Messages, Meditations, and Musings on the Life of Faith by Rev. Dr. Scott E. Olson, Interim Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Preston, MN

Sunday, November 22, 2015

"Little Sprouts" - Sermon for Christ the King Sunday

Little Sprouts
Christ the King Sunday – Narrative Lectionary 2
Grace, Mankato, MN
November 22, 2015
Isaiah 5.1-7; 11.1-5

This past week, as I was working on the text for today’s message, as it does so often, a song came into my head. This week it was, “(Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” From the 70s, it was first sung by BJ Thomas, then the Muppets (believe it or not) and covered by Kenny Rogers. It was, as a line says, “a real hurtin’ song about a love that’s gone wrong.” Although neither Isaiah nor God are not sitting in a bar listening to a juke box, the first few verses in chapter 5 constitute a love song. Isaiah is prophesying about the same time as Hosea (whom we heard from last week), mid to late 8th c. BCE. Isaiah, however, is in Judah instead of Israel. It seems that the southern kingdom is not faring any better in its relationship with God than Hosea’s northern kingdom. It’s a love that’s gone wrong.

Whereas Hosea used the images of loving spouse and parent vs. adulterous spouse and rebellious child, Isaiah uses the image of gardener who lovingly plants and tends a vineyard that goes way wrong. With this love song in chapter 5 we catch another glimpse into the suffering heart of God. Anybody who has spent countless hours in a garden only to produce “wild grapes” can relate to the pain God feels when his lavish attention goes for naught. The injustice God witnesses makes God see red, literally. These are not minor infractions that God’s people commit. This is headline producing, CNN worthy brokenness.

Sometimes, out of love for the right result, you have to tear up a garden and start over again or instead you might let it lie fallow for a time. Indeed, that’ God’s intention in chapter 5. But, we know that God has promised not to annihilate the earth again. So, if you are God, you work for the good of the whole through actions of a few. That brings us to chapter 11. Now, there is a lot of conversation about what the stump of Jesse refers to, but that’s beyond our scope here. Even so, there’s no doubt that Isaiah says a new kind of leader will arise to make things right. This leader shall receive the Spirit of God and will be on the side of the poor and marginalized.

The early church struggled to make sense of who Jesus was. At first glance, he seemed a most unlikely Messiah (or Christ). But as they looked back through the scriptures they saw in Isaiah (among other places) this description that seemed to fit. Jesus was of the house of David and therefore he was a branch of Jesse (David’s father). Jesus was a legitimate successor to the throne of David. Yet, as we see in the passion narratives and other places, Jesus is a different kind of king with a different kind of kingdom. This king came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for “a love that’s gone wrong.”

It is no accident that we have imported language from chapter 11 into our baptismal service. God gives us the “spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of council and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” just as God has given this same spirit to Jesus. We are, to borrow a title from our faith formation with toddlers, “Little Sprouts.” The reformer, Martin Luther, calls us “little Christs,” but since Jesus is the Branch of Jesse, we are “little sprouts.” Through our baptisms into Jesus’ life, death and resurrection we become signs of his kingdom.

Of course, this new way of living is both already and not yet; we are trying to live it out even as we live into it. Through Jesus, we seek to be a community of forgiveness when “love goes wrong.” Living into the reign of Christ means resisting the values of this world that stand against God. The way of Jesus means working for justice and peace. Finally, it means being humble and recognizing that we don’t bring in the kingdom or possess it. God’s preferred future is a gift to be received and only then as something to be sought. This is not easy work, my friends, as we see the injustices abounding, but it is our calling and one I know you take seriously. As the fear mongering rages over many things, particularly the Syrian refugees, I know that we’ll be the “Little Sprouts” that God has called us to be. Why is that so? It is so because you have stood with the refugee and the broken and the poor so many times before that I know you’ll do it again. We may not always get it right, but we will follow the way of Jesus, trusting in his forgiveness and strength. Amen.

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