Our New Name
Sermon given by the Rev. Christine Gowdy-Jaehnig on 16 January 2022
Texts for Year C : 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 62: 1-5 * Psalm 36: 5-10 * 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11 * John 2: 1-11
2b[Y]ou shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. 3You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.
In most of our lives, there has been or will be a time when these words of Isaiah ring true and we feel [the pain of] recognition: “That is my name; I am Forsaken, I am Desolate.” My encounter with this text took place around 1990. I was in the midst of the members of my House Group, people from my church with whom I met weekly to study and pray; and yet I felt the pain of loneliness. I clutched at the promise of change and new life; “God sees me; I am God’s Delight.”
These words come from a prophet known as Third Isaiah, believed to be living in Jerusalem after the return of many of the exiled Judeans from Babylon. It was a sad situation. There were power struggles going on between the two major groups of people: the descendants of those who had been left behind to struggle with the downfall of Jerusalem and the descendants of Judah’s best and brightest who had been taken away to Babylon. There was conflict over how to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and the Temple, how to govern themselves, and even how to decide who belonged. The words of Second Isaiah, which promised a joyful return of the captives to Zion, had not been fulfilled. Instead, there was deteriorating morale caused by broken dreams, unexpected hardships and crumbling faith. They asked: is the God who made a Covenant with us powerless to fulfill His promises or indifferent to our plight.
Third Isaiah loudly proclaims vindication of the people; he acknowledges their past suffering and present desolation. He builds on the words found earlier in Isaiah, when God admits: “For a brief moment I abandoned you.” The people’s experience is recognized and named. That is so important; the people feel seen, the reality they have lived has been validated. The prophet then speaks words of reassurance and encouragement; the people can now move forward with hope and confidence. They will be called by new names, reflecting the positive change in their lives. This is something that we’ve heard about before in the Bible: Abram and Sarai became Abraham and Sarah, Jacob became Israel. God’s words fall on them like water on a parched land.
They will no longer be known as Forsaken and Desolate, but Married and My Delight is in Her. What does it mean to call someone Beulah –Married? I think it means to tell someone, “I love you and seek your greatest good; this relationship will provide security and it will be a fruitful one for you, for us.” What does it mean to call someone Hephzibah –My Delight Is In Her? I think that is to go beyond saying, “I love you.” It is to feel as tender and glad as a couple on their honeymoon, as parents observing their young child, marveling at and rejoicing in this unique and amazing person. It is to see the other as wonderful just they way they are, with dignity and worth. It is to declare that you feel joy in their company. It is to see the goodness at their heart which will shine forth and not be held back, obscured or marred by their bad parts. Delight is unalloyed, unconditional joy; it exists when we seek no control and desire no change. It liberates us to simply find pleasure in the other’s presence. To be called “my delight” is to feel your very existence affirmed, and to know yourself wanted, significant, and cherished.
Yes, God called His discouraged, quarreling, unrighteous people “My Delight is in You.” He said to them, “You are a beautiful and precious diadem in my hand.” This is how we know that when God came to be with us four hundred years later, he didn’t come gritting His teeth to simply help us out with the sin problem. He wasn’t just approaching us with loving pity because we had messed up so badly. His appearance on the banks of the Jordan was not preceded by nose-holding. God pitched His tent among us primarily because He found delight in us, and He wanted to be with us. And He was, for three or more decades, until those in power couldn’t take his radical message anymore. The early Church, reflecting on Jesus’ words and actions, and guided by the Holy Spirit, came to understand that God words, “My Delight is in You,” is something He wants to say to everyone, not just His chosen People.
How might we hear God saying these words today? Some times God speaks them to us through other people. Gregory J. Boyle, a Jesuit priest, is the founder and director of a ministry started in Los Angeles called Homeboy Industries. It is a gang rehabilitation and re-entry program for those who have been in prison. The Rev. Boyle wrote a book called Tattoos on the Heart which was required reading for the freshman class at Gonzaga University one year. At the end of the semester, Boyle was invited to speak at the University. In a short opinion piece he recounted the experience. He took two clients with him, including Mario, whose entire face is covered in tattoos. Boyle asked the two men to speak first to the audience:
Nervous, hands and voices shaking, they told their stories of violence, terror and abuse of all kinds. Honest to God, their words were like flames; you had to keep your distance or get scorched. [During the question-and-answer time, a woman asked Mario], “You say you are a father, and your son and daughter are starting to reach their teenage years. ... What advice do you give them?” … Standing next to Mario, I could feel his effort to [respond]. He clutched the microphone, teared up, stretching his arm toward the woman as if he were pleading with her. “I just, I just … don’t want my kids to turn out to be like me.” ... Now it was [the woman’s] turn to cry. “You are loving; you are kind,” she said, steadying herself. “I hope your kids turn out to be like you.” There wasn’t much of a pause before the audience stood and bean to clap. All Mario could do was hold his face in his hands. A lanky, tattooed gang member revealed his wounds in front of a thousand strangers, who lost the temptation to despise him and recognized themselves in his brokenness.
Their response communicated to Mario a portion of the delight that God feels in him, something he had great trouble believing even though he had turned away –repented-- from his destructive life in a gang. But God says to Mario and even current gang members: “I know that you were badly hurt and that you hurt others; My delight is in you.”
Some times we hear God speak these words through scripture, as I did. Some times we hear them in our churches, in our liturgy and hymns. Sometimes the Spirit whispers them in our hearts, although it can be hard to hear through the clamor of our pride and envy, our fears, self-doubt and self-disgust. But God says it to the most unlikely people:
God says to someone wrongly arrested and filled with anger and bitterness: You are a crown of beauty in my hand.
God says to the man who forgot to close the ferry doors, causing the ferry to sink and many people to die: My delight is in you.
God says to the student who cheated on her test: You shall be a diadem in my hand.
God says to someone who is depressed and contemplating suicide: My delight is in you.
God says to the man who is an alcoholic, who got very drunk at a party, opened his trousers and peed on the hosts’ carpet: You are a crown in my hand.
God says to those who harass and threatened because of the color of their skin, those doing the harassing and those who stand by watching: My delight is in you.
God says to the woman addicted to gambling who stole money from her employer: You are a crown in my hand.
God says to the tired parents who shout at their children and tell them they wish they had never been born and the children who hear it: My delight is in you.
What would it take for us to truly believe that God is saying these words to us? To the whole world? To every single person? How can the church better spread this good news?
Let us pray:
God of extravagant tenderness;
When devastating events knock us down, revive and restore us;
And teach us to take delight in all those you take delight in.
This we pray through Jesus Christ, your radiant light. Amen.