Br. David Vryhof

Isaiah 29:17-24

I remember a sermon preached some years ago by the now-retired Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry. In it, he recalled waiting in an airport for his plane to board and deciding to get his shoes shined. As his shoes were being shined, he struck up a conversation with the man who was shining his shoes and learned that he had been doing this work for many years and that he worked very long hours every week. Bishop Curry asked him how he came to be so dedicated to his work. “Well, I have a son in college,” the man explained, “and I plan to keep shining shoes as long as I can, to see him through.”

“That man had a vision,” said Bishop Curry, a vision of his son receiving an education that had not been possible for his parents and that would open doors for him that they could never have entered. It was this vision that inspired and motivated him every day. “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” the Bishop reminded us, quoting Proverbs 29:18.

We all need a vision, especially if we hope to make a difference in the world: a vision of what the world can be and of what we can be that motivates us and inspires us to bring about change.

The prophets of the Old Testament offered God’s people this kind of vision. In our text today, Isaiah describes a future transformation where the natural order is reversed and the oppressed are vindicated, leading to a time of renewal for God’s people. In this future, he says, deaf people will hear, the blind will see, and the humble will rejoice. “The tyrant shall be no more,” says Isaiah, “and the scoffer shall cease to be; all those alert to do evil shall be cut off.” It will be a time for healing, for change, and for renewal. It will be a day of judgment, when good will triumph over evil.

Jesus had a vision as well: a vision of a kingdom, God’s kingdom, in which the last were made first and the first last, in which the mighty were cast down and the poor were lifted up, in which the meek inherited the earth, the sorrowful were comforted, and the merciful would receive mercy. He envisioned a world where each person was valued and loved, especially the stranger and the outcasts, and in which violence, hatred, greed and oppression were no more.

So what is your vision? What is the world that you can imagine and for which you want to work and to pray? Is there a cause you would support, or a special population that you would lift up? Is there a wrong that you could help make right? An injustice that you could help correct? “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” and where there is a vision, they are stirred into action.