The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
March 11, 2007
Vol. 10 no. 10

Everything But...
           Isaiah is in the midst of revival. Not a resurrection, for the book of the first major prophet of the Old Testament has never died. Many are rereading Isaiah not as an Old Testament book, but as a Christian book, and that is causing a revival.
           Matthew cites Isaiah 40 times - a number of Biblical proportions! - the other Gospels 20 or so times each. It’s not an easy book to figure out, full of poetic prophecies and sermons that often beg for a historical and social context. Most believe “Isaiah” was actually three different writers - chapters 1-39, 40-55, and 56-66 - each with a different century and circumstances against which to struggle.
           The Christian movement can be typified as the Jewish sect that chose Isaiah to describe the Messiah. The Suffering Servant songs (42, 49, 50, 52-53) depict a Messiah who is triumphant by losing and suffering, not by winning and conquering. Jesus would put flesh on these songs.
           The last hymn of Second Isaiah is one we often hear as the invitation to the sacrament of Holy Communion. Originally, it is meant to be a celebration of the time when Israel is freed from captivity in Babylon and returns home to the Promised Land - a New Eden in which the world’s insistence on buying everything is no longer worth anything.
           “You who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why spend your money on what does not satisfy? Why spend your wages and still be hungry? Listen to me and do what I say, and you will enjoy the best food of all.”
           We can scarcely believe such a world. It is a new world where Isaiah begins and where we as Christians keep on trying to make a home.