Today’s Scripture Reading (January 4, 2017): Isaiah 10
I recently watched an interesting interview with 90-year-old Jerry Lewis. Lewis has a well-earned reputation for being – well, acerbic and surly. And he lived up to every ounce of his reputation in the interview. Apparently, Lewis was mad even before the interview began because of the amount of equipment that the interviewers had to move into his house. When he was asked if he had ever, even for a fleeting moment, considered retirement, he had a one-word response – why? From there Lewis simply gave short answers to the questions asked of him, often just parroting the interviewer’s question in his reply. He refused to elaborate on anything. He was unwilling to engage in any story telling. No memories were shared. Maybe the most poignant moment of the whole interview was when he was asked if there was a favorite time in his career. Lewis’s answer – when my partner was alive, referencing Dean Martin who died on Christmas Day twenty-one years ago. The interview was painful, but I have the suspicion that maybe that was exactly what Jerry Lewis had intended for the discussion to be. But the final thought in the article by the interviewer, Andy Lewis (no relation), caught my eye. “As awkward and funny - and it's pretty funny - as the interview is, it weirdly proves the point of the entire package: 90-year-old Jerry Lewis is vital and completely engaged. He's just engaged - almost happy - in being difficult.”
Isaiah 10:1-4 belongs at the end of Isaiah chapter 9. These verses form the conclusion of God’s judgment against Israel. And I have to admit that reading through the writings of the prophets seems to give the same message over and over. It is a warning that Israel only exists because of a move of God. And yet, they also seem to refuse to acknowledge that fact. And so they go off chasing after non-gods and the prophets come asking what is basically the same question – in your day of distress, who is it that you are going to run toward – your God or some other idea that you have dreamed up in your head?
But as I watched the Jerry Lewis interview, something else occurred to me. For some reason this disobedience, although I am not sure that the people saw it as disobedience, placed Israel in a place where they were – well, happy. The people liked to be difficult. They wanted to be put in hard situations. I am not sure if it is some kind of national memory, but they seemed to long after the life that they had lived in the time of the beginnings of the nation in Egypt. Even in the wilderness with Moses, there were moments when the people seemed to want nothing more than to go back to Egypt. They were the happiest when they were complaining.
What adds to this thought is that I know people who are like this. Their happiest moments in life occur when life hands them lemons, and no, they do not make lemonade – they complain. Some people seem to go to great lengths to make sure that there are things in their lives about which to complain. This is the picture that we get of Israel. Who will they run to – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That is never really in question. But when they run it will be with complaints about the God who has left them, not even realizing that it was actually they who left God. But in the end, this is what will make them happy. And because they are happy, the behavior never changes.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 11
No comments:
Post a Comment