A New Song Set Upon the Rock of God’s Self-Giving Love
Readings for the Second Sunday after Epiphany
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church Eureka on Sunday January 15, 2023.
Today is the birthday of a close friend of mine named Isaac, who lives in Chicago with his wife Alison and their daughter Pauli, who is named after an influential Episcopal priest and author Pauli Murray. Isaac was one of my groomsmen at my wedding, along with my brother Matthew Abraham London and my high school buddy Jacob Pierce (both of whom have worshipped here) and my seminary roommate Ed Horsley. So, my groomsmen were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Ed. Today, Isaac turns 40 years old and we just happen to be reading and singing Psalm 40, which inspired one of my favorite songs by the rock band U2 titled “40” from an album that was released 40 years ago, in 1983. In the song “40,” Bono sings the words of the psalm:
I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined and heard my cry
He brought me up out of the pit; out of the miry clay
I will sing, sing a new song
He set my foot upon a rock and made my footsteps firm
Many will see, many will see and hear
I will sing, sing a new song
These are powerful and relevant words for us today in California as we face earthquakes, storms, floods, mudslides, and landslides. “He sets our feet upon a rock and made our footsteps firm.” Amidst shifting grounds, we need a strong foundation, and how firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for our faith in his excellent word! The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow because our firm foundation is the self-giving love of God. God is always giving himself to us in love. May this truth of our sure foundation inspire in us a new song.
God’s self-giving love is revealed more and more in his excellent Word. In our readings today, we see this movement away from an understanding of God as One who demands sacrifice and bloodshed and towards an understanding of God who is always giving to us; and by giving to us, empowering us to give generously to others. My friend Isaac’s biblical namesake was Abraham’s son who was nearly sacrificed to death by his father, who believed that God was demanding the bloody sacrifice of his beloved child. Abraham brought Isaac to Mount Moriah and laid his body upon the altar and, when he lifted the knife to slay the child, an angel called out and said, “No! Do not lay your hand on the child!” Abraham then had an epiphany and realized that God was saying to him, “I am not a demanding God, I’m a self-giving God. I do not demand bloodshed, but if you feel the need to shed blood and release violence, then I will give myself to you in the form of a lamb. Look! There’s a lamb caught in the thicket! Sacrifice the lamb, not your son.”
Abraham’s epiphany then informed the ancient Israelites in Egypt when the firstborn sons were being sacrificed to the so-called “Angel of Death.” The Israelites remembered the story of their father Abraham and knew that their God did not demand bloodshed but gave himself to his people in the form of a lamb. So, while the children of Egypt were tragically sacrificed, the Israelites enjoyed delicious lambchops. These stories served as the foundation for Jewish temple worship in which animal sacrifices were made on a regular basis on Mount Moriah, where Abraham first sacrificed the lamb, instead of Isaac. Over time, the people forgot that the lamb symbolized God’s self-giving love and instead fell back into believing that God demanded bloodshed.
But then in today’s psalm (psalm 40), we witness King David singing a new song. King David, who stands securely on the foundation of God’s self-giving love, realizes that God takes no pleasure in sacrifice: “In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure…burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not demanded.” God does not demand, God gives. That is the new song King David hears and sings. That is the firm foundation upon which he stands. That is the epiphany David receives.
All these stories come together in our Gospel reading today in which John the Baptist sees Jesus and says, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Look! Here is the one who perfectly embodies God’s self-giving love. Here is the one who will demonstrate with his life that God is not a God who demands bloodshed, but a God who gives himself to us so that we might be empowered to give ourselves to others.
This epiphany of God’s nonviolence wakes us up to our own sinful inclinations towards violence, our own sinful inclinations to scapegoat others and to team up in opposition to a common enemy, our own sinful inclinations to build ourselves up by putting others down. The epiphany helps us to see how we bury ourselves in the miry clay of sinful behaviors while God offers us the sure foundation of his love. If we need to make any sacrifice, may it be a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the sure foundation of God’s love revealed in Christ. And may that inspire a new song in you. May that inspire new song in all of us. Amen.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 