Today’s Scripture Reading (November
26, 2013): Isaiah 23
U2’s Bono
has made a career of trying to bring the issues of the poor and the oppressed
into the homes and the minds of those of us in the West. The issues of the poor
of Africa, the awareness of the stupid poverty creating serious illness that
could be cured by very inexpensive drugs by Western standards – and yet these
drugs are still out of reach of the poor of Africa - are paraded in front of
those of us that Bono really believes have the finances and political power to
change the world. It is very much to Bono’s credit that he has purposed to take
the time out of his career to make sure that we as a society remember the
issues of the poor of our world.
Even in
North America, the poor and oppressed are largely invisible, hidden from our
eyes. A number of years ago I took some teens through a tour of the downtown
area of the city in which we live. Part of the purpose of the tour was to
introduce the suburban kids to the issues of the poor of our own city. And yet
many of them did not even see the poor that we passed on the street. People who
lived on the street of the city were totally missed by these teens, somehow
they had learned how not to see the poor. It is talent that many of us in North
America seemed to have mastered.
Isaiah
speaks of Tyre and mentions that they will be forgotten for seventy years – the
length of a king’s life. The prophecy was fulfilled a couple of generations
after Isaiah as Babylon defeated Tyre just after Jerusalem was defeated by the
Babylonians. But the Babylon Empire really only lasted the length of one King –
King Nebuchadnezzar. When Nebuchadnezzar died, the strength really left the
empire. And seventy years after the captivity of Judah began, the Jews were
returned home. And just after the exile ended for Judah, it also ended for people
of Tyre.
We read in
the very next verse that the key line in the song of the prostitute is that those
who have been forgotten ‘will be remembered.’ Tyre was forgotten, but only for
a period of time. Tyre would return. But maybe what is amazing, especially to
the Jews of that time, is that Isaiah seems to be saying that God is concerned
about, and will remember, a nation outside of children of God. God’s mercy is
for everyone – it is universal.
God’s
concern for the poor and oppressed of every race, creed, or religion is
attested through all the way through the Bible. And the universal principal
that arises out of this verse is that the poor and oppressed, while forsaken by
the world, are remembered and of special concern for the creator of this world.
And therefore, they should be of special concern to those of us who are called
according to his purpose. If we are truly following God, we will always remember
the forsaken of our world.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
24
No comments:
Post a Comment