First Presbyterian Church, East Moline, IL
November 16, 2025, Pentecost 23C
Scriptural Whiplash
At first glance, one might have trouble imagining why these two scriptures were paired up in today's lectionary. If anything, they might seem to be diametrically opposed to one another.
The words from the next-to-last chapter of the book of Isaiah are a look at a time yet to come. Images within this passage both hearken back to earlier writings (the serpent's payback in verse 25, being reduced to eating dust, seems a deliberate echo of the fall story in Genesis) and anticipate future oracles (Revelation 21 starts with a very clear of Isaiah's verse 17 here). The promise here is that the Lord, to borrow a phrase from chapter 43 of this book, is doing a new thing; not just the new heavens and earth but a "new Jerusalem" as a source of joy rather than sorrow. Long lives are the rule rather than the exception; people get to enjoy the fruits of their labor without having them taken away; animals live in harmony with one another. It is a deeply optimistic vision.
Luke's reading, on the other hand, is anything but optimistic at first blush. Jesus speaks of the temple being destroyed, an event still in the future in Jesus's time but already done by the time Luke's gospel was written. Wars and insurrections were not at all unknown in that time. Persecution is familiar to Luke's readers, with martyrdom coming first to the deacon Stephen and later to the apostle James, not to mention such early church leaders as Paul, executed somewhere around the year 62 - again, well before Luke's gospel was written. Verse 12 almost sounds like Jesus foretelling his own fate as one that awaited his followers as well. (And that instruction in verse 14, the one about "not to prepare your defense in advance"? Does that leave anyone else feeling a bit shaky? But then, the apostles in the early chapters of the book of Acts, being filled with the Spirit when brought before the Temple authorities, might be an example of following this instruction.)
So, the two readings assigned to today don't immediately seem to have much in common, and one might a kind of scriptural whiplash moving from Isaiah's joyful vision to Jesus's more hard-edged discourse in Luke. However, if we "widen the field" just a bit we discover that, far from being in opposition to one another, these two scriptures may in fact be in harmony with each other, or at least singing from the same hymnal, so to speak.
Our reading today comes from the next-to-last chapter of Isaiah. The final portion of this book is primarily addressed to the Israelites who had returned from exile in Babylon. What they found when they returned, to be honest, was not much. The Temple, what had been the central point of Jewish worship and practice, was broken down and not functional. The same could be said of the homes and farmland that had been left behind; what had once been fertile soil and dwelling places was now mostly wasteland.
Roughly the last eleven chapters of Isaiah are addressed to these returnees, whose current life and standing looked nothing like the beautiful vision Isaiah pours out here. These chapters contain a lot of lament from the people, a goodly amount of chastisement directed at those same people for their sins and shortcomings, and the occasional piece of encouragement, of which this is the most well-known example. That new heaven and new earth will come, but there will be challenges along the way, and some of those challenges will even be self-imposed.
Similarly, the passage from Luke does not tell the whole story. After the event at the Temple when Jesus comments on the poor widow who gave everything she had, some of the disciples have gotten distracted by how impressive the Temple was, which frankly was part of the purpose for which it was built. Jesus makes his pronouncement about its destruction (as we have already noted) and continues with the forth-telling, continuing to add more and more calamities to the list.
But then, when his listeners might have been on the brink of despair at all manners of disasters and forebodings, Jesus throws this curveball in verse 28:
Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Just when all seems lost, the tables turn and the Son of Man appears.
In the end, it turns out, these two readings are far from opposed; one might say they're both pieces of the same jigsaw puzzle, each fitting into its place in the overall story we are given in scripture. There will be hardship and difficult times; there will be (or have already been) wars and insurrections; but still the new heaven and earth come, our redemption draws near.
Notice one thing missing from these stories; at no point is the follower of Christ called to "go to war" or anything like that. The closest thing we get to an order is in that verse 28; "stand up and raise your heads...". That's it. We stand up and we look for Jesus.
To be sure, standing has its own risks. You might get thrown down on the ground, choking, with somebody's knee on your throat. You might get a bunch of pepper balls shot right at your face. Nonetheless, amidst all the signs and rumors and violence and fear, we stand and look for the Son of Man.
We know from Isaiah that a new heaven and a new earth are coming,
We know from what Luke wrote down from Jesus that there will be many fierce challenges on the way.
And between the two of them, we know how it ends.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Hymns (from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal): #839, Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine!; #767, Together We Serve; #738, O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee
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