now all them things that seemed so important

well mister they vanish right into the air

Final sermon from the Old Testament: 

Before we hear our reading, I would like to set it up:
It begins, of course, with old Sarah and Abraham. The two of them, trying to make a go of it in the wilderness. Without a child.
When out of nowhere, God sends a messenger to those two with a promise. A promises that sounds too good to be true. God will send them offspring. 

But not just a child. God promises to multiply their descendants. Even providing their descendants land to inhabit. God, the messenger says, is going to make these two ancestors of a great people!

Old and childless though they may have been, God stayed faithful. In time sending them a child. And then, two grandchildren! And then, a gaggle of great-grandchildren!

…Right when it began to look as if the promise made to Sarah and Abraham was about to be fulfilled, the grandchildren were at each other’s throats. Jacob’s brother sell him in to slavery, to try and cover up their wrongdoing they tell their Dad Josep died. 

To make matters worse, a famine hits.

To survive the famine, Jacob’s brothers go to Egypt to buy grain. Egypt has been stockpiling produce to prepare for the harvest…

It was their very brother, Joseph, who was running the program. The brothers meet with their long-lost brother again. In Egypt the descendants of Sarah and Abraham are finally reunited.

They try to make a go of it in Egypt, too. God stays faithful, the descendants of Sarah and Abraham continue multiplying. Now, though, the promise creates a problem. 

The king of Egypt, the Pharaoh worries these descendants of Sarah and Abraham are getting too numerous. If they rose up they could overthrow him. The Pharaoh makes it his policy to enslave all the descendants of Sarah and Abraham. 

For years that’s exactly what happened, too. 

When the promise was nearly forgotten, out of nowhere God sends another messenger. This time, Moses. And Moses’ message too, sounds too good to be true. God’s going to set the descendants of Sarah and Abraham free. 

Everyone gets the memo, but Pharaoh. God stays faithful, though, delivering the descendants of Sarah and Abraham from Pharaoh’s armies through the Red Sea; to freedom.

But a habit begins to form…

Right when the promise made to Sarah and Abraham was about to be fulfilled, the people make a golden calf to worship. God may have shown Pharaoh, but it turns out its descendants of Sarah and Abraham who don’t believe. 

Idolatrous though the descendants of Sarah and Abraham may be, God stays faithful. And that’s another pattern in this history, isn’t it?

Over 40 long years, God and the people wander in the wilderness. When the promise was nearly forgotten, God takes the descents of Sarah and Abraham into the land promised long ago! 

God kept the promise! Finally, everything promised to Sarah and Abraham is delivered; decedents and land! 

…Only, the descendants of Sarah and Abraham still don’t believe. God sends them leader after leader. Finally, sending them King David. A king after God’s own heart. God blesses David’s reign. It’s prosperous one, a palace is built and there’s even plans for a temple. 

Right when the promise made to Sarah and Abraham finally is about to come to pass; David has an affair. 

To make matters worse, he murders the woman’s husband to try and cover up his sin. 

Before long, David’s wrongdoing has spread to his children. They begin fighting like Sarah and Abraham’s great-grandchildren. Eventually, the feud spreads throughout the entire kingdom. The nation itself divides into two factions. 

Although the descendants of Sarah and Abraham turn on each other, God stays faithful. God sends another messenger to the people. Prophets like Elijah and Jeremiah, with a word from God, calling the people back. 

But the prophets get no better than any other of God’s messengers did. The word they bring sounds too good to be true…

It’s not long before another nation takes advantage of the internal-chaos. The Babylonian empire comes, and conquers the descendants of Sarah and Abraham. 

It’s the policy of the Babylonians to deport prisoners of war. And that’s what the do. 

Leading the land promised to Sarah and Abraham laying vacant…

God stays faithful, though. Sending another messenger. The prophet Joel with a message that God will deliver the descendants of Sarah and Abraham from their captivity. 

Some people, like Daniel, cling to that. Living as if God will deliver them. Most, though, don’t heed the prophet’s message. It sounds too good to be true. 

When the promise was nearly forgotten, another kingdom comes on the scene. A kingdom that defeats the Babylonians. A kingdom that tells the descendants of Sarah and Abraham they are free to return the their land! The land promised to Sarah and Abraham long ago. 

The decedents of Sarah and Abraham find themselves journey back to the land promised to their ancestors long ago! 

Finally, as the promise to Sarah and Abraham was about to be fulfilled, there’s a drought. To make matters worse it’s followed be an invasion of locusts that consume the harvest. 

The people may have returned to the land promised to Sarah and Abraham, but the temple sits in ruins. And now, to top it all off, the land’s ravaged too. 

If God’s promise sounded too good to be true to Sarah and Abraham, to Moses, to King David, to the exiles; imagine how it sounded to the descendants of Sarah and Abraham then.

When God’s promise was nearly forgotten, God shows again, with another message. This time for Isaiah…. 

It is at that point in the history of the descendants of Sarah and Abraham, that God sends another messenger, Isaiah. It is at that bleak moment, Isaiah comes…

*Isaiah 61 reading*

In our scripture for today, Isaiah’s long career draws to a close. He gives his farewell address, as it were. Like this season itself, it’s a mixture of joy and sorrow. 

After everything, what do the decedents of Sarah and Abraham have to show for it all?

A land no one would bother to invade? A nation no country would trouble itself to conquer?

Instead of lamenting, Isaiah rejoices! Instead of lamenting, Isaiah rejoices!

‘God’s not done,’ declares Isaiah. ‘There’s still more to come,’ insists the prophet. 

…Well, I wish I could tell you Isaiah got a better hearing than any of the others who came speaking God’s Word.

That’s not what happened, though. 

It never seems to be.

Isaiah’s words sounded too good to be true. 

It wasn’t long before another kingdom rose to power. The Romans. 

While the Romans might have let Sarah and Abraham’s descendants stay in their measly land, they ruled with an iron-fist. Stationing soldiers in the land promised to Sarah and Abraham. Soldiers to make sure none of their decedents ever got the idea to have a king like David again. 

For the pleasure of that occupying army, the Roman’s exacted high taxes. 

In fact, one king, Augustus, had a worldwide tax. Without a second thought he made everyone travel to their hometowns to be registered for this tax. 

The king could have cared less about what kind of hardships that put on the people. 

People like a young couple going back to the hole-in-the-wall town, Bethlehem. She was expecting, and he didn’t know where they’d stay for the night.

Folks like that couldn’t have mattered less to the king.

What the king didn’t know though, was God had sent another message to that couple. 

The young woman, said the angel, would bear a child. A to embody the promise made to Sarah and Abraham. Embody the promise all of God’s messengers ever came speaking

What, you don’t believe me? It sounds too good to be true?
Well, it wouldn't be the first time.
And maybe it won't be the last time God proves faithful, either...