From the Ground Up: Isaiah 61:1-11 - Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Last week, the world watched anxiously as rescue crews searched for a small, deep-water submersible, occupied by one pilot and four tourists on an expedition to view the wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic. 

The submersible was operated by a company called OceanGate Expeditions, which charged $250,000 per person for the ten hour round trip voyage beneath 13,000 feet of ocean. 

Thursday evening, the hopes of rescue faded as a debris field was spotted about a quarter mile from the Titanic’s final resting place.

It’s awful that the Titanic is still claiming lives over 111 years after it sunk in the North Atlantic, taking over 1,500 precious lives with it. 

While this rescue effort was underway, another maritime disaster was occurring on the Mediterranean Sea. A ramshackle fishing boat stuffed with hundreds of refugees capsized off the coast of Greece. Even though several hundred refugees were rescued, dozens of bodies have been recovered, and many more are missing and presumed dead. Unfortunately, the rescue efforts and media attention given to this tragedy pale in comparison to that of the submersible. 

This got me thinking: what if the four wealthy tourists had decided to use their one million dollars to help war refugees, like the ones who died in the Mediterranean? They and the pilot would still be alive, and the lives of countless, vulnerable individuals could have been saved.

These tragedies, along with the tragedy of the Titanic, demonstrate how destructive the pursuit of wealth and luxury can be to the lives of the poor as well as the rich. 

If there is one constant throughout the Scriptures, it is that nothing brings down God’s wrath as much as violence, the idolatry of wealth, and the oppression of the poor. These are the reasons why God’s people were taken into exile in Babylon. Unfortunately, the exile did not dismantle the unjust power structures among God's people. 

But things are about to change.

The Lord has anointed the prophet Isaiah to “bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance for our God.” 

Click here to read the Scripture text

God’s saving power will be revealed among those who have no power. Those whom the world has left behind, and those who have been pushed behind, will be the very first to be exalted by God. Jesus said it best: “the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

This truth is key to understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Incidentally, it is also key to understanding why Jesus was condemned to die on the cross.

Jesus quoted Isaiah’s words in his synagogue at Nazareth to announce that he is God’s Messiah. The people there became so angry at him that they tried to hurl him off a cliff. And these were people he’d known his entire life. 

To them, Jesus was blaspheming God by making such grandiose claims about himself as a carpenter’s son. And they weren’t about to stand idly by while Jesus threatened to turn the entire social order upside down.

As sinners, we can be very possessive of our blessings. We don’t like to share, and we don’t like to see other people being handed things that we’ve been denied or had to struggle for. 

Social problems like homelessness, poverty, and lack of opportunity exist not because we lack the resources to resolve them. They persist because we lack the will to resolve them. God, on the other hand, does not lack then will.

God lifts up the left behind. Jesus makes his saving power most visible where God’s children are hurting and in need.

There is no better way to share your faith by showing someone how much they matter to God.  

You do that by showing up and giving yourself to those who cannot give to you in return.

This happens every Saturday we open our clothing closet. The one thing that fills that basement room more than clothing and more than people is love, as real needs are met in Jesus’s name. If you’ve never volunteered or haven’t volunteered in a while, you’re missing out on an easy way of seeing God’s power at work!

But it takes more than that. It’s been more than a decade since this congregation has organized a mission trip or ministered directly to persons experiencing homelessness. So many needs around us are going unmet, and so many people are going through life without knowing God’s love, because they haven’t witnessed the love of God’s people. Do we lack the resources to make a difference? Or do we lack the will?

If only we could be as eager to do for others as we are to indulge ourselves? If only we sought the Kingdom of God as we seek the world’s goods?

Wherever you see power, wealth, and luxury—you are seeing something that has no place in God’s promised future. This is especially true when these “goods” are enjoyed at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. But where love, friendship, and solidarity exists with the poor and powerless, there is God. There is no trickle down in the kingdom of God. God’s kingdom comes from the bottom up. This is where the church must be. Wealth is temporary. So is success. But love and charity are forever. 

Photo by Joel Stählin on Unsplash