Pentecost 23C - Sunday, November 17, 2019

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Br. Bernard Jean Delcourt, OHC
Pentecost 23C - Proper 28 - Sunday, November 17, 2019

Isaiah 65:17-25
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19

Click here for an audio version of the sermon.

The book of Isaiah is the second-most quoted book of the Hebrew Scriptures in the New Testament (after the book of Psalms). If the book of Psalms was Jesus’ book of common prayer, the book of Isaiah was known to him enough that, when handed the scroll of that book, he could find exactly the passage he wanted to read from (Luke 4:17).

In many ways, Jesus’s birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection are the embodiment of prophetic utterances in the book of Isaiah. We are soon to enter a season of expectant hope, Advent. The season of Advent looks both backward and forward to the realizations of such hopes.

Today’s text from Isaiah offers a vision of this expectant hope. God the ever-creative momentum of the universe is about to create new heavens and a new earth. The text is sometimes understood to refer to the end times.

But when God says “I AM,” “I AM about to create” doesn’t that speak of the eternal now, this very instant we are living? God is impatient for this new creation to break into our world. God is not waiting till the end of times for this to be realized.

Jesus himself says the Kingdom of God, this new creation, is in the midst of us (Luke 17:21). God desires us as co-creators of the new Jerusalem. If we consent, we can be instruments of God’s dream for creation.

This new creation that God is about to reveal is not a utopia, as in a dream that has no place in reality. This new creation demands our engagement in the gospel of Jesus Christ every day of our life.

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The third author of the book of Isaiah who speaks to us in today’s passage was addressing the Jewish people who were just returning from exile. They were discovering a distraught and destroyed Jerusalem. They had to start anew in very difficult conditions.

They might very well have chosen to weep and mourn former things that were no more. Or they might also stand with the Creator-God, let past things be in the past, and build a new Jerusalem.

And the prophet Isaiah gives us a wondrous list of characteristics of this new Jerusalem. Some characteristics might sound like the electoral program of a presidential hopeful. Mind you, our politicians could do worse than take a leaf out of Isaiah.

First of all, the new Jerusalem is a city. We are not going back to the Garden of Eden where we could be alone with God. We are looking at a civil society where we build our future together. We will relate to God as a community. We will thrive together. We can’t do this alone. God is enrolling every available laborer in this project.

We are no longer going to dwell on our losses and our past glories. We are going to be forward-looking.

We will be healthier, more joyful and more prosperous than we can imagine. We will live out fulfilled lifetimes.

We will have economic justice. All will have fruitful livelihoods and will be able to enjoy the fruit of those livelihoods. There shall not be domination over our lives or exploitation of our labor.

We will be happy that our children get to enjoy what we will enjoy ourselves. We won’t worry about their future being bleaker than our present.

And then, as a fledgling Vegan, I can’t help but rejoice at the thought that wolves and lions are going Vegan too (although I aspire to better than a meal of straw).

Think of all the ways we can engage our present predicaments to move into this direction and usher in the Kingdom of God here and now. You don’t need to cure cancer (but if you can, by all means, please do). You can start with offering a cool glass of water to those in need. Every little action in favor of our common good counts in this endeavor.

And God will cooperate with you every step of the way. God will delight in your consent to build the new Jerusalem with God. God will rejoice in your collaboration.

And with God, you will remove the causes of weeping and distress. Before people cry for help, we will come to their aid. We shall be the answer to people’s prayers.

Of course, some also draw comfort from the thought that no matter how short we fall from embodying the vision, God will complete it in the end. At the end of times, God will make perfect what we have started to accomplish with God.

Well yes, probably, but why wait until then? Insisting on Isaiah’s vision being an eschatological vision, a vision of the end times only, seems like a cop out to me. Why labor at building the new Jerusalem, when God the Creator himself will finish it off in a New York minute at the end of times? Why bother? We don’t know when time will end. My understanding of Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection is that God desires us to try and help in the meantime.

I want Isaiah’s vision to inform my life and that of our Christian community. It is a vision that has universal appeal. We can share it with all of humanity and all of God’s creation. It is truly a vision for the greater common good of all creation.

Remember this vision throughout the coming season of Advent. Etymologically, Advent means “what is to come.” Remember the advent of Jesus of Nazareth, of Jesus the Christ and of the new Jerusalem he prefigures.


Beloved Lord, thank you for Isaiah’s rendering of God’s vision of a new Jerusalem. Thank you for Jesus emboldening us in the building of the Kingdom of God here and now. Help us join the multitude of your laborers no matter how late the hour. We look forward to sharing the fruits of our labor with all and with You. Amen.