The Happy Cow

First Lesson: Isaiah 35: 1-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 146: 5-10
Second Lesson: James 5: 7-10
​Gospel Lesson: Matthew 11: 2-11

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
​
The year was 1517, the Ottoman Empire also known as the Turks, came to capture the Holy Land, which they would rule for the next 400 years[1].  The Ottomans  like many foreign rulers would clash with local populations over use of the land.[2]  The Turks even instituted a tax for every tree that a landowner kept standing on their property.  The consequences were predictable; to avoid paying the tax, trees were cut in great numbers[3].   You cut enough trees overtime the climate begins to change[4]. 

So therefore, the Biblical land of “milk” and “honey” over many years had now become a lifeless desert[5].  The land of the Jewish ancestors had become a place where their descendants were now stripped of  any legal protections and seemingly without hope for generations to come. 
  
Today’s lesson comes to us from the 35th Chapter of the book of Isaiah.  Isaiah wrote in a day where foreign enemies were also threatening to destroy Israel’s  land and nation.    

What does Isaiah 35 predict lies ahead for the nation: “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the Rose, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.[6]”

In the last few weeks, we’ve looked at various themes of future peace on Earth from the Book of Isaiah.

Two weeks ago the online message  looked at the hard process of waiting for peace when “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore[7].”

Last week we looked at peace among our earthly relationships: “The wolf will live with the lamb.[8]” “and a little child will lead them[9].”

This week, we look at God’s peace when it appears to be an impossible dream like when roses bloom in the middle of a long-barren desert[10]. 

Once upon a time in a place like Carefree Living, a woman who I’ll call Angie in her 40’s shows up[11].  Angie wishes to see a little-visited resident.  A woman that I’ll call Doris, Doris was in her early 80’s and struggling.  Angie approaches Doris’ room and knocks on the door.  Angie wasn’t a natural doing these kinds of visits. 

Angie asks Doris: “How are you[12]?”

Doris merely responds, “Fine.”

Angie asks a few more questions, only to be met with one-word responses and awkward silences.  Angie didn’t know whether she should stay or go.

Finally, Doris asks Angie a question.  “Do you have a son?”

Angie did have a son named Mark; she began to describe him to Doris in great detail; he’s six-foot-four, sixteen plays on the high school basketball team, and hopes to go to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities to study engineering[13].

Doris then asked Angie. “Do you have a daughter?”  To which Angie proceeded to give Doris detailed descriptions about her twelve-year-old daughter, just like with Mark[14].   

What about a husband? Angie told Doris everything about her husband, his job, how they met, and even told Doris all about their wedding ceremony.

Angie and Doris’ visit went late into the afternoon.  The visit was often  filled with long and seemingly uncomfortable pauses.  The visit was everything that Angie could have hoped for with Doris. 

Angie then finally had to get up to leave.  Doris asks Angie, “Do you live near here?” 

To which Angie responded no that she lived down in the Twin Cities over two-hundred miles away.  Doris told Angie that she had a daughter that lived down there.  Doris told Angie that “Your visit has been nice,  you’re also really pretty, you should come by again, soon[15].” 

Doris then asked Angie to remind her of Angie’s name, Angie formed a smile and then answered.   Doris then said “I’ve got a daughter named Angie.”  Angie asked to give Doris a hug on the way out the door, to which Doris agreed. 

By the time Angie was back at her car, tears were streaming down Angie’s face, as she had been so touched that her own mother Doris had just called her pretty, once again[16].  

Were Angie’s tears, tears of sorrow, or joy? Even Angie didn’t know in that moment. 

You see, Angie longed for peace not only for her mother as her memory faded but ultimately herself.  Angie didn’t know how many years that she’d have Mom with her, nor could she make sense of how she should feel about her mother’s death.

You see, the Christian Gospel is filled with all sorts of people who longed for spiritual peace within their own lives, just like Angie, even when it seemed like a far, off distant dream.

Once upon a time, many years after Isaiah had wrote our lesson.  Jesus was forced to leave the land of Judea, the place of the powerful within his day. Jesus’ ministry could not continue there for the religious leaders feared his message and would eventually plot to take his life. So on his way back home to Gailee, Jesus had to stop at the Samaritan village of Sychar. 

Jesus stops at a local well.  A woman was drawing water.  This woman had a questionable reputation.  She had already been married five times and now was living with another guy not her husband[17].  You couldn’t have been more of a social outcast on account of your past in Jesus’ day, then the woman at the well in Sychar.  Nearly every good religious person would go the other way for fear of scandal, upon seeing her.  She’s shocked that Jesus dared approach her. 

Jesus would then declare her to forgiveness unlike she could have imagined, when she woke up that morning.  “Jesus said to the woman from Sychar, “I am the living water. Whoever drinks of me will never thirst again[18].”   

Her life would be so transformed by Jesus’ message that she would go back to the village of Sychar and many would believe because of her[19].  There is no better example in the scripture of what it means for “A rose to bloom in the desert.” then what took place within the woman at Sychar’s life on which this church claims its name and identity.

Here’s the point of Isaiah’s lesson the long-awaited Messiah would soon bring forgiveness, and peace like the world has never known, just like within the life of the woman from Sychar.   

We remember this Today. The dream of future peace within our own lives might seem hopeless, like finding a Rose in the middle of the desert.  This despair might come from brokenness within ourselves.  The despair might come in cases like Angie from uncertainty about our loved ones.  The despair might come for the future of the congregation or the community.   The prophet Isaiah understood despair.  Isaiah understood what it felt like to be threatened by foreign powers and dark spiritual forces.    Isaiah still saw great hope on the future horizon; even though this hope wouldn’t be born in Bethlehem for nearly seven-hundred more years.   

Isaiah saw a future rose blooming off in the desert[20].   A day when God embraces us just like the woman at Sychar at our very weakest.  For our lesson declares,  “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.[21]

Creation shall soon be whole again, no matter how difficult it might be to believe in days such as these.  

The people of Israel struggled with this as they had to cut down trees to avoid Turkish taxes,  Angie struggled with this as she saw her mother Doris slipping away, the woman at Sychar struggled with the possibility of ever finding grace within her life, until Jesus offered her living water.  A Rose blooming in the desert, brought into the world by a Virgin Mother. 

A day when human brokenness no longer controls us, Isaiah’s prophecies remind us this Advent season that when “Peace on Earth.” Seems to be merely a dream, it is indeed closer than we think.

To illustrate this, let me close with one final story.  A few years back, author Gary Schmidt wrote a book called Orbiting Jupiter telling the tale of a boy named Jack and his foster brother named Joseph[22].  The boys are living in Maine in the dead of winter[23].  Maine this winter had a streak of cold and nasty weather like it hadn’t seen in quite some time. Picture a long, extended streak of cold like we’ve just had going for weeks without break.   Amid this winter, Jack and Joseph were tasked with tending to the family cows.  So right after the nasty cold, Jack and Joseph go to see the cows. 

One of the cows though was unlike any of the other cows.  The cow is let out of the paddock and is overjoyed as any cow could be with snow-covered ground.   Jack and Joseph were frustrated with the serial cold and snow as any of us would be, not this cow, though.  The cow started “snorting, snickering, and waving his tail high in the air[24].”  You see, the cow had learned something important, that even a day slightly less cold than the previous day was an indication that spring was eventually coming, even if it was still months away[25].

A story like this reminds us that every small sign of God’s promises from when we receive a word of forgiveness, to when we receive our Lord’s Supper to when we feel at Peace hearing a Christmas carol.  All these things within our life point us toward that one day when  Peace comes to Earth in the form of a rose blooming in desert.  The rose will be named Jesus.  Amen 


[1] “Pre-State Israel: Under Ottoman Rule (1517-1917).” Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). Web. Nov.27.2019.
[2] Amin, Edo. “Did the Turks really have a tax on trees in modern day Israel-Palestine under Ottoman control and did this lead to the land becoming more deforested?.” Quora. 9.Dec.2017. Web. Nov.27.2019.
[3] Izzard, John. “Taxing light and air.” Quadrant Online. 20.June.2010. Web. Nov.27.2019.
[4] Markquardt, Ed. “Making the Deserts Bloom.” Sermons from Seattle. Advent 3A. Web. Nov.27.2019.  This sermon is heavily influenced by Markquardt’s excellent sermon on same passage. 
[5] Simcox, Tom. “The Ottoman Legacy.” Israel My Glory.
[6] Isaiah 35:1.
[7] Isaiah 2:4.
[8] Isaiah 11:6
[9] Isaiah 11:6.
[10] Isaiah 35:1.
[11] Markquardt, Ed. “Making the Deserts Bloom.” Sermons from Seattle. Advent 3A. Web. Nov.27.2019.
[12] Markquardt, Ed. “Making the Deserts Bloom.” Sermons from Seattle
[13] Markquardt, Ed. “Making the Deserts Bloom.” Sermons from Seattle.
[14] Markquardt, Ed. “Making the Deserts Bloom.” Sermons from Seattle.
[15] Markquardt, Ed. “Making the Deserts Bloom.” Sermons from Seattle
[16] Markquardt, Ed. “Making the Deserts Bloom.” Sermons from Seattle.
[17] John 4:18
[18] John 4:14.
[19] John 4:38-42. 
[20] Bratt, Doug. “Commentary on Isaiah 35:1-10.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids, MI. 5. Dec.2016. Web. Nov.27.2019.
[21] Isaiah 35:5-6
[22] Bratt, Doug. “Commentary on Isaiah 35:1-10.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[23] “Orbiting Jupiter.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 13. Nov.2019. Web. Nov.27.2019.
[24] Bratt, Doug. “Commentary on Isaiah 35:1-10.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[25] Bratt, Doug. “Commentary on Isaiah 35:1-10.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.