Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Sir Thomas More, the “Man for all Seasons,” described his perfect land of virtue and harmony and called it “Utopia.” He employed a little witty irony in choosing that title, because Utopia is taken from the Greek words that mean, “No place.” He was implying that it doesn’t exist! This theoretical land is unattainable, but yet he could still describe it as an embodiment of enlightened Renaissance humanism. Utopia possesses all the ideals of good and peace and tolerance of others, but the catch is, you’re not going to get there! That doesn’t stop people from trying, nor does there seem to be a limit to philosophies and offers to make it a reality. The revolutionary says, “Let me take over everything in your life, and I will usher in a golden age.” The Muslim says (either with a drawn sword or without), “Submit to Allah, live as we do, and there will be peace.” The Mormon religion can be simply summarized as, “Follow the laws and ordinances that are laid out in the teachings of Jesus and perfected in Joseph Smith, and you can become more like they are and enjoy the rewards of righteousness that they enjoy.” The politician says, “Give me your money and your vote, and I will turn society into a wonderful place to live.” Our nation’s citizens have heard them say everything from, “A chicken in every pot” to “No child left behind.” Utopia. The wonderful place we would love to find someday is really No Place.

But you can’t convince the prophet Isaiah of that. You sense an uncanny optimism here in a man who was called to warn of God’s coming judgment. He seems to be raving about a future Utopia as he concludes his book in the last few chapters. Zion, the symbol of the New Jerusalem, will bear children instantly, without labor pains, and feed them as a new mother nurses her own children. Her citizens will return from exile and drink in her abundant and constant goodness, better than any welfare program could ever dream or claim to provide. The lion will lie down with the lamb, and a little child will lead them. Peace will overflow like a river floods its banks after a downpour. No one will go away hungry, distraught, or without comfort. All will rejoice in the Lord.

How is this possible? What is going on, Isaiah? Don’t you see what the world is like out there? There must be someone else stealing your identity and writing all this cool stuff in your name without your knowledge. Isaiah was sent to preach to his people words of law about their idolatry. The want, the hunger for better crops, a better life, better birthrate, better weather— these were the forces that drove the Israelites and specifically the people of Judah to try their luck with other gods. They used idols to attempt to reach their Utopia! It’s no different from what our society tries to do now. The Utopia is basically the same; the idols and their worship practices are only slightly different these days. God’s prophet rightly condemns all of it for most of the book that bears his name.

Then Isaiah changes tone suddenly. So significant is this change that skeptical academics have actually theorized that somebody else must be writing the rest of Isaiah’s book. There is comfort and peace on the way! Salvation offered to all. A glorious, perfect and holy Servant will appear and earn this perfect bliss for all who believe in Him. He will be the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, stricken, smitten and afflicted. All we like sheep have gone astray, everyone to his own way, but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Once that happens, then Isaiah turns loose a triumphant song of praise to the God of Israel, full of promises for eternal happiness for His people, like we read today in the Old Testament reading.

That’s the answer to those who wish to bridge the gap between the real world and No Place, the Utopia that the human spirit seems to keep longing for, deep down inside every beating heart. The answer is, there is no bridging the gap! True, the Lord’s Paradise, the home of righteousness, the dwelling place of the whole heavenly host, that really does exist, but your efforts to try to get there or elect a candidate to recreate it here will always be fruitless. Sin has infected and corrupted all that you and I do so much, that even what appears good and righteous to us is actually hideous in the holy sight of God. I know that sounds judgmental, hateful and closed-minded to the world, but it is the truth from our Lord’s Word.

Your thoughts, words and deeds betray the self-worshiping idolatry of your heart, which afflicts you with conflict and anxiety in one moment because you want to do God’s will instead, while at the next moment you forget it all and plunge back into the sinful life that is all too familiar to you. The evil world and its dark prince hold out the hope of a Utopia in which your every selfish desire will come true without any effort or work on your part, and you fall for the trick yet again.

There may be no bridging the gap, yet it is also true that there is now no need to bridge the gap! The advent of a Suffering Servant that Isaiah had predicted long ago before Babylon, came true in the coming of Jesus 700 years later. God had the plan all figured out from the very beginning! Jesus is the One we have been waiting for, not some big name living in our nation’s capital. He is the only Messiah worthy of the Name, since His is the Name that is above every name. Our Lord and Savior began the New Age of Salvation because He was the Man of Sorrows that Isaiah predicted. He went to the cross to suffer, to be shamed, to be punished, without a single sin to His Name. If there ever was a clean and ideal candidate, Jesus was it! If the Church is to avoid prattling on about utopian ideals or principles for a fulfilled life, then we must never give up the Biblical truth that her Lord was born of the Virgin Mary—not because we like quaint Bible stories, not because we merely vote in some Church Convention that we’ll go along with it, but it’s because God’s Word says it is true, and Christ’s utter perfection as historical fact is absolutely essential to His role as Redeemer. We would still have an entire lifetime of sins on our hands if Jesus had begun His earthly life with sin, the same way we did.

Because it is ludicrous to question whether or not Jesus really existed, because there is voluminous historical documentation that Jesus claimed to be God, said that He would rise from the dead, then He did, that is the true strength of the Christian faith. That tells you that being a Christian is much more than just following a certain set of rules. The rules are part of it, and we cannot downplay the rules simply because more and more people in our world won’t accept the rules anymore, but the bigger part of the Christian message is the forgiveness of sins that is free by faith in the Name of Jesus Christ. That tells you that the joy of Isaiah that we read today is not a con game designed to deceive us.

The paradise of eternal life, the promise of resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come—these are real gifts and they are yours, guaranteed by Word, by Baptism, by the Sacrament of the Altar. You will find empty, worthless promises all over this fallen, sinful world, just like you might think that the only freedoms people cherish anymore are the freedoms to be morally reprehensible. But the genuine promises are the ones that come from God’s Word, and the only freedom is that which releases you from your own sinful desire to satisfy your lust for anything that your Creator has not given you. Heaven’s riches now belong to you, because you belong to Jesus.

Here, the far-away, impossible Utopia, becomes a “Topia,” if you will, a certain place that does exist and is within your grasp, simply because God has come to you in Christ. He knew that the blessings of righteousness were going to remain out of your grasp until He came to give you forgiveness and life. The angels sang with joy along with Isaiah that upon Jesus’ coming, that meant peace on earth, goodwill toward men had finally arrived. You have access to all the blessings that God has promised for you, not in your theoretical thoughts, but in your hearing the Word, in eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Christ, even going back to the day when your sins were washed away in the water of Holy Baptism. Utopia was impossible for man, but for God, all things are possible. That’s not a mere slogan! You who were far away have been brought near to your heavenly Father, and were reconciled to Him and to one another, as unlikely as that seemed.

Come to New Jerusalem, your mother the Church, who has given you the new life that Jesus Christ earned for you on the cross and proclaimed from the empty tomb. Drink deeply from what the Church has to offer you for nourishment in the faith. Study the Word, learn it, pray it, and get to know all that your Lord has done for you. Don’t look for worldly kingdoms and Utopias on earth that promise you success and growth and an easier way. Because even the Church can get discouraged and impatient when good things don’t seem to be happening. But Isaiah says, Rejoice with Jerusalem, bask in the peace of forgiveness that flows over you today like a river. God will relieve your fears and comfort you as you mourn. Whether or not things will ever be great again, God’s hand will be known to His servants, because it is from His hand that you receive precious gifts today, and you are invigorated for service to your neighbor in His name.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Is. 66:10–14 The hand of the LORD shall be known to His servants.
Psalm 66:1–7 Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.
Gal. 6:1–10, 14–18 let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith
Luke 10:1–20 the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few … but rather rejoice because your names are written…