, who misconstrue God's call to us in Christ. In his greeting to the Roman Christians, Paul identifies himself as a servant, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle of the gospel of God. This good news, Paul testifies, which has been promised by God through the prophets, concerns Jesus Christ, who was present with the world in his humanity and declared God's son by the power of God. Through the resurrection Christ continues to be present with the world and the church in power and spirit.

It was from this resurrected Lord, the living Christ, that Paul received his apostolic commission. Although his apostolic call failed to meet the litmus test of those who had actually walked with Jesus during his earthly ministry, Paul contended nevertheless that the risen Lord had come to him on the Damascus road and claimed him for his ministry.

For Paul, the coming of Christ into his life was a pivotal occurrence, since he had done nothing to deserve God's favor. On the contrary, he had hounded and persecuted the church. Unlike the worshipers entering the gateway to the temple and thus the presence of God in Psalm 24, Paul's heart was not pure, nor were his hands clean; Paul's heart was sullied by hatred and his hands most probably stained with the blood of the martyrs.

Thus Paul's call to service was not based on anything he had done but based rather on what God had done for him through the graceful gift of Jesus Christ. Paul was summoned by God's gift of new life to obedience and faith.

AHAZ, THE KING of Judah, was called to obedience and faith by God, through Isaiah the prophet! Unlike Paul, Ahaz refused to heed God's summons to trust and obey. Ahaz knew what the Lord required but hardened his heart and turned from God, content to rely upon his own resources and understanding. Although requested to ask for a sign from God, he refused, for to have done so would have been to acknowledge God as the [ruler] of glory and the Lord of hosts, who delivers and saves those called to be the people of God.

Despite the obstinacy of Ahaz, God announces the birth of a child as the sign of deliverance. God's promises made in covenant with the people would be fulfilled. "A young woman is with child, and she will bear a son and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). When the child is born, God, who hears the cries of the people and promises to deliver them, will be present with them in power.

The birth, the coming of the child whom we confess as Jesus Christ our Lord, heralds God's love for us as never before. We, like Paul and the Christians at Rome, are called by God and must respond in obedience and faith. Advent becomes a time of new beginnings, ushering in a new age and bringing into being a new people dedicated to God. Jesus' coming is therefore a calling, a summons to those who believe in him to receive him as the Lord of our lives. We are challenged to recognize that his presence in our lives might be reflected in our behavior, that who we are might be affected by whose we are. We follow the way of Christ because he comes to us, not to condemn but to save us from our sins.

Paul's word to the church at Rome is our word today. We have been called to be a people of faith, having received the promises foretold of old by the prophets. We have been chosen, by the one whom we did not choose, to do justly, to love kindness, and to walk humbly and obediently before our God. We have not been called to special commendation but to special commitment, not to special service but to serve others. We are called by our baptism in Christ, our risen Lord, to be a new people summoned by God to service, compassion, and love for all.

Calvin S. Morris was an associate professor of pastoral theology at Howard University Divinity School in Washington, D.C., when this article appeared.