In my work at the Parktown Food Hub we jumped into the relief efforts and quickly learned exactly how large these problems are. We have had to make hard decisions about what we can and cannot do, and we have spent much energy helping well-meaning people understand that when the problem is massive, the place to start is a tiny corner with actual people, building relationships and finding out how to meet specific needs one at a time.
This message was delivered in Vespers at the Stewart Health Center of Springmoor Retirement Village but the people of McDougald Terrace were heavy on my mind in the writing of it. I am immeasurably grateful for the grace that placed this particular text in my path at this particular time.
A bruised reed will not be broken, and a dimly burning wick will not be quenched. This is the drumbeat that has been in my head this week and the reason that I will keep on going. Because I know that in following God, the bruised are healed and the dimly burning are fanned into flame.
You can listen to the message as delivered here.
The texts for today are:
Isaiah 42:1-9 (this passage includes the part about the bruised reed)
Psalm 29
Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 3:13-17
Come Holy Spirit. Take us by the hand and lead us to your vision of how our lives should be. May these words and our meditations bring us closer to you. Amen.
Y’all, I am feeling kind of bruised these days. Wars and rumors of wars. People put out of their apartments because staying in their apartments is killing them or at least making them really sick. My 56 year old body doesn’t want to do the things that my mind thinks would be fun and when I sneeze sometimes it hurts like my insides are exploding!
Bruised.
And all those things make it hard to stay cheerful and faithful. Now, I know this is not a permanent thing, and as soon as I get a little rested up I feel better. But this week as I was driving around, getting to know people who are having some pretty bad situations in their lives, taking food to people who have been put out of their apartments for health and safety reasons… well… it wore me down a little.
And it’s not just me. I hear it has been a hard weekend here at Springmoor. The people who were here just a week or two ago are now gone. It’s a hard time. It’s the kind of time that might make somebody say…
are we SURE that this God thing is real?
And so what a wonderful time to read the texts we have today. The gospel lesson, in which Jesus is baptized - over John’s protests, I would like to note. But John went along with it because Jesus said it was necessary “to fulfill all righteous.” Or put another way, to “fulfill God’s justice.” Or “because God’s work is coming together right now.”
Jesus is being so fully human that he was requesting baptism, just like we are baptized. But what is this justice? What is God’s righteousness?
I think the answer to that question is in the first reading today, from Isaiah. Isaiah is telling the exiled people of Israel what God’s chosen will do: Bring forth justice to the nations
Isaiah says God’s chosen will “not cry or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street”… and what did Jesus do? Instead of going through the existing power structures, Jesus walked and worked one on one. He built relationships. Oh, sure, he talked to (and fed) huge groups, but the work that became the gospels was always with a few friends, with individuals.
Isaiah says God’s chosen will not break a bruised reed, will not quench a dimly burning wick, but will faithfully bring forth justice. And that is just how Jesus acted:
* People who were bruised: sick in body or sick in mind, sick with grief or sick in spirit – Jesus did not cast them aside or push them to further brokenness. Jesus healed and revived and loved them: the demoniac in the tombs, the grieving mother of a dead child, the lame man lowered through the roof while he was teaching… they were bruised and hurting and ignored or punished by society - but Jesus loved them.
* Jesus did not put out dimly burning wicks, either. When the daddy in Mark 9 was so, so sad but asked Jesus to heal his little boy “if he was able.” Jesus questioned his belief and that man answered with such honesty: “I believe! Help my unbelief!” His faith was dimmed by grief and fear but Jesus did not point out his error or fault. Jesus met that man right where he was and loved him… healed his son… and rather than quench his dim wick of faith he loved it into greater flame.
* And Jesus faithfully brought forth justice: the justice of comforting the people who were socially disadvantaged while making people of power and privilege uncomfortable.
All those things from Isaiah, talking about how God’s chosen one would be on the earth, would not grow faith or be crushed (and would not crush anyone else) until justice was on the earth.
Of course, you might be thinking that Jesus WAS crushed. He was unjustly crucified on a cross… but it was in that death that Jesus established justice.
Not the justice of punishment and judgment but the justice of love for all
Forgiveness for all
Redemption from our brokenness
And a return to how creation was in the beginning
And how it will be one day again, when Jesus returns.
Jesus sealed the deal of justice for all in the Resurrection.
In and through Isaiah, God made promises and Jesus was the one through whom God kept those promises. And as fully human as Jesus was, the fact that he COULD keep those promises from Isaiah are a strong signal to me that Jesus must, in fact, be God.
Because we human beings just couldn’t do it.
We tend to want to feel the power of big things instead of doing it the slow way. Like Jesus did. Through relationship.
We want it to be true that “it’s better to just tear it down and start fresh” – which might work for old buildings or broken pottery
But it never ever works that way with people.
Jesus taught us that loving and caring for bruised reeds and dim wicks is how God intends for things to be done.
When God takes us by the hand and leads us, and we go where we are led, then we will behave a little more like Jesus than like the world.
Not perfectly, of course! We just can’t ever reach perfect.
But because of Jesus’ Resurrection our blind eyes can be opened and
* we will see a better way – a way that protects those who are bruised, who are feeling faint and depleted and dim.
* We will be brought up out of the dungeons of our sorrow and set free so that we can be with and care for others instead of only being with and for ourselves.
In Jesus and because of the Resurrection, we are freed from darkness and can walk in the light as we see where God is leading.
But what about when we fail?
Because you know we are going to fail. We just can’t manage to love perfectly. But we can remember that we can start again. That even if we find ourselves having caused more bruises than we heal, we can start over again. Because we are forgiven.
When we slip back into our dark dungeons we can know that the light is out there looking for us.
When we are tired and bruised we can live in confidence that God loves us and will not break us. We can recognize where God is because those will be places of healing, not of destruction. God may start over in our lives but it will be a fresh start for the exact person we are in that moment.
Our dim, weak moments will not lead to our destruction in God but to healing and growth and a deeper form of wholeness.
What beautiful good news this is for all of us!!
If your body is not as strong and healthy as it once was
If your mind slips a little, or even a lot
If you miss the home where you can no longer live
If you worry about your children
If you wonder if you are slowly being forgotten
TAKE HEART.
Jesus knows what you are feeling and because of Jesus you will not be broken when you are bruised.
You will not be quenched in the moments your prospects for joy seem dim.
Instead you can rest in confidence that all over the place eyes are being opened to see your plight and help
All over the place people are shining using the light shining in themselves to brighten up the darkest dungeons.
God is constantly re-creating
Constantly re-inventing
Constantly making new
Always finding amazing, astonishing, beautiful ways to shine light and love into your life.
AMEN.
