GOD DOESN’T DO THINGS ‘NORMALLY’
Lent 3 Midweek Service
Isaiah 55:1-13
Paul Swartz - March 10, 2010
I am always amazed when I walk through the hall of the pre-school and observe the children in the class room going about their business quietly, orderly, cooperatively. It’s at times almost eerily calm.
I remember years ago, with our two pre-schoolers, pandemonium seems to be a normative state. Despite closets, toy boxes, and floor sprawl that said the opposite, there never seemed to be enough toys to go around, never enough things for the two of them to be satisfied.
From day one the kids in the pre-school are taught classroom etiquette, which focuses first on grace and courtesy. It is awe-inspiring (and admittedly more than a little humiliating) to see a roomful of little children coexisting without fighting over everything in sight. But it must be said: the "philosophy" of Montessori rubs the wrong way for one specific reason.
Back in the late 19th century, Maria Montessori's goal, the overarching theme behind all her techniques, was to what she called "normalize" the child. By this Montessori meant to teach children the skills and attitudes needed to fit into a "civilized" society. Hence her focus on teaching kids to master practical skills, careful incremental growth, and an imperative on order. While these goals may still be admirable, I wonder if there is not a need to update our vocabulary.
Can you imagine ANYONE in the 21st Century hearing the word normalize and thinking it is a GOOD thing! Ask that body-pierced kid who looks like he fell out of a tackle box: Do you want to be normalized?
Who wants to be normalized? Do YOU? Is the push towards more and more eXtreme sports an attempt to be normalized? Is the "it-hurts-just-to-look-at-it" fixation on body-piercing an attempt to be normalized? Is the fingernail-to-toenail tattooed body-art an attempt to be normalized? Is the busier, healthier, "I'm-as-young-as-I-feel" lifestyle of the senior generation an attempt to be normalized?
It seems almost as if the only way to fit in today is by standing out. But wait a minute. There still is one group of people who continue to quest after normalization. They blend right in. They don't rock the boat. They learn their lessons well. They pretty much behave themselves according to cultural criteria. They play it safe.
Who are these normalized people? Christians. We show up at church on Sunday. We work hard at respectable jobs. We have made an art form of Minnesota nice. We mow our lawns, and wash our cars, and plant some flowers. We vote and volunteer.
We have done a great job at normalizing Christian behavior, at creating a normalized church. This is all fine and good. Except for one thing.
God isn't normal. God refuses to be normalized. We worship an extreme God. A wild God. An unpredictable God.
The people of Israel had suffered military defeat, exiled to Babylon, lost freedom, crushed hopes, shattered dreams. To anyone looking at their situation it was obvious: they were a broken, despondent people. Their special status as the covenanted people? Lost forever. Gloom and despair were the only reasonable, normal reactions to their desperate state.
So what does Isaiah tell these downtrodden people? "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and you that have no money, come buy and eat!" (verse 1)
So what does the God who has abandoned these people proclaim?
"I will make with you an everlasting covenant . . . you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you." (verses 4-5)
So how does God explain this astonishing offer, this stunning turn of events? By reminding Israel, and all covenanted people that: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, My ways . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Verses 8-9)
Every time you think you know what God is thinking . . . think again.
Every time you believe your vision of the divine plan is clear . . . rub your eyes.
Every time you become convinced the whole truth has been revealed . . . go back to digging.
God just doesn't do things "normally." God doesn't play by human rules. God doesn't work according to human limitations.
· God forgives when we can not.
· God loves when we would not.
· God gives when we are emptied out.
· God restores when we are hollowed out.
· God overflows when we are self-absorbed.
· God promises when we are noncommittal.
When the men and women of Noah's generation broke all their promises and broke God's heart, God sent the floodwaters to wash the slate clean. But then God's covenant kicked in, and He promised never to do that again.
When God used Moses to call and create Israel out of Egypt, the people complained all the way out of town. But then God's covenant kicked in, and He promised they would be His people forever.
When Israel longed to be more normal and have a king like other nations God called out David. Then God's covenant kicked in, and He promised this Davidic house would be forever loved and blessed.
When Israel suffered political defeat and exile God sent them prophets to ease their hearts. God's eternal covenant was still alive and kicking, promising them a new kind of king, a messianic leader, would bring them into a new world.
And when the Servant-King appeared in the person of Jesus Christ, God promised death would die and the eternal covenant became eternal life for all.
So why do Christians, God's covenant people, still want to be normal when we have possession of the Master’s love? Do we stand out in a crowd? The church today seldom creates waves, let alone a tsunami as did the early church or the church of the Reformation.
Why do we buy into and buy up normal consumer culture? Why do we get caught up in the "more is better" mantra? And when more isn't better, but is somehow just "more" of the same old emptiness, why do we go out and look for other stuff that we hope will fill us up.
We live in a country committed to "shopping therapy," believing that somewhere out there in the mall-sprawl we can find a sale rack of happiness, a new spring line of fulfillment. We keep wandering from store to store, experience to experience, digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a debt of discontentment.
Isaiah asked his people the same question the Church needs to ask us again today: "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (verse 2)
Normal stuff just isn't ever going to satisfy our spiritual longings. That is why we have such an out-of-bounds, off-the-wall God. All God asks of us is to join in the madness! All God wants is for us to receive and respond to His eternal covenant, which enables us to
· Forgive, when you feel like condemning.
· Accept when you feel like blaming.
· Love when you feel like hating.
· Give more when you feel like quitting.
· Return when you feel like running.
The covenant God makes with us in Jesus Christ entitles us to . . . Be wild. Be weird. Be predictably unpredictable. Isaiah reminds the people that they are not to be “normalized” or “standardized” like other people. They are distinct and peculiar as God’s own people. He calls them instead to respond to God’s covenant by taking that simple human step that has the power to transform their lives: “seek the Lord,” “call upon Him,” “return to the Lord.” That’s God’s way and the only way to fill your spirit with the joy, the abundant life that God has promised. AMEN!
