The Beavers
When our culture says, “Don’t trust them. They don’t care about you,” Jesus says, “love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.”
Based on Isaiah 9:1-7 and Luke 6:27-38. Preached at Leeds Church, Markham, and St. Andrew’s, Ada.
This past week I spent time working with two dear friends of mine on a project. We are taking the twelve principles of permaculture and using them as the foundation for church vitality and growth. One of the days, we went out to Whiffle Tree Farms in Warrenton and met with Jesse Straight about the way his farm works. One of the stories he shared is how we often lose sight of the whole picture when we are trying to solve a problem. Since the founding of the country, the beaver population has been drastically reduced. They were over trapped for the fur trade and later trapped as a nuisance or pest. Now, what farmers and researchers are realizing is that we have lost 40% of our surface water without beavers. You see, beavers build dams that create ponds. The ponds allow for a larger amount of water to sit on the surface and slowly soak into the ground. Without these, rivers and creeks rise higher than before and move faster downstream to the ocean without soaking into the ground leaving places drier than they originally were. The water doesn’t have time to evaporate, which changes the cloud formations and patterns. By losing sight of the overall picture, we can now see the drastic effects of these actions.
The book of Isaiah is written as a prophetic declaration of what is to come. The entire book contains warnings to Israel about their destruction if they turn away from God’s plan, from God’s overall picture. They are warned about the wars to come, and about all that will happen to them. This judgement is then paired with God’s hope for what could happen.
Prophets have rarely been looked upon with favor in the world. They usually tell the truths that no one wants to hear. They tend to see the world in ways that cause everyone to balk at or make us squirmy about the changes ahead. Prophets from God, must be centered in the truth about who God is, and they must know their own selves well enough to proclaim that truth. The prophets must have the whole picture in sight so that we do not kill all the beavers at the expense of our ability to absorb water. Being a prophet is often lonely and difficult work. Being a prophet of God is more than speaking truth to power. It is about aligning the whole of who you are, and what you say, to the whole of who God is, and what God is saying to God’s people. It is about walking with people to see which beavers they are trying to kill, and how that will impact the entire ecosystem around them, while valuing people whether they agree with the prophet or not.
In our first reading today, we hear the prophet proclaim that even though things have been difficult, light is coming. We hear that even though there has been pain and suffering, there will be days ahead that will be better. I don’t think this is intended as a way to write off the pain and suffering that is happening right now, or to justify that pain, or to dismiss it. It is naming the reality that is before them, that from the very beginning God promised there was something more than what we could see or know right now. That Jesus would come again, and that would be when peace will reign.
As we shift into our Gospel reading today, we see how Jesus is the ultimate prophet. This is one of those passages that does not feel good to us. It goes against all that our culture tells us must be true to be good and right. When our culture says, “stick with me, or don’t listen to that person, they are wrong,” Jesus says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” When our culture says, “Don’t trust them. They don’t care about you,” Jesus says, “love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.”
Jesus calls us into deeper relationship with all people, not just the people who look like us, vote like us, or think like us. When the world continues to draw deeper lines between us, Jesus asks us to think another way. Jesus invites us into a fuller life that includes the beavers who we think are dispensable, the no accounts, the people who hold power and those who do not. Jesus invites us to not write one another off because he sees the entire power. He sees how much we will lose when we ignore the big picture. Jesus invites us to see the bigger picture, as prophets always do, because there are consequences when we miss it.
My hope this week is that you will listen for the voice of the prophets asking you to see the bigger picture. That you will listen to the voice of the prophets who align themselves with God, and help us see what beavers we are trying to diminish this day. May we be people who value each and every person as a person who is created by God. And may we hear the prophets among us who challenge us to do the kingdom building work of loving our enemies in this place here and now.