See
No Evil, Hear No Evil…
An
Advent Sermon by Brent J. Eelman
December
9, 2007
Abington
Presbyterian Church
Isaiah
11: 1-10
1 shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2The spirit of the
Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3His delight shall be in the fear
of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4but with righteousness he shall
judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt
around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6The wolf shall live with the
lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child shall play over
the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to
the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be
glorious.*
We
have all seen some rendition of the three monkeys lined up. The
first one has his hands over his eyes, the second has his hands on
his ears, and the third has his covering his mouth. Usually there is
an inscription that reads: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no
evil.” It is good advice, but I think we often misunderstand
the intent of this message. It is not about being blind to reality,
on the contrary, it is about truth and the way truth is often
distorted in a malicious way. See no evil is about
perceptions. What we see is not always the entire story. What we
perceive is often distorted. I was on a committee a number of years
ago that had to do some fairly confidential work. A colleague of
mine who was not on that committee, but he made some accusations
about the work of that committee based upon his perceptions. His
perceptions were wrong. Often we think we see something, but do not.
Hear no evil is about listening to gossip, half truths
and outright lies and believing them. Speak no evil is about
spreading lies, gossip and half truths. The three silly monkeys
offer some profound advice about truth. But what do monkeys have to
do with Advent?
Today, we read the 11th chapter of the prophet Isaiah. It paints us a glorious picture of the future. This description of creation is more vivid and inviting than the story of creation in Genesis. Isaiah envisions the creation living in harmony: His words are the inspiration for artists and poets:
The
wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall
lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling
together,
This vision of the creation, the peaceable kingdom follows a description of the ideal king or messiah. This vision was written at a low point in Jewish history. Their kings and leaders were much less than ideal. There we read that the messiah “shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear.” Today I would like to examine Isaiah’s vision of the coming messiah, particularly three related characteristics. 1. Commitment to truth. 2. Commitment to humanity. 3. Commitment to Wisdom. The message for us today is that these characteristics not only describe the messiah, they are virtues we are called to embody.
I
The
Commitment to truth: Pontius Pilate asked the question of
Christ, “What is truth?” We all value truth, but we are
often unable to describe it. We live in such a cynical age that we
seldom associate truth with political or corporate leadership. The
same could be said during Isaiah’s time. Yet in this hopeful
description of the future King of Israel, Isaiah places truth as the
primary attribute of leadership. More often than not we believe that
truth is what we see, (or think we see) and what we hear, (or think
we hear). The French sociologist, Jacques Ellul, did a major study
on propaganda following World War II.. His study originally focused
on Nazi Germany and their very effective use of propaganda, but he
expanded his analysis and concluded that propaganda runs rife in our
world, from advertisements to politics. Propaganda is effective
because it combines two of our senses together, sight and sound. The
advent of the motion picture with sound made possible the propaganda
of the last century. Music is added to the words and a visual is
presented simultaneously. If it is done again and again, we soon
begin to believe that it is true. We believe what we see and what we
hear and hold on to it as truth. Why should Christians be concerned
about propaganda? Because we are called to be passionate for the
truth.
One
of the phenomenons of the last ten years is the popularity of the
comedy newscast like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. They are
funny and insightful, but their value is to lead us to question what
we are seeing and hearing, even on the television news. The humor of
these shows is a reflection of the degradation of truth in our
modern age.
Isaiah declares that truth is at the center of the messiah’s existence. He will not judge by what he sees and decide by what he hears. Truth is greater than mere sight and sound.. Truth is found in the heart. The heart of a person is revealed in relationships, in love, in service, in sacrifice, and in giving. Think of how this was revealed to us in the life of Christ. Where others saw a Samaritan woman, unclean and not worthy, Jesus saw an evangelist of the good news. Where others saw a woman, caught in adultery, Jesus saw forgiveness and the restoration of her humanity, Where others saw lepers, Jesus saw human beings with needs and hopes, and he healed them. Commitment to the truth was embodied by Christ, but it is a virtue to which we should aspire. The 16th century mystic, Theresa of Avilla reminds us:
Christ
has no body now on earth but yours,
no
hands but yours,
no feet but
yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
Christ's
compassion to the world
What do our eyes see? What do our ears hear? The challenge for us is to perceive truth through the eyes of Christ.
II
The
commitment to humanity: The bible judges kings and leaders much
differently than we do. We often judge leaders by how effectively
they get things done. The prophets have a different vision for a
good leader. A good leader or king is one who is concerned about the
condition of the poor, the powerless, and the alienated. Isaiah
wrote: “with righteousness he shall judge
the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the
earth.” This is the ideal ruler! Not a military leader, not a
politician, not a hardliner, not a strong speaker, not a powerful
presence. Ultimately a good ruler is one who is concerned for
humanity, particularly those who are poor, left out, discriminated
against. Once again, the savior, whose birth we anticipate, Jesus
Christ, is a leader, a ruler and a king, who throughout his life
showed concern for the have-nots, the poor and those who people live
on the edges of society. Ironically, Jesus also showed a great deal
of love and concern for the wealthy.. and that love was expressed in
his challenge that they share their wealth with the poor and
experience the genuine joy that comes from giving and sharing.
Once again, the Christ we proclaim, challenges us to show concern for others, for humanity. It is in giving, sharing, and helping that we experience the truth of life. I am overjoyed that we have more than thirty people signed up for a Guatemala mission trip in June. In my ministry, a number of congregations have done this, and one of the results is that when people return, they see things differently.. in the act of helping others, they discover joy… in the eyes of the poor and hurting, they are able to experience the truth of Christ’s teachings.
III
A
commitment to wisdom. Samuel Levinson once said: “It's
so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then
don't say it.” (Speak no evil??) We might do well to heed
that advise. We have a great deal of knowledge and intelligence
today, but often, we sadly lack wisdom. Wisdom is not about what you
know, nor what you have studied. It is about judgment. My daughter’s
third grade teacher would close each day when the bell rang by
exhorting her students: “Use good judgment.” She
realized that all the knowledge, be it reading, history, mathematics
and science was for naught, if one did not have good judgment. Sadly
our age is short on good judgment. The proliferation of operations
manuals in companies, organizations and even churches reflect that we
are substituting policies and rules for good judgment. This was
Jesus difficulty with the Pharisees. They were good people, but they
loved making rules and policy manuals. The parables of Jesus were
not designed to give people new sets of rules, they were told so that
people would think, reflect, and develop good judgment…. They
were exercises in wisdom. Christian faith is not about a new set of
rules. It is about using wisdom and developing the good judgment
that comes from loving God with our whole being and our neighbor as
ourselves.
Consider again, Isaiah’s vision for creation:
6The
wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall
lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling
together,
and a little child shall lead them.
I love that description and that vision is one that gives me hope. My prayers envision the day when this description will become a reality. That vision of the peaceable kingdom is tied to the coming of the anointed one.. the messiah. Advent declares that this Messiah came in the person of Jesus Christ, and that he will come again and history will be fulfilled. Advent challenges us to embody and witness to this same Christ as we live together. Advent is a time to renew our commitment to truth, to humanity and to wisdom… Indeed “see no evil, hear no evil… speak no evil. Amen.
*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.
Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania, www.apcusa.org
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