“The Impossible Dream”
December 2nd, 2007
Isaiah 42:1-9 - Don Quixote dreamed an impossible dream, and people thought he was crazy. But, Don Quixote would have like the prophet Isaiah. After preaching gloom and doom for y ears, Isaiah found his people in the midst of exile, and to these people he preached an audacious, outlandish message of hope - an impossible dream - about a bruised reed that would bend but not break. The “true meaning” of Christmas lies in that bruised reed. If we want to get with Christmas, we have to get with that.
“The Impossible Dream”
Isaiah 42:1-9
1. Does anyone remember the sitcom “Laverne and Shirley?” Two working class friends trying to make their dreams come true while living in Milwaukee in the 50’s.
A. The humor, often times, was based on their dreams being foiled once again.
B. They would meet the “perfect guy” and it turns out he just wanted to rob the pizza bowl.
C. Disappointment was their constant companion.
D. Whenever things got rough, Laverne would sing…
E. “Just what makes that little green ant, think he can move that rubber tree plant? Everyone knows that ants can’t move a rubber tree plant. But, he’s got high hopes. He’s got high hopes…
F. And ultimately everyone would feel better. They would live to dream another day.
2. Laverne and Shirley would have liked the prophet Isaiah. He was a man of high hopes, of audacious hope, of outlandish hope.
A. Isaiah had himself a vision. Some might have called it an impossible dream.
B. Isaiah had spent the first part of his prophetic ministry warning the people of Israel to change their ways or some bad days were coming.
C. Well, those bad days had arrived. The Babylonians sacked Jerusalem sending the people into exile.
D. Things seemed hopeless for the people. There did not seem to be a light in the darkness of their lives.
E. Everything that they were connected to - that gave them strength, a sense of identity was gone. The temple, their homes, their country.
F. Israel was in exile and everything seemed so dark.
G. Our surroundings can have a strong impact on our outlook. Example - driving through a depressed area recently.
H. Imagine waking up and not even being in your own home, and not being allowed to go home. How would just existing in that environment affect our faith?
I. And yet, Isaiah had the audacity - the unmitigated gall - to proclaim in the midst of exile…read Isaiah 42:1-4.
J. Who proclaims such a hopeful message in a time like that? What madness is that?
K. Isaiah reminds me a bit of Don Quixote.
3. What’s worse is that, not only does Isaiah share a message of hope to people without any, but the way he speaks of their deliverance is absolute madness.
A. He talks about a servant who will bring forth justice.
B. But, he will bring forth justice through his own suffering. This is crazy!
C. But that is what Isaiah says. Read Isaiah 42:2-3.
D. A bruised reed!?! This is not the warrior king that the people had hoped for. They don’t want a bruised reed, they want a conquering hero.
E. This passage from Isaiah is what scholars have called “servant songs” because they point to a servant who will suffer in furtherance of God’s mission in the world. This servant is God’s special agent.
F. Christians see the fulfillment of this promise in Jesus Christ.
4. Today, we begin the season of Advent. Wherever we are in our lives, we begin our journey towards Bethlehem.
A. There is a lot that stands in our way.
B. Things to do, presents to buy, parties to attend, decorations to hang, fuses to change, etc.
C. There is so much going on around us, and so many people telling us what Christmas is “really about,” that we might be tempted to forget about the importance of the journey that we are on.
D. I want to encourage everyone to do a little experiment during the season of Advent. Every time you hear a TV show, a movie, a commercial, anything, that claims to talk about the “true meaning of Christmas, I want you to ask yourself the question - “What is this person actually saying about Christmas?”
E. Are they really articulating the true meaning of Christmas?
F. Because I have scoured the bible, and I have not yet read the gospel according to the Grinch, or the gospel according to the Coca-Cola Polar Bears.
G. Don’t get me wrong - great values in many of these programs, great lessons.
H. But our hope, our audacious, ridiculous hope - our impossible dream - rests on “the bruised reed that that will not break, the dimly burning wick that will not quench.”
5. You see, it’s not that God became one of us that makes Christianity such an “impossible dream” to so many people - with God, all things are possible.
A. The impossible dream that is the Christian hope is the means by which God fulfills his plan.
B. A light of hope in the darkness of a people in exile.
C. A promise that “the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare.”
D. That promise revealed in the life of an infant boy, born to a couple of insignificant parents, in the feeding trough of animals, in a nowhere town, in an occupied nation.
E. It’s like God said, “how can I stack the odds most against Jesus,” and then that is what he did.
F. But, if God can do what he did for the world through Jesus Christ, given the fact that he was the son of an insignificant couple, born in the feeding trough of animals, in a nowhere town, in an occupied nation, than what do you think God can do with your life, or with mine?
G. Advent is the time of year where we are reminded again that we have placed our hope in an impossible dream.
6. My friends, the people thought that Isaiah was a lunatic. They thought Don Quixote was a lunatic. And I’m pretty sure Laverne and Shirley were definitely lunatics.
A. But, here’s the deal. If we want to get on board with Christmas - with the “true meaning” of Christmas - then we are going to have to believe in an impossible dream.
B. We are going to have to reach for an unreachable star - a star that shines over a manger…where a child has been born…to insignificant parents…in a nowhere town…in an occupied nation.
C. Because therein lies our only hope - indeed the hope for all humankind. Amen.
Sermon delivered 12/02/07 at Light of the Canyon United Methodist Church, Anaheim Hills.
