In the year that King Uzziah died. . .
In the year that King Uzziah died. . .
In the year that Trump began his second term
In the year that King Uzziah died.
You probably didn’t pay much attention to the opening line of today’s Hebrew scripture reading of the call of Isaiah. Just, as, a few weeks ago, when we remembered Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan, perhaps you didn’t spend any time talking about the fact that, in Matthew’s gospel, the story again, begins by reminding us of the political context for these events, that John appears in the wilderness in In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee.
But perhaps, in these turbulent 2020s, there is something to be learned from revisiting the political contexts that our prophets, that Christ and the disciples, lived in and struggled against.
Let’s begin, then, with Isaiah.
In the year that King Uzziah died. We know that this was in fact the year 742 before Christ. And if that doesn’t mean anything to do you, let’s just say this is basically code for, in the year that everything started to go to hell in a handbasket.
The first three kings were Saul, David and Solomon. Together they reigned from about 1050-930 BCE. Solomon built the temple. The great big temple. It was dedicated in 977 but let’s just say, it wasn’t entirely paid for. The temple that took a whole lot of taxation to build and that, as lovely as it was, was the beginning of the end of what scholars call the United Kingdom. Believe it or not in the year 930 there was an ax the tax rebellion and the northern kingdom, Israel, broke away from the southern kingdom, Judah. You can have your big fancy expensive temple, your big government and all that. Well, go our own way said Israel. And so, from that time on there were two kings, one of Israel and one of Judah. Unfortunately, Israel ended up with a whole series of bad kings and only managed to hang on as a nation until 722 when Israel fell to Assyria and was carried off into exile in Babylon.
So 742 is 20 years before the Assyrians conquer the Northern kingdom and make it very clear they would also like to conquer the southern kingdom.
Think of them like the big bully empire threatening to take over, using tariffs and the threat of invasion. It’s not a comfortable place to be, the year that King Uzziah died.
Which brings us to today’s gospel reading. 600 or so years after King Uzziah died it’s the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
Tiberias Caesar was the adopted son of the Holy Roman Emperor the man claiming to be the son of God. Pontius Pilate is the governor of Judea and Simon Peter is a poor fisherman just trying to make a living. Just trying to get by. He’s not having much luck fishing. Jesus tells him to put his nets on the other side and suddenly there are more fish than he can count. But even with all those fish, Simon Peter somehow knows that it’s time to put down his nets and follow Jesus.
But following Jesus isn’t easy. Calling Jesus the son of God was treason. Good subjects were supposed to call Caesar the son of. That’s why, for Peter, when it all gets too real, when the empire comes for Jesus, Peter denies Jesus, the cock crows.
Peter goes back to fishing. And the risen Christ, well the risen Christ must appear to him again, and again tell him to put his nets out on the other side. And give Peter, well, give Peter a second chance. But that, well, that is a story for another day. And that is a story that we believe ends both in Peter being forgiven and being the rock on which the church is built, but also himself being crucified by the empire, in Rome itself.
I spend all this time talking about empires as we are once again living in a time in history where empires are raging. Think of a country with a stable government. No confidence votes in France and Germany, fall of Assad, impeachment in Korea, Russia and India men of questionable character. . . Not to mention the uncertainty in our own country and a certain demagogue to the south of us.
And so what then do we do?
First, we locate ourselves in history. Can’t pretend this is not happening.
And then we listen for the voice of God, the voice of the prophets, the voice of Christ.
To get ready for today’s sermon on Isaiah 6, I went back and read the first 5 chapters of the book of Isaiah, and, for a change I read them from the Message, a modern translation.
Wow was that a trip. Isaiah sets the context in the first chapter. Speaking in God’s voice reminding us that while God has been faithful to the people, the people for forgotten about and rebelled against God.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children[a] have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master's crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
Isaiah makes it clear that God has no interest in the incense and offerings that the people make in the temple if they can’t
cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.
In chapter 3 Isaiah paints a picture of God in the courtroom,
God enters the courtroom.
He takes his place at the bench to judge his people.
God calls for order in the court,
hauls the leaders of his people into the dock:
“You’ve played havoc with this country.
Your houses are stuffed with what you’ve stolen from the poor.
What is this anyway? Stomping on my people,
grinding the faces of the poor into the dirt?”
In chapter 5 Isaiah paints a picture of God as the vine keeper,
He looked for a crop of justice
and saw them murdering each other.
He looked for a harvest of righteousness
and heard only the moans of victims.
8-10 Doom to you who buy up all the houses
and grab all the land for yourselves—
Evicting the old owners,
posting no trespassing signs,
Taking over the country,
leaving everyone homeless and landless.
I don’t know about you but a lot of these accusations sound contemporary to me. We do indeed need a shake-up. We do indeed need to evaluate, as a human race, how we are living, what patterns we have fallen into, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider, why so many are homeless, why so many wars are raging.
Those of us who want to just keep on fishing are going to have to put down our nets and follow, and when we chicken out when we go back to fishing, we’re going to have to hear again the voice of God calling to us a second and third time. Tend my sheep, feed my lambs.
Yes, the world is a mess, yes, the empires are raging and some of them, well some of them might fall, but we have been here before people of God and we know, at least in part, what to do. We know that we cannot hide, we cannot pretend we do not see, we cannot make excuses for ourselves. We must, we must do our part, we must speak out, we must act justly, we must incarnate mercy. We must walk humbly.