With the cacophony of voices in the world today, who do we really trust?
We live in a world that is constantly buzzing with the opinions of others, in amongst these voices we are also trying to give voice to our own opinions, but where do we ultimately turn for an authority that might settle our hearts? Is there someone or something to whom we can turn that might truly satisfy us? Our lectionary passage this week, Isaiah 55:1-9 points us to a place where there is a banquet of true wisdom and authority, and yet so often we limit ourselves to the scraps of our own ideas or those voices around us who are the loudest. Lent is a season of reflection and of repentance. This passage helps us reflect on why, even as Christians, we look to others or ourselves for wisdom, instead of looking to the One whom we profess created it all?
We have journeyed as a society into a time when the zeitgeist of today informs us to operate through a lens of self-reliance and individualism and our young people especially are fed this narrative through the carefully curated influence of social media. This messaging constantly speaks to us about “our truth,” it tells us to “trust our truth,” and this barrage of influence shapes and reinforces our own voice as the arbiter of truth and morality. We become our own authority, and Scripture is replete with the dangers of self-idolatry and we begin to seek out voices or ‘teachers’ who echo our biases over a divine perspective, that will affirm our own ideas and desires and we turn off the voices that might challenge our own authority. We get trapped in an echo chamber of our own making and a critical, nuanced, impartial look at both sides of an issue goes out the door.
Far from trying to impose morality on the world, or bludgeon the world with a huge bible, we find in chapter one of the book of Isaiah a God who says to us, “Come let us reason together.” God invites us into conversation where through scripture, God’s perspective is made known to us, to engage with, to grapple with, and He beckons us to dialogue directly with Him. In our lectionary passage, Isaiah shows us the banquet of wisdom that God has made available to us if only we approach this table with open humility, without the burden of the self-imposed idolatries of our hearts. I wonder, are we afraid of surrendering to something bigger, or is it that we might be afraid of something or someone who may not bend to our whims?
Our passage speaks forth the words of God saying, “Come, all you who are thirsty.” This is an invitation that cuts through the cacophony of voices. It is a generous voice of reason, of patience, and of love, but let’s not kid ourselves, it is a voice that does demand something of us. God demands of us humility, a recognition that we in our inadequacy are not ‘gods,’ and this might well require a rewiring of our priorities. We’ll explore this further on Sunday but in the meantime let’s take a moment to meditate on this passage and may our hearts be open to receive God’s message to us.
God bless you all.
Josh
