I saw a
video of a man walking through his house – everything was organized and neat.
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Sits
down to relax and notices his wife’s glasses. Puts them on.
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Everywhere
he looks – mess! Dirty clothes, piles of mail, clutter everywhere.
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Takes
them off – organized and neat. Back on – mess and clutter. He’s shook.
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Goes
to kitchen – everything looks good, until – puts on glasses – sink with dishes,
pots and pans on the stove, boxes and containers on the counter. (off – fine,
on – mess)
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Sets
glasses down and runs out of the room.
Next scene
the wife is tidying up. Laundry basket balanced on her hip. Sees her husband's
glasses. Picks them up and puts them on. Everything in the house looks neat and
tidy! Even the laundry in her basket is folded! Takes them off – clutter and
unfolded laundry. She looks at the glasses, thinking. Then she puts them back
on, sets down the laundry basket, grabs the remote and sits down to watch t.v.
with a big smile on her face.
Bit of a
stereotype about men and women, but, perhaps, a kernel of truth in it.
Sometimes people don’t see the messes around them. It’s as if
they are blind – and sometimes even willfully blind – to what is going on
around them.
There is a
spiritual reality connected to this phenomenon of being perfectly able to see
and yet remaining blind to our spiritual reality.
Over this
Lenten season, I’ve been describing the Bible as the account of creatures in
rebellion against our Creator, and our God who is determined to save His
people.
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Fallen
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Blessed
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Known
– Exodus – not so much that they were known by God, but the amazing thing was
that God was making Himself known … for them and for us. (The God who saves
sinners.)
Today, we
look at how God has dealt with his people who, despite his efforts to make
himself know, seem to stubbornly remain blind.
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Pick
up at Exodus – 40 years of wandering, finally Promised Land under Joshua
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Time
of the Judges – Tribes – loosely connected, local heroes who rose up and drew
the tribes together. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”
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A
great judge and prophet – Samuel – people began to clamor for a king – even
though God was their ruler.
o
“They’re
not rejecting you, they’re rejecting Me.”
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Saul,
David, and Solomon
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Rehoboam
– split the kingdom
o
Always
a struggle with idolatry – but now the North goes all in as their state
religion. Taken away by the Assyrians (“Lost Tribes of Israel”)
o
South
lasted longer, but also struggled going back and forth from good kings to bad
ones.
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In
all of this – God sent Prophets – Calling to repentance
o
Message
warning of doom
o
Messages
of salvation
o
Call
to return to God in love and obedience.
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Isaiah
was one of these prophets
o
A
lot about the Messiah
o
A
lot of doom and warning.
Isaiah
42:14-15 – Doom and judgement – held His peace, restrained Himself – But like a
woman in labor, the time has come and there is no stopping his judgement from
coming.
4:16 – But
God is still determined to save His people. “I will not forsake them!” The
blind will be led and guided. (But who are these blind ones? More in v. 18-19)
4:17 – A
warning against putting hope in idols – “metal images”
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Crass
Idolatry
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Our
temptation tends toward “fine idolatry” – not that it’s fine, as in okay, but
fine in the sense that it is subtle.
o
Where
we place our hope, where we turn in times of trouble, what our hearts love.
o
Social
media, political echo chambers (skewering justice for those idiots who believe
other than I do – religiously, politically, conspiratorially!), escapist
fantasies (not just the sexual kind, but entertaining stories, AI images, reels
designed to pull you down the rabbit hole).
o
Often
keeping us from the people who are right there in front of us!
o
Blinding
us …
4:18-20 –
“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my
servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe
them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.”
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Who
are the blind that God will lead? His people.
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Look
at all He has done – creating, blessing, saving, redeeming – O.T.
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Also
the N.T. – Sent his one and only Son! The cross! The empty tomb!
Jesus came
to open the eyes of the blind – actually and metaphorically! He came to open
the ears of the deaf – physically and spiritually!
Yet we have
an incredible capacity to put the emphasis on the wrong syllable!
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See
the natural processes of life – don’t see the Creator at work creating and
sustaining life – and life has become cheap in our world! – Abortion,
euthanasia, and war
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Look
at Jesus.
o
Over-fixate
on ethics and obedience (Great Teacher) – leading to an attempt at
self-righteousness that doesn’t fully embrace the radical nature of grace –
it’s all Jesus!
o
Fall
into the trap of “cheap grace” – Bonhoeffer – everything is forgiven, but no
repentance, no change of heart!
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See
faith as a personal choice and decision – not a matter of truth and reality! A
matter of death and life in which we need the Holy Spirit to call, gather, and
enlighten us.
To such
people God says, “Take my hand. I will lead you. I will guide you.”
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So
many Psalms – “Teach me … your ways, your commands, your laws, your paths.”
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Dependence
–
Part of what
I love about Lent – strip it back. Reflect. Let God show us where we don’t see
quite right, where we have been deaf to His Word. Hear again the story of our
salvation and have our eyes opened to see Jesus on the cross – the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world – including yours and mine, thanks be to
God – but the sins of the world! The hope we live in and the hope we share.
Amen.
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