Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost
God sets a feast before us
By The Rev. Christie Webb -
If you were to call to mind a depiction of death, or the agent of death, (cheery I know) what comes to mind? Perhaps it is the ghoulish skeleton, all bones, blank eye sockets and leering grins. Perhaps it is the Grim Reaper, black flowing robes, hooded figure, sometimes with a skeletal face, other times with no face but a black emptiness. Maybe you remember the movie from the late 1990s, Meet Joe Black, with a debonair and handsome death character in a tux with an eye twinkle, as played by Brad Pitt.
Throughout history and different cultures, death has been depicted many ways. For our purposes today and to fully understand the good news found in our first reading from Isaiah, it is helpful for us to understand a Ugaritic depiction of death that would have been present in the time this part of Isaiah was written. They personified death as a god named Mot. Mot was a voracious character. He wanted to eat everything up, leaving no crumb behind. In the Ugaritic understanding Mot was the adversary of Baal, the god of life, and many texts depict the battle between the two. In one, it speaks of Baal descending into the throat of Mot, describing Mot’s mount as one lip the earth, the other lip the heaven, and his tongue stretch out to the stars. That is one large mouth for an insatiable character. In other depictions Mot is devouring all that comes in its path, eating hungrily with his hands. Baal often wins over Mot, but he never completely destroys Mot- as an agricultural religion, Mot of course always returns with the cycle of the seasons.
So we have this image in that day and time of a rapacious, devouring death character. And into that context comes this text from Isaiah where God, the Lord of Hosts, the King, the triumphant one, has swallowed up Death. Forever. The ravenous one whose mouth stretches from the earth to the heavens, is swallowed up. Which puts the jaws of God from the heavens round about the the heavens again, with earth as her tongue. Stronger. Wider. More-jaw stretching. Devouring this foe so that life and joy may abound. And this triumph isn’t just for a time, but forever. Forever.
It is a powerful image of God’s victory, a balm for the people in that time as they experienced the deep uncertainty of life in exile. It is a powerful image of God’s fulfillment of promise, a balm for us, who live in a time when the voracity of death, evil and fear seem to be unquenchable.
It is a powerful image, but not the only one. It is accompanied by three more. One being this shroud that is cast over all peoples. If I were to make this into a movie depiction or a modern dance number, here is what I would envision. There is the world, all the people in it, and over it is a black covering, pliable and pushable like silicon or lycra or some sort of plastic, movable but also inescapable. It covers the whole world, and you can see a hand reach up here or there or a face screaming beneath the covering. (Like this? https://youtu.be/o7nhnZz5vpI ) And then God pierces the shroud, and it peels back, quickly falling away from the world it formerly encompassed, the people, the land, the whole earth now set free.
And those free people leave behind that shroud, and unshackled sit down to feast at the banquet prepared for them. The banquet is a beautiful image of life to come, a banquet that we are all invited to, the whole world receiving their invitation. All peoples stream to this banquet. I imagine a glittering and abundant table of food on a table extending as far as the eye can see, perhaps never ending. Here is where I admit that the image comes close to what the feast tables look like in a Harry Potter movie, with cakes and pies and treats, with fruit and cheese, with meats and breads, vegetables roasted and with wine or fizzing cider or thirst quenching juice poured to the brim of golden goblets. God sets this feast before us. Sumptuous. Extravagant. Abundant. Enough for all, with a seat for all. A reality we long for in a world where too many go hungry, without food to feed themselves or their families. A reality we long for in a world where people refuse to sit at a table with those they disagree with, but not at this feast, the feast to come.
And then this compassionate image of God wiping the tears from all faces. Yours. Mine. Our childrens’. Our parents’. Our neighbors. Our enemies. Our friends. From Israeli faces and Palestinian faces. Faces of every color. Faces of every nation. Each of us leaking out our sorrows down our cheeks, and God’s gentle hand tenderly wipes them away, like a mother, a father, a grandparent, a beloved. After a week like this one, where the voracity of death, of evil, of sorrows, of hatred enacted, I long for my tears and the tears of the world to be tenderly wiped away.
Friends, it has been a week, hasn’t it? News of the death of some of our dearly loved congregation members. News about the atrocities happening in the world especially in Israel Palestine. Sorrows right outside our doors. People sleeping in tents because they have no home. Threats as close as the Santa Monica Pier. Add to that your own personal struggles, sorrows, hungers. But we are not left in these places of sorrow, fear, loneliness, hurt. We are lifted up by a God who swallows up death, even death on a cross. Our tears mingle with the waters of baptism, the waters of life. We are welcomed to a feast, a simple feast of bread and wine, body and blood, that is but a foretaste of the feast to come. We are offered these images of a God who will not be stopped by death, but frees us from the shroud.
As you go into this week, out into the world, into the heartache, into the fear, into the places where we long for answers and solutions, for sorrows to end and peace to come, you are gifted with these images, to hold fast to, to gain courage from, to turn to in the midst of the difficult times we all find in life.
This is our God. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
The Rev. Christie Webb
Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
October 14 & 15, 2023
