Making life difficult.
The first lesson for this past Sunday, 1 Advent (11/26/23), was Isaiah 64:1-9. I have a history with this text.
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence— 2as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! 3When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. 5You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. 8Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
The historical context
In 587 B.C.E. (Jewish sources somehow date these events more than 100 years later.), the Babylonian Empire came and destroyed the kingdom of Judah; destroyed Jerusalem and the first (Solomon’s) Temple; and, in stages, took away all the Israelites, captive, back to Babylon, leaving only the very poorest of the poor. This captivity lasted 70 years.
At the end of the 70 years, a new, upstart empire, Persia, conquered Babylon. The first Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great, decreed that the Jews (as they were now known) were free to return to the Promised Land.
But the land they returned to was not like the land they’d left. Once farmed, land must continuously continue to be farmed, or else it will become sterile, as winds blow away, and rains wash away, the topsoil; as happened with the “Dust Bowl” of the American midwest in the 1930s. Babylon having taken away almost all the farmers, almost all the farmland had become basically desert, and to the best of my knowledge remained that way until 1948.
In this context, the prophet cries out for divine intervention. Deuteronomy had promised that if only the people were diligent in obeying God’s law, God would certainly reward them. But it wasn’t happening. In context, the meaning of the verse that appears above in red might better be expressed, “It’s as if, in your view, all our righteous acts were filthy cloths.”
The end of prophecy
Judaism teaches that, at this time, God removed the gift of prophecy from the people. The last true prophets, it says, are those who were already alive when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple. That means, Haggai and Zechariah. On the one hand, the many references in the New Testament to prophecy as a current phenomenon, indicate that the Jews of Jesus’ time had never got the memo.
On the other hand, secular students suggest something different. Haggai and Zechariah made promises in God’s name that did not come to pass. Specifically referencing the meager harvests, Haggai 2:19 promised, “From this day forward, I will bless you.” But it didn’t happen. Harvests continued meager, and the people continued to be harassed by their enemies, notably the Edomites. So, consistent with Deuteronomy 18:22, the people chose to no longer pay the prophets no mind.
T.U.L.I.P.
John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the most influential of Protestant theologians. Denominations that embrace his thought today call themselves Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, or Church of Christ. The Puritans of Massachusetts were Calvinist.
The five core teachings of his theology are commonly referred to by the acronym T.U.L.I.P. Years ago, when I first became active on FaceBook, I soon learned of pro-TULIP and anti-TULIP groups and discussion boards. The discussions in those groups were always highly acrimonious.
The “T” in T.U.L.I.P. stands for “total depravity.” We shall shortly see what that means.
Silence in the smoke pit
For the first seven years or more of my homelessness, I stayed almost every night at a particular mission. It was a one-day-at-a-time, first-come-first-served proposition. I got turned away more than 40 times because all the bunks had been taken before I arrived.
Yet there was a core of us, 20 to 30 men, who were there almost every night. We formed our own little community. We looked out for each other. These were good men.
We had designated smoke breaks, including one after supper and one after chapel. There was mandatory chapel every night. Different preachers came each night, in a monthly rotation. My personal favorite was Pastor Pam, who came on the second Tuesday each month. She always brought an upbeat message about opportunities to do good things, and to be resilient in the face of difficulty.
In the smoke break after she preached, the smoke pit was always very noisy, because she’d left the men in high spirits.
The second Thursday of each month, Brother Pete and his crew came from Reformation Bible Church, a Calvinist church. They were big on “total depravity” — every human being is totally depraved. Isaiah 64:6 was one of their favorite verses. They held to the — widely held — view, that it’s OK to cut any Bible verse out of its own context, and say it applies to anyone, anywhere, anytime. So, all our righteous acts are no more than filthy rags. One preacher said the rags are, specifically, menstrual cloths. Another said they were like cloths used to wipe out a chamber pot, full of excrement.
Every time, after these folks came, the smoke pit was utterly silent, as each man turned within to grieve his depravity.
Peace of mind
is, in my mind, paramount. It is the key to successfully managing one’s own life, and to effectively being light to and for the people one lives with. Accordingly, it is essential to discard any teaching, belief or concept that impairs one’s peace of mind. Rather than ponder one’s “total depravity,” how much better it would be to ponder the “divine spark” at the core of your being, that which is the real you, the source of all goodness and joy and light that you can bring into this world.
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