The Nature of Christian Work

A hymn that I learned to sing in college says, “We’ll work till Jesus comes.” Because there is such a thing as Labor Day, this post deals with the nature of Christian work. The passage we will meditate upon, however, is not quite conventional. In fact, at first sight, Luke 8:1-3 does not seem to offer much about the nature of Christian work, but actually, it offers three fundamental things about Christian work that all Christians should know about.

Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, ² and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; ³ Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Unnamed and Unpaid

One of the interesting things about this passage is the fact that apart from the three named women—Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna—all the other women are unnamed. The only description we have from the text about these workers are that they are “some women” (8:2), “many others” (8:3), and “these women” (8:3). Many of these active workers who travelled with Jesus “from one town and village to another” (8:1) were basically unnamed. Maybe there were so many that it was simply too tedious to write all of their names. Maybe they were coming and going because they had obligations elsewhere so they were not really prominent. Maybe they had quiet and shy personalities that made them less noticed. Whatever the reason was, there were many women workers who accompanied Jesus who remain unknown to us today.

This is one of the natures of Christian work: anonymity. Majority of the workers of the kingdom are unnamed heroes. These are workers who are unrecognized and unappreciated. They are nameless, faceless, and invisible. They are hiding behind the curtains, unwilling to receive the spotlight. But they are there, doing the work of the kingdom alongside those who are under the spotlight. To be honest, given our fallen human nature, it is hard to be nameless. We feel that it is unfair to be unrecognized. It is hurting not to be appreciated. It is hard not to desire recognition, appreciation and applauses. But if we listen to the words of Jesus, this was precisely what He wants us to do: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matt 6:1-4).

Help and Support

The passage says that these nameless women followed Jesus wherever He went and “were helping to support Him and the disciples” (Luke 8:3). The Greek word used for support is diakoneo, which literally means “to serve.” The word can actually refer to any activity or ministry, which is why even scholars have yet to reach a consensus about what specific kind of service these women were doing. What is crucial, however, is that while Jesus and the disciples were preaching, teaching, and healing, the nameless women served in other ways. While Jesus and the disciples were fulfilling their roles, these women were also fulfilling theirs. This was what Paul admonished about in Romans 12:6-8, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully” (Rom 12:6-8).

The word diakoneo is very important, particularly because it means serving in whatever way is needed. Furthermore, if we compare these unnamed women to the named male disciples, we actually see such striking contrasts, which also enables us appreciate the lives of these women.

First, the women stepped back and out when it was needed. In contrast to their self-effacing attitude, we see the disciples who were already at the forefront arguing with each other about who was the greatest among them: “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest (Mark 9:33-34; also 10:35-41). The women disciples stayed behind the curtains and served silently and joyfully even without being recognized, while the disciples who were already seen by other people were still competing for even greater status. The women did not compete with the disciples for prominence and recognition. They did not occupy key roles where people can see them. They were serving behind the scenes. They were invisible to many people. The women exemplified the true meaning of diakoneo, because to serve is to do anything that is needed to be done without being recognized.

Secondly, the women stepped up and in when they were needed. Again, diakoneo means serving by doing whatever needs to be done. The contrast with the disciples is again striking. In Luke 9:1-3, when Jesus was welcomed by the people, the disciples were at the forefront while the ladies were at the background. But the moment Jesus was arrested, there was a reversal of roles. The disciples went at the back (in hiding!) and the women stepped out. Apart from John, the disciples were nowhere near Jesus at the crucifixion, but women were “near the cross” (John 19:25). The disciples were nowhere to be found when Jesus was laid down in the tomb, but “the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it” (Luke 23:55). It is customary in Jewish culture that when someone dies, the family members and closest friends should bury him or her. In the case of Jesus, the disciples were too afraid to even honor Jesus in His burial. His burial was handled by a not-well-advertised disciple Joseph of Arimathea, and surprise: unknown women. The disciples were unwilling to visit the tomb for fear of the Jews, but the very first thing the women did as soon as Sabbath was over, was to visit the tomb to serve the body of Jesus (Luke 23:56-24:1). These women were not afraid of the religious leaders. They did not care for their lives so long as they can serve Jesus even in his death.

What does diakoneo mean? To serve wherever, whenever, and whatever is needed to be done, especially the things that nobody wants to do. This is the comparison: the disciples were at the forefront during the glory days of Jesus and the women were only working behind the scenes; in Jesus’s humiliation, the disciples were hiding and the nameless women were the ones so courageous at the forefront.

Out of their Own Means

The women were not only unnamed and were willing to perform whatever service is needed wherever and whenever the needs arise, they were also helping in the ministry of Jesus “out of their own means’ (Luke 8:3). They were helping Jesus according to their own capacity. They did not rely on the help of others in order to help Jesus. They did not look at the wallet of others, but looked into their own purses, and they helped out of their own savings. We see this sort of story in Moses. When God called him, Moses was very reluctant because he did not see himself as a man of many talents and capabilities. But God asked him a very simple question: “What is that in your hand?” (Exo 4:2). God was not looking for something that Moses did not have. In fact, God used Moses in accordance to what Moses already had: a simple staff. This was the same with the women who served with Jesus. They served out of their own means.

Like these unnamed women, our required capital in serving is not much. These women were not the richest or even the most socially influential. In fact, as Herman Henstrickx commented, “these women came mostly from the lower and poorer strata of Jewish society and that they combined what economic resources they possessed to offset the cost of Jesus’ itinerant ministry. They majority of them were probably single (unmarried women, widows, divorced women and, with less certainty, former prostitutes) for only women of single status enjoyed some personal and economic independence.”[1] These women did not have much. They served out of their own small means. This is another meaning of diakoneo, serving not only whenever, wherever and whatever is needed to be done, but also however one might be able to do it.

Conclusions

Imagine a job hiring where the recruitments conditions are that you will not be recognized; in fact the company does not even want to know your name; you will stay at the background and are not allowed to compete for attention with the big guns; you will work hard but you will not be getting any applause; you will not be paid, and most importantly; you will need to use your own money and resources in order to work. Then there is a big PS: Be prepared that when your bosses do not show up for work, without previous notice you will be required to do their abandoned responsibilities.

Not many people are willing to work under these harsh conditions. There is no earthly gain. There is only sacrifice. In fact, most of the times, these people hear more criticisms and suggestions about how they might do their job better, than hearing words of encouragement and appreciation. But this is the life of service and work that we are called to do as Christians. The church is recruiting unnamed and unpaid supporters who would minister out of their own means. These are the people who would be involved in the harvest.

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[1] Herman Henstrickx, The Third Gospel for the Third World, vol 2B (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1998), 113-7.

Lent: On Mortality

On Ash Wednesday, ashes are marked on foreheads in the sign of the cross. This practice is actually a symbolic reminder of our own mortality. It tells us in the most vivid way that from dust we came and to dust we shall return (Gen 3:19; Ecc 3:20). It is interesting that the whole celebration of Lent begins in this way. It reminds us that the path of Lent is the path of death. This is patterned after the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus was aware that His entire life and ministry will ultimately lead to His death. He journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem with the knowledge that when He arrives in Jerusalem, He would die at the hands of the religious leaders. He spoke about this quite openly to His disciples. This means that for us, participating in Lent means participating in Jesus’ journey towards death. It is our participation in His journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.

Events in the world remind us of the reality of life and death: natural disasters and the deaths of family members and friends. Each of these instances reminds us that death is the ultimate destination of humanity. There are only two things that are inevitable in this world: change and death. These are also the two things that we have no complete control of. Our life on earth is also like the journey of Jesus from Bethlehem to Calvary. Whether we like it or not, we are going to climb our own Golgothas.

We rename death so that it does not sound so bad. We call the dead someone who is “at peace” or “at rest” or “one who goes to a better place.” We call death as “passing away.” We may even try to suppress the thought about death. We make ourselves busy so that we do not have to face the reality of death. The philosopher Martin Heidegger remarked that we busy ourselves in the crowd in the hope of forgetting our fears. Death is feared because it is irreversible: “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die” (2 Sam 14:14).

The immediacy, imminence, and reality of death is vividly narrated in Psalm 90:3-12, which was apparently written by Moses. So what was Moses’ credential to write about human death? Let us look back at biblical history. According to the Bible, there were 600,000 (excluding women and children) who left Egypt (Exo 12:37; Num 11:21). At Mount Sinai, when there was a census, the record was that there were 603,550 men over 20 years old present (Num 1:45-46). In the second census, when the Israelites were on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho (Num 26:3), there were 601,730 males recorded (Num 26:51). [1]

600,000 men, excluding women and children	left Egypt	Exodus 12:37; Numbers 11:21
603,550 men over 20 years	Mt. Sinai	Numbers 1:45-46
601,730 males	Jordan River	Numbers 26:51

We may remember that many (if not all) of those who left Egypt were not able to enter the promised land. Yahweh proclaimed: “Not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it” (Num 14:21-23). Also, we read in the Scriptures how God brought death to the Israelites in huge numbers while they were in the wilderness:

3000 killed by Levites	Golden Calf at Sinai	Exodus 32:28
23,000 killed by God	Golden Calf at Sinai	Exodus 32:35; 1 Cor 10:8
14,700 killed by God	Kadesh Barnea	Numbers 16:49
24,000 killed by God	At Shittim near Jordan	Numbers 25:9
many people killed by God	Zered river	Numbers 21:6

Moses saw and encountered death all throughout his life in the desert with the Israelites. He witnessed how people’s lives are so fragile. All throughout Psalm 90 we see Moses’ description of human mortality. Verses 3, 6, and 10 portray the shortness of human life. Verses 7-9 and 11 reveal Moses’ awareness of the wrath of God which He witnessed as the cause of the death of many Israelites.

You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.

We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

But after considering the life-span of humanity and the anger of God, Moses leaves us a verse with an important lesson: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:12).

Teach Us to Number Our Days (90:12a)

We like measuring things. Laboratories are filled with instruments that measure things by milliliters and milligrams, but it is easy to neglect measuring our life span on earth. Thomas Chalmers once remarked, “Once in my unconverted days I forgot two things: the magnitude of eternity and the shortness of life. These are the great mathematical factors which I now see to be important.”

What does it mean to number our days? It is to recognize that life is short. The Bible has some more passages that highlight this: “we all shrivel up like a leaf” (Isa 64:6); “you have made my days a mere handbreadth” (Ps 39:5); and “you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).

Life is short and time runs fast. We do not need rocket science and complicated calculations to notice that our days on earth are fleeting. Although we do not notice it, because we are busy living our lives, the people around us are changing. Our children are now attending schools, and what’s left of their childhood are only photographs. Children who we once knew are now in relationships, ready to get married. Some of them have become successful in their careers. Some of our grandparents, parents, relatives and friends have passed away. Time is fast. It runs its course without our permission and observation.

A Heart of Wisdom (90:12b)

Moses admonished that God would teach us to number our days so that we might gain a heart of wisdom. What wisdom is found in the awareness of our fleeting existence?

1. Teach us to number our days so that we do not offend God (90: 7-9, 11). Moses witnessed the hasty death of his fellow Israelites because they have disobeyed God. This is foolishness. It is not wise to spend our short days in blatant disobedience. Moses is saying that since our life on earth is short, we should spend it in pleasing God and obeying His commands. We cannot be arrogant before God, continuously incurring His wrath because of our grumblings, murmurings, and disobedience. Since we owe God every minute of our existence, we should spend it in worship.

2. Teach us to number our days so that we store treasures in heaven: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt 6:19-20). People spend their days trying to gain more money. To use John Bunyan’s words, it is “raking a little bit of dust into a pile: a little bit of money, a little bit of property, and little bit of this and that.”

We are reminded of the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-20): “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’” There are many who are fools, although they are not rich.  Jesus said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36).

3. Teach us to number our days so that we redeem the time. Paul admonishes us to “make the most of every opportunity in these evil days (Eph 5:16). William Whiting Borden, graduate of Yale and Princeton Theological Seminary, once said: “Each day consists of 24 golden hours; each hour consists of sixty diamond-studded minutes.”

Of course, in all these things, we must learn from the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus knew that His days on earth were numbered. The distance from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem is a mere 123 kilometers. It will take about 2 hours to drive this distance. (The average speed a human walks is 3-5 kilometers per hour. Walking 3 kilometers per hour in 8 hours gives you 24 hours per day. This means that to walk from Galilee to Jerusalem should only take 5.125 days.) Jesus knew that His walk to Jerusalem, where He would die was a very short walk. It is true that it took Him three years to get to Jerusalem because of His teaching and healing ministries. But He was aware that every step He took was leading Him closer to Jerusalem.

Jesus knew that His days were numbered. So how did He use His remaining days on earth? He used each day seeking the lost, serving the needy, proclaiming the kingdom, healing the sick, fellowshipping with the outcasts, teaching the gospel, and forgiving sinners. Lent is a commemoration of the short life of Christ before His death. Like Christ, we are all in this journey. The question is: “How are we living our days on earth? Are we pursuing a life full of wisdom or foolishness? Are we using our days like Christ in obedience to the Father and in service to other people, or are we using them to gratify our self with pleasure and indulgence?

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[1] http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-route-population-of-jews-hebrews.htm

Enlarge the Place of Your Tent

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 54:1-5

“Sing, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband,”says the Lord.
² “Enlarge the place of your tent,
    stretch your tent curtains wide,
    do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
    strengthen your stakes.
³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
    your descendants will dispossess nations
    and settle in their desolate cities.

⁴ “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
    Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
    and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

⁵ For your Maker is your husband—
    the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
    he is called the God of all the earth.

THE COMMAND: ENLARGE YOUR TENTS

It is common that the Hebrew Scriptures think of Israel as God’s wife. In fact, 54:5 indicates that indeed God is the husband of Israel. The image of the husband-wife relation is a rich one, because in Ancient Near East, to be a wife to someone entails ownership, protection and provision. This is why to be a widow is to be in a very bad predicament (cf. Ruth). So to be God’s wife means that Israel is God’s own responsibility, and as the faithful husband, God repeatedly declared himself as the “compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exo 34:6; 2 Chron 30:9; Neh 9:17; Psa 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2).

If God as husband declared himself righteous and faithful to Israel, God also gives Israel different designations. In Ezekiel 16, Israel is referred to as the unfaithful wife. Like in Ezekiel 23, Israel’s history is retold as the story of a girl born in poverty (16:1-6), but is chosen and loved by God, who marries her and makes her wealthy, royal and famous (16:7-14). But God’s beloved wife strays and becomes an adulterer by worshipping other gods (16:15-22). This is why Israel is called a prostitute several times in the Scriptures (Ezek 23:3; Hosea 1-2).[1]

In Isaiah 54, however, Israel is portrayed not as someone evil and perverse to be punished, but someone who deserves mercy. Israel is likened to a barren wife (54:1). To refer to Israel as a barren woman is interesting because in general, in the Ancient Near East, there is great shame in childlessness (1 Sam 2:3-5; Luke 1:25) and to be barren is to live a life of humiliation (Gen 16:4; 1 Sam 1:6). We have the story of Sarah who felt ashamed that she was not giving Abraham a child, so she sent her servant Hagar on her behalf (Gen 16:1-2). We have Hannah who faced embarrassment from Peninnah because she could not give a child to Elkanah (1 Sam 1:7).

So God addresses Israel as a barren woman, a nation who has been shamed by being conquered, by being scattered, and by being unproductive. Israel has been through many ordeals, and even though they know that they are blessed by Yahweh, they also feel as though their progress as the people of God is very slow. Now it is this sort of people that God commands to enlarge their tents.

Here is the irony of the passage: presumably, the woman is still barren when she receives the command to enlarge the tent. (Women in these times were responsible in setting up the tents.) It means that she does not have a big family yet. She is still childless. And so on the one hand, the command to enlarge the tent is impractical and just plain absurd. But on the other hand, God is actually challenging the barren woman to act in faith.[2] God challenges his people to live by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). He calls us to believe in what God will do to us and through us. When we think that have been barren in our spiritual lives or when our church is not producing more than what we want, still God tells us: have faith! Enlarge the place of your tent!

For the church, to enlarge our tents requires us to possess spiritual eyes. Our “common sense” and earthly senses may disagree with the idea of expansion without feasible reasons, but redeemed and opened spiritual senses allow to see the reality that the harvest is plenty. We are very familiar with Jesus’ statement that “the harvest is plentiful” (Matt 9:36). If we think carefully, is it not proper that because the harvest is plentiful, we must not only prepare numerous workers but also enlarge the tents to gather the harvest? Are we not actually at fault because the harvest is plenty, but the barn is small? Are we not underestimating the power of the gospel to fill up his sanctuary?

The church must be prepared for what the Lord is doing. If, for instance, a revival suddenly breaks out – and prostitutes, drunkards, drug addicts, gamblers, and the isolated and condemned members of our society suddenly come to our church – are we truly ready to receive them? Enlarging our tent does not only mean expanding our building, but enlarging our vision and incorporating much more than what we are used to. The Lord beckons us: “Have faith! Enlarge your tents!”

THE TIME: NOW

Isaiah 54:2 has a very clear command: “enlarge the place of your tent.”  The whole verse is actually a repetition of the same command:  

“stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back;

lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes”

Such a repetition of the command seems very purposeful. There is a sense of urgency: a “do it now” push. In here we sense an example of God’s nagging. We can almost hear God’s words: “‘Enlarge the place of your tent’. If you have not understood that, ‘stretch your tent curtains wide’. And if you still did not understand that, “lengthen your cords’.” The Lord is adamant that what he commands is done, so he expresses it in several ways. Let us also remember that when someone nags someone to do something, it is because the something to be done is important. The nagging denotes the importance of the job. The command does now allow any room for hesitation.

Considering again that the Lord is talking to a barren wife, the question might be: “why the urgency?” The wife is still barren and there are yet no offspring in the tent, so why should the wife feel the pressing need to enlarge the tent? The same question might be asked by the church: why should we expand our ministries if evangelism or ministry is at its very peak of difficulty? It is true that people do not seem to be interested in meeting the Lord in worship. People are more and more very difficult to invite to church. People are more and more enticed by so many other commitments. People more and more, by choice, alienate themselves to the church and reject God. People are more and more becoming calloused to the voice of conscience. People are more and more becoming suspicious about the church. People are more and more exposed to and influenced by explicit and implicit anti-Christian propaganda. People are more and more deceived by competing secular idols. People are more and more finding reasons not to have God in their lives. Moral standards are very low, and preachings on holy living are scorned. These are really troubling times, and if one looks at the statistics, one may also claim that the gospel is losing its ground.

So why should we enlarge our tents? Why now?

God declared “now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2; quoting Isa 49:8). It is neither tomorrow nor somewhere in the far future. Salvation is here. God is at work. We read in the Gospels that Jesus went through all the towns and villages in his ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing. And it is reported that when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:35-37; Mark 34). This means that the readiness of people is not evidenced by a visible longing for God, but in the fact that they are living as helpless, shepherdless people. Indeed, as history teaches us, it is during the times of utter depression that revival actually happens. In the time of John Wesley, for example, the Methodist movement spread at a time when Christianity in Britain was at its worst.[3]

If it takes spiritual eyes to see that the harvest is plenty, we also need spiritual eyes to see that the harvest is ready. Enlarge your tents for the whole world is ready to be harvested and be brought into the inviting family of God. Jesus himself said:

“Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35-36)

If we believe that the world is ripe for harvest, then it is time indeed to enlarge our tents and build bigger barns.

THE FOUNDATION OF OBEDIENCE: FAITH IN GOD’S PROMISES

The command to enlarge the place of tent in 54:2 is immediately followed by a promise in 54:3-5. “Enlarge the place of your tent,” the Lord says, “for you will spread out to the right and to the left.” There is no reason to be afraid in making a step of faith, for the Lord promises that “you will not be put to shame, disgrace or humiliation” (54:4). It is true that fear of the future - particularly fear of failure, and consequently being shamed – can make us indecisive and inactive. Fear of embarrassment can paralyze the church. Fear of being scorned for failure can prevent us from taking risks, abandoning our comfort zones, and attempting to expand the ministries of the church. But this does not need to be the case. The Lord asks us not to be afraid (54:4).

The Lord challenges us to take a leap of faith and to trust that indeed the harvest is both plenty and ready, and that the Gospel will spread to the north, south, east and west (54:3). In fact the verb for “spread” used here – paras – is the same one used in Genesis 28:14, which speaks of the children of Abraham spreading out in all directions. The Lord’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 is to be fulfilled: that amidst Sarah’s old age, Abraham would have descendants that will become a great nation, blessed by the Lord himself. The Lord is saying that the days of barrenness are over (54:4), so we should enlarge our tents, leaning towards excess rather than limitation.

Let us face it: the command to barren women to enlarge their tents is quite nonsensical. The challenge to enlarge our ministries, when in fact our current ministries are not doing very well, is quite absurd. And the Lord knows that we human beings are creatures of the senses and of doubt. We must admit to ourselves that it is indeed difficult to obey something that we do not understand. This is actually why when we read the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac at Mount Moriah (Gen 22), our response is: “I wish I have the same faith as Abraham.” The fact that we wish for something implies that we do not have it yet. We must admit that we are creatures of doubt, and our doubts need to be dispelled and cleansed from us.

This is why 54:5 is central to the command. There is no need to fear or to hold back, because God has placed his own honor and name on the line. In 54:5 the Lord names himself the Maker, the husband, the Lord Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, the Redeemer, and the God of all the earth. Why should we fear if the Lord who commands us is the Maker and Sustainer of the universe? Why should we fear if the Lord is our husband, compassionate, caring and loving? Why should we fear if the Lord is the Lord Almighty who delivered a whole nation out of Egypt? Why should we fear if the Lord is the Holy One of Israel, faithful to his words and righteous in his ways? Why should we fear if the Lord is the Redeemer, who rescues us from the depths of sin, despair and death? Why should we fear if the Lord is the God of all the earth?  The Lord commands us: “Do not be afraid” (54:4). Rather, we should “Sing… burst into song, shout for joy!” (54:1).

CONCLUSIONS

One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, “Jump! I’ll catch you.” He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: “Jump! I will catch you.” But the boy protested, “Daddy, I can’t see you.” The father replied, “But I can see you and that’s all that matters.”[4]

The Lord is commanding us to “enlarge the place of your tent,” and we may protest “Really? I don’t see any valid reason why.” And the Lord is telling us “Have faith in me, will you? I, who started the work will be faithful to complete it in you (Phil 1:6). Enlarge the place of your tents, and allow me to work in and through you.”

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[1] http://www.enterthebible.org/resourcelink.aspx?rid=766

[2] Josh N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66 (TNICOT series; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 416. The theme of barrenness of human strength and the fenundicity of the Spirit of the Lord is a favourite one in the Bible – like Sarah, Elizabeth (Luke 1:7, 25), and Hannah (1 Sam 2:1-10).

[3] Robert G. Tuttle Jr. even describes the 18^th century as the period of “cesspool… if not for its filth then certainly for its morals.” He adds that “debauchery was epidemic, affecting the nobility, the middle classes, the lower classes, the members of the court, and even the members of the Parliament.” See John Wesley: His Life and Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 31-32.

[4] From http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/faith.htm