Pursuing the Vision

Ordinary Time XXXIII; November 18, 2007

Isaiah 65:17-25

It is a marvelous picture, is it not? People living to over one hundred, having rewarding, meaningful work and living in peace. The classical image of carnivores dwelling peacefully with herbivores – quite against Nature – appears here and in other places in the Bible. It is symbolic, of course, this whole vision is symbolic. Since I have been putting the Bible passages into historical context for you the last few months, let me do that again. Simply, this vision is for when the people return to Jerusalem from exile. It is a vision of what God has in mind for them.

You and I have a choice with respect to the vision. It’s the same choice we have with respect to practically everything. How are we going to take it? Shall we be negative about it or positive? This is always true in relationships: your wife or husband or child or friend says something to you or does something and you have a choice on how to take it. I remember this incident vividly. Two families had a business together. One woman left a note for the other woman, giving her a status report on something they were working on. How was the other woman to take it? Should she assume that her partner was trying to be helpful? Or should she assume that her partner thought she was an idiot and needed to be told everything?

I confess to being one of those people who is always inclined to the negative interpretation of what other people say and do. So I choose the positive interpretation. I make myself decide that my partner is trying to be helpful, my friend is being considerate, my wife is showing her concern for me – knowing that my sinful tendency is to be negative. With me, to be positive does not come naturally; it is a choice.

So I choose to be positive about the Prophet’s vision. How easy it would be to mock him! This prophecy is some 2500 years old and Jerusalem is still a problem for the world, there is still infant mortality in the world, a 100-year lifespan is more of a goal than an expectation. And the social implications of his vision – that there will no longer be predators taking other people’s land (v. 22) and that people will have meaningful, rewarding work (v. 23) – are a long way from fulfillment. As the wag said: sure the wolf and the lamb may feed together, but the lamb is going to be awfully nervous about it.

I urge you to be positive about the vision. Think positively about God’s vision and take encouragement from it. Get on with pursuing the vision.

We should take “Jerusalem” in this vision not only literally but also symbolically. Jerusalem stands for the City of God, for people living together as the people of God. It could be a church where the people actually follow Jesus, a community where the Prophet’s vision of social justice is realized, a family where the strong serve the weak and generations encourage one another rather than being down on one another – how many of those will there be this Thanksgiving?

Last week we sang a setting of Psalm 145 that was set to a tune named “Jerusalem.” The tune was written by C. Hubert H. Parry for a poem written by William Blake. Today we will sing another hymn with the same tune (“O Day of Peace,” #450 in The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990)), words that echo the vision in Isaiah 65. Why is the tune called “Jerusalem”?

It is called that because it is the title of Blake’s poem. He wrote it in 1804, during the early part of the Industrial Revolution; he was concerned about the future of England as it became industrialized, captive to factories and mills and divided between owners and workers. His was the same concern reflected later in the century by the work of Dickens, including in everyone’s favorite Christmas story, A Christmas Carol. Blake used as a beginning-place for his poem an old legend that the boy Jesus had visited England with his uncle. He wondered whether the presence of Jesus might not have brought holiness to England at one time in the past and whether England could be redeemed from the social injustice of the Industrial Revolution. Here is the poem:

And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green?

And was the holy Lamb of God on England’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!

Bring me my arrows of desire!

Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,

Till we have built Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant Land.

The possibility that the Son of God may have set foot upon England’s land motivated Blake to imagine building the City of God in England. To that effort he dedicates himself in the last stanza of the poem.

When we are offered a vision of Jerusalem really built in our own land we can choose to be cynical and say, “It will never happen.” No doubt many who heard the prophet say that the word of God is “I am about to create Jerusalem a joy and its people as a delight” responded by saying the Hebrew equivalent of, “Yeah, right.”

Or we can choose to believe the vision and to pursue the vision. To believe the vision means that whenever we catch a glimpse of Jerusalem, we can say, “God has been here.” To pursue the vision means to take up our own bows of burning gold and arrows of desire, and so forth, and build Jerusalem in our green and pleasant land.

I find most remarkable the attitude of God in this vision. Sure, the sermon is to urge you to have a positive attitude, to pursue the vision of Jerusalem rather than to be cynical about it, but we should pause and give thanks for the attitude of God. God is not cynical. God does not command the prophet to say, “Do these things or I will blast you,” as often appears in the words of the prophets. Rather, God says, “I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.”

Perhaps those of us who are inclined to be negative would benefit by constant reminders of the attitude of God toward us. Maybe we should make samplers or wood carvings or calligraphy with the words of God on them: “I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.” When God thinks about his people, what does he contemplate? “I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.” When God listens to his people’s prayers and hymns, what does he hear? “I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.” When God looks at his people at work, at worship and at play, what does he see? “I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.”

Do you and I dare grow cynical about the people of God – do we dare “dis” the people of God – when that is God’s attitude toward his people? “I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.” God has not given up on the vision of building Jerusalem “as a joy and its people as a delight” in England or Iraq or Pakistan or Zimbabwe or Sudan or Venezuela or even Iowa. Dare we give up? Or shall we rather pursue the vision?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!

Bring me my arrows of desire!

Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight, nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,

Till we have built Jerusalem in every green and pleasant Land.

Lord, give us faith in the vision, confidence in ourselves, and hope in you. Through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Amen.

Robert A. Keefer

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Clarinda, Iowa