Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
The Prophet Isaiah says, “On THIS mountain!” This one… RIGHT HERE… Right here, right where we are today, RIGHT HERE on THIS mountain, on this Berkshire Mountain. The Lord of Hosts will make a feast for all peoples… a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines! Do you see it? You’re having trouble seeing aren’t you? The people Isaiah told this to back in the day had trouble seeing it too. That’s why Isaiah gave them some more details… He said, it’s a feast of rich food filled with marrow. That’s the kind of food where you’re going to need more than one napkin. One little napkin, dabbing at the corners of your mouth, just isn’t going to cut it! THIS is a feast of well-aged wines strained clear… the good stuff… not the two buck Chuck… not to cast aspersions on Chuck, but this is the really, really good stuff… and I’ve got to tell you… when I close my eyes and think about the Kingdom of God, THAT’s the vision I see!
It’s a vision of ABUNDANCE not scarcity. A vision of WIC out of business. Not because they ran out of money but because everyone has enough! It’s a vision where we find more chairs and put together more tables, not build a higher fence. It’s a vision of a feast given as a gift for the guilty, not as a reward for the righteous… so even the likes of me, gets to eat! Isaiah tells us it’s going to happen RIGHT HERE! We don’t need to go get it, this feast isn’t take out… it’s delivery… It’s coming to us… right here to THIS Berkshire mountain and as Christians we believe Jesus is standing at the door knocking because in Jesus’s life, death and resurrection, the feast has been delivered!
So tell me something… Why am I having so much trouble these days seeing that feast? I see the hungry… but it’s been hard to see the feast. I’ve seen young men shot for nothing… but it’s been hard to see the feast. I’ve talked with a woman who gave birth to her youngest child in a boat between Syria and Greece… but it’s been hard to see the feast. I’ve seen angry white men march with hate in their eyes and torches in their hands… but lately… it’s been hard to see the feast. I’ve got to confess there seems to be too many days lately when the sun has refused to shine… and it’s been hard to see the feast.
Oh when the sun, refuse to shine
Oh when the sun refuse to shine
Oh Lord, I want to be in that number
When the sun refuse to shine.
I’ll tell you what, whether I want to be in that number or not, I’m in it, and like it or not, I appreciate it when someone is brave enough to use really honest words. Sometimes there IS a shroud on the mountain… a sheet covering the nations and sometimes the sun DOES refuse to shine. If Isaiah can be honest like that and still get a book in the Bible, then you and I can call it like it is too! There’s too much hunger in this world… too much hate… too much death. Isaiah doesn’t pull any punches. He doesn’t pretend the world is all puppy dogs and unicorns. He’s honest. Sometimes the world is dark and hard and cold and sometimes things are very, very, very much NOT like they should be.
And when the moon, turns red with blood
And when the moon, turns red with blood
O Lord, I want to be in that number,
When the moon turns red with blood.
That’s the honest story, even on our very own Berkshire mountain and it’s important to be honest. But if we’re going to be honest, we need to be all-the-way honest. We have to tell the rest of the story. We’ve got to sing the whole song. The world IS hard, dark and painful… that’s true… AND at the very same time… Happening right here on THIS mountain, Jesus has brought us together to share a feast as well. Now, if you’re a stoic Swede like me… you’ll be tempted to wait to crack a smile until ALL the darkness becomes light. You’ll feel guilty singing a song before ALL the hate everywhere has melted away. You’ll want to wait to sit down at to feast until ALL the world gets fully RIGHT… but Isaiah didn’t tell us what was coming to just to make it harder for us sit on our hands. Isaiah told us about this feast so that all of us, including the stoic Swede here, would start that feast RIGHT NOW! Right now… right where we are, no matter what dark and ugly things are going bump on the news… Isaiah is telling us to put on our Sunday clothes, wash our hands, comb our hair (if we’ve got enough to comb) and start marching in and enjoy the feast TODAY!
O when the Saints, go marchin' in
O when the Saints, go marchin' in
O Lord, I want to be in that number,
When the Saints go marchin' in!
It’s hard to hold those things together though, isn’t it? It’s hard to hold the sun refusing to shine and people going hungry… and hold that together with the promise of a feast of rich foods filled with marrow. It’s hard to hold the moon turning red with the blood of children shot down for no good reason and for every hateful reason… it’s hard to hold that together with the promise of a feast of well aged wines strained clear. It’s hard. In fact, it’s worse than that! Because if you try to hold those things together all by yourself, it’s all going to just spin apart into either delusion or despair.
That’s why we need more of THIS! More time spent with each other… TOGETHER! We need to be together to wipe away each other’s tears until God finishes the job and there are no more tears that need wiping. We need to be together so we can hold one another close when the sheet of death is pulled up over the ones we love until that day when God comes and swallows up death forever and we need to sing the WHOLE SONG together and remind each other that no matter what horrible thing is happening in the world today, there is also a feast happening right here, right now, on this Berkshire mountain! And that means that no matter what dark and horrible things are happening in the world today… TODAY is also a Hallelujah Day! So let us be glad and rejoice in God's salvation!
And on this hallelujah day
And on this hallelujah day,
O Lord, I want to be in that number,
On this hallelujah day!
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