“I wish you would rip open the sky and descend, then the surface of the mountains would quake. It will be as brushwood catches fire and fire causes water to boil, this is how your name will be declared to your adversaries, causing the nations to tremble. Just like when you did fearful things that we were not expecting, how I wish you would descend and cause the surface of the mountains to shake. For ages upon ages none have heard, none have listened, their eyes have not seen a god who does what you do for those who wait on you” Isaiah 64.1-4.
A couple of months ago, we were playing a game with friends of ours, one of those that’s designed to get people talking. You get an either/or choice and have to pick one of them. On this night, the choice was unlimited wealth or world peace. They chose the wealth. What struck me was why they did. Because, they told us, wealth is something attainable. Peace is never going to happen.
Humans, history tells us, aren’t good at cultivating the conditions for peace. Oh, we have moments as groups or nations, but those have time and again broken down. A sense of scarcity makes us fearful of going without, bad weather and setbacks leave us looking for someone to blame, and sometimes we’re just cranky. Eventually, the fists, knives and worse come out and peace is again something of dreams.
Which brings us to these verses from Isaiah. Here at the outset of this season is this cry, as we Christians read it, for Christ to return. And to return as the powerful deity whose presence causes mountains to shake and leaves people in awe. Yeah, that’s the one we’re needing. No more of this baby and shepherds stuff. It’s time for a king with a rod of iron to come and impose peace, love and justice upon this earth. It’s time for Jesus to show folks who he really is.
And if that’s the way to true peace on earth, we’re in trouble.
People are stubborn. The Bible is a collection of stories about just how stubborn we can be. That trait makes us chafe under any rule no matter how bad or good it is. Which tells me that even if Jesus showed up like this passage demands, there still would be no lasting peace. Eventually there would be people who would rise up, take weapons in hand, and fight against the Divine rule.
So, does that mean our friends are right? There is no such thing as peace on earth?
At the end of today’s passage, Isaiah declares that no one has heard or seen a god like the Holy One. Another way to say it is no one has paid any attention to who God is, even after all these years.
That fits, of course, with what we know of the life of Jesus. From an unremarkable birth, through his ministry, to the Cross and after, no one really got that this was who God really is: one who walked among us, making abundance out of scarcity, seeing those who were ignored, and daring us to love even when others had no love for us.
It’s not at all the vision Isaiah gives us at the outset, but maybe that’s because we haven’t seen anything like it before. Maybe mountain-shaking doesn’t come from a ruling god, but from these very small actions.
And, perhaps, it’s just this type of presence that makes peace possible.
Jesus, in this season of watching and waiting, may I take note of and be part of the small actions that shake mountains and bring peace upon the earth.