“ESCAPING THE SIN OF CYNICISM”
ISAIAH 11:1-9
11:1 A shoot shall come out from the
stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest
on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
LORD.
3 His delight shall be in the fear
of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall
judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt
around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over
the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy on
all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Suppose someone comes up
to you this week and says, “I know you don’t know me, but do I have a deal for you!” Would that announcement
pique your curiosity or would it make you a little suspicious? I think it would
make me a little suspicious. After all there is some truth to what they say these
days. You can’t trust anyone.
That was certainly
true for the elderly man who went Christmas shopping one day. Now the elderly
man had a reputation for being a little cheap. So, when he saw a vase in store
that had been marked way down because it had a broken handle he didn’t think twice.
He bought the vase. The saleswoman was really surprised when he then told
her to wrap the vase and send it to his niece and her husband in time for Christmas.
The elderly man smiled as he left the store. “Well,” he thought,
“They’ll just figure that the vase got broken while it was being delivered.”
His glee didn’t last very long though. A week or so after Christmas
he got a thank you note from his niece. In her note the niece wrote, “Thank
you for the beautiful vase and by the way how thoughtful of you to wrap each piece separately.”
It’s hard
not to be cynical these days. Everywhere you look you see con artists coming
up with new ways to take advantage of innocent people. You see politicians taking
bribes kickbacks, baseball players cheating and then lying about it through their teeth. Pick a newspaper up and you’ll
probably read about another CEO who cooked the books or a minister who did something that proves that just because you’re
a man of God that doesn’t automatically mean you can be trusted.
There’s so much sad
and shameful stuff that goes on these days. It’s hard not to get caught
up in the clutches of cynicism. More often than not you learn to be a little
cynical very early on in life. A mother saw that one day when her daughter came
home from kindergarten and she asked her what she did in school. “Oh,”
the little girl said, “the teacher read us a story about Sleepy Beauty.”
The little girl then went on to tell her mother the story and how Prince Charming brought Sleeping Beauty back to life
with a kiss. The mother was impressed.
“Very good,” she said, “And they lived happily ever after right?” “No,” the little girl said with a sigh. “They
got married.”
It’s hard these days
not to be cynical. Now if you really want to be cynical just go over to Bethlehem.
That’s where you’ll find the child that Isaiah saw in his vision. “And
a little child shall lead them.” Now what kind of nonsense is that? Children don’t lead; especially this child. I mean let’s be honest. This
is a child that was born in a stable. This is a child that was born in a dark
and dingy stable surrounded by a bunch of smelly animals. Not only that but his parents weren’t rich. His parents weren’t important. If they had any clout
at all the inn keeper would have found a room for them. But he didn’t did he?
Instead of finding them a room he closed the door and sent this dirt poor carpenter and his wife who was great with
child to the stable.
The little child that Isaiah
saw in his vision was born to insignificant parents in what was at that time an insignificant town. In spite of all of that Isaiah wants us to believe that this insignificant child is going to usher in a
kingdom where the lion and the lamb are going to lie down together in peace and harmony.
It doesn’t
make sense and yet look what that little child did. James Allen Francis
summed it up beautifully in his famous essay, “One Solitary Life.”
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked
in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book. He
never held an office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never
traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things that we usually associate with greatness. He
had no credentials but himself.
He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran
away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to
a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth.
When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave, through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone,
and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched,
all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned--put together--have not
affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one, solitary life.”
What happened in that Bethlehem stable doesn’t make any sense. Don’t let that stop you though from continuing your journey to Bethlehem. Go over to Bethlehem
and let yourself be led by that little child.
That little child will lead
you a way from the clutches of cynicism.
That little child will lead
you away from all the doubt and despair.
That little child will help
you to see and believe in the God who is always working in you and the world around you.
That little child is what
makes it possible for you to do what a young Marine did one day. His journey
to an incredible grace filled moment began when a nurse led him into a hospital room and said to the elderly patient in that
room, “Your son is here.” Unfortunately, the old man was heavily
medicated and barely conscious, but he reached out his hand and the young Marine gave it a gentle squeeze. The nurse brought a chair over to the side of the bed and the young Marine stayed by the old man’s
side until he finally passed away. Shortly after he died the nurse came into
the room and began to console the young Marine. She stopped though when he looked
at her and asked, “Who was that man?”
The nurse was puzzled and replied, “Your father.” The young
Marine shook his head. “No, he wasn’t.” Now the nurse was really
puzzled. “Then why didn’t you say something?” she asked. The
young Marine explained that as soon as he saw the old man he knew that a mistake had been made, but then added, “I also
knew he needed his son, and his son wasn’t there. I could tell he was too
sick to know whether I was his son or not. When I realized how much he needed
to have someone there, I just decided to stay.”
I first read this story several
years ago in one of the “Chicken Soul For The Soul” books. I remembered it this past week while I was thinking about all the cynicism that’s out there these
days. When that young Marine walked into that room it would have been very easy
for the cynic in him to take over. He could have said to himself, “It figures. Someone screwed up big time and matched me up with the wrong dying father.” Then after complaining a little at the nurses’ desk he could have walked away. Instead he sat down and did what he could to help the old man died in peace.
Things like that happen when
you follow the little child who came to lead us.
If God’s grace can
come into this world through a dark and dingy stable in what was a tiny insignificant town then it makes you stop and wonder
what else God’s grace can do. It makes you stop and wonder where else you
may find God’s grace. It makes you stop and wonder how God’s grace
can work in and through you. Amen
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
December 9, 2007
