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Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2,8-18; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56

The Lord God bless you and keep you.
The Lord God make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord God lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

We find this blessing in the Old Testament book of Numbers (6:22-27).  On Mount Sinai, during the wilderness wanderings of the newly freed Hebrew slaves, God spoke these words to Moses, who then instructed Aaron to pronounce God’s blessing on the people.  These words were written down during the time of the Babylonian exile when scholars believe the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, were composed.  Once again, the People of God were enslaved in a foreign land. 

About the time of the prophet Isaiah these words were inscribed on a clay jar.

        The Lord God bless you and keep you. 

Archeologists discovered the same words on matching silver amulets dated late seventh century B.C.E. 

Twice in our Psalm for today, Psalm 80, we find similar words, verse 7 & verse 18.

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts,
show us the light of your countenance,
and we shall be saved.

In God’s light we are enabled to see light, even in the dark times of the Psalmist.  The vineyard (the People of God) that God had carefully planted, nurtured and protected was being destroyed.

v. 13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it;
      and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.
v.  15 They burn it with fire like rubbish. 

The Psalmist’s lament echoes the words of the prophet Isaiah found in chapter 5, speaking of the carefully tended vineyard that is the People of God.

v. 5 …it shall be devoured… it shall be trampled down…
v. 9 …many houses shall be desolate,
      large and beautiful houses without inhabitants.
v. 18  Ah, you who drag iniquity along with words of falsehood,
       who drag sin along as with cart ropes…
v. 20  Ah, you who call evil good and good evil,
       who put darkness for light, and light for darkness,
       who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. 

To his own contemporaries Isaiah proclaimed (v.7)

[the Lord God] expected justice but saw bloodshed;
righteousness, but heard a cry!

The Psalmist pleaded

…give us life…
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
Show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved. 

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews listed in our reading today some of those who saw the light and lived into the light.

…the people [who] passed through the Red Sea…
… [the people who] encircled for seven days [the walls of Jericho] …
…Rehab the prostitute [who] received the spies of peace…
…Gideon, Barak, Samsom, Jephthah, David, Samuel…

He also wrote that even in tough times, in challenging times

…we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.

It is with that “cloud of witnesses” that we are enabled to

…run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…

So, let us conclude with where we began.  

The Lord God bless you and keep you;
The Lord God make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you,
The Lord God lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Amen

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