Isaiah 50, 4-9

4 The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens - wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. 5 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.6 I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spit-ting. 7 The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; 8 he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. 9 It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

If you want to speak to the weary at the right time, it helps to have a good night's sleep yourself. God wakes Isaiah up every morning. It takes an alert, awakened spirit to speak to the weary. Because those who are really tired can hardly hear. Those who are tired no longer want to speak. They lack the strength to do so. What was going on with Isaiah? Why were people so tired? They were tired because they had an inhumanly great task ahead of them: building the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Is it worth it? Can it be done? Are there alternatives?

Destroying is quick. Building takes a lot of strength. People are dejected, powerless, after exile and after the war. Exhaustion is a general condition. People are tired. They are overtired. They are discouraged and have little hope. Sleepless nights full of worry and fear. They get more tired every day.

A few years ago, a book entitled ‘The overtired society’ was published in Germany. It was written by a medical doctor. Around 80 % of employees are overtired. Even children find it difficult to get up. Another book is entitled: ‘The exhausted society!’ Both books describe how people demand too much of themselves and too much is demanded of them. They exhaust themselves. Most people take on too much and are afraid of missing out on something in life.

There are fewer and fewer breaks. Weekends are packed with appointments and activities. Exhausted and tired is becoming a way of life for an entire society: overwhelmed. People are powerless and discouraged and realise that the many crises are robbing them of their zest for life and making them feel helpless.

And in astonishing contrast to this, Isaiah or one of his disciples writes: "God wakes me up every morning. It sounds as if Isaiah has slept well and sheltered. He rests in the night and waits until God wakes him up. Isaiah radiates a deep trust in God.

And he is sure of his task: he is to speak to the weary at the right time. And before he can speak to the weary at the right time, he listens to God. His ears are open. He receives trust and hope. He allows himself to be given both and is convinced that, thus gifted, he will endure what is almost unbearable.

There is no doubt about it: Isaiah, or rather his disciple, does not live in a better world. The disciple experiences crises just as severely as his fellow human beings. He is not exempt from suffering. He is right in the middle of it. What sets him apart from his exhausted and weary fellow human beings is his trust that God will give him sufficient strength.

The songwriter Jochen Klepper wrote his song ‘He wakes me up every morning’ on a Tuesday in Holy Week 1938, when Isaiah 50:4 was the motto of the day. Jochen Klepper wrote in his diary: "Soft, shining day. In our old garden in Seestraße the old cherry trees are blossoming so beautifully. I wrote a morning song about Isaiah 50:4 today." 

Jochen Klepper's wife, Hanni, was Jewish. A few months later, in the year that Jochen Klepper wrote the song, Jewish shops were looted, houses and synagogues destroyed and books burned. It was only the beginning of the persecution. Nevertheless, Jochen Klepper has eyes for the blossoms of the old cherry trees and they mean something to him. No, no one who trusts in God is exempt from suffering. But it is precisely those who trust in God who feel safe and protected in their suffering.

This Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. In the midst of a world in which people are tired and exhausted, Isaiah reminds us of the strength that can come from listening to God's words. 

This strength was given to Jesus Christ on his path of suffering. We remember him this week. How difficult his path was. He knew the lines from the book of Isaiah and I wonder whether Jesus found strength in them. "God is near me, who speaks righteousness to me. Let us come forward!"

Jesus stepped forward: he stood before Pilate and Herod and knew that God was close to him. 

Jochen Klepper's last diary entry reads: "Above us in the last hours is the image of the blessing Christ, who struggles for us. Our life ends in the sight of him!"

‘Fear and lamentation are silent, nothing is more important than his call!’ You have to have experienced this to understand it. From a mental distance, it remains incomprehensible how people experience a strength and a closeness to God in suffering that seems impossible.

But from Isaiah to Christ and after Christ, people have experienced that they are not put to shame. It may be that their face hardens and they look like a pebble. Yes, there are moments when people are terrified and frightened and yet can trust that they will not be put to shame.

This is a great mystery of our faith. Suffering is not glamorised and glossed over. It was real suffering that Jesus experienced. 

It was a real death that he died.

In the darkness of death, people then experience being awakened. ‘His word will shine brightly, no matter how dark the night!’

I take this with me into the tiredness of the world and the exhaustion: the desire to encourage people to continue to open God's word and listen to it.

Many of us read the watchword in the morning or another devotional. It is an encouraging ritual. How often have you received strength from it? How many times has a word spoken to you: woken you up, shaken you up or given you strength.

Let us ask that we receive the right words to speak to the weary and tired around us, so that their great mountains look a little smaller and they have the courage to tackle and build.

God's creative power is new every morning. That is also in this affirmation. Every morning God makes the sun rise anew. Every day a new creation. New vitality. Blessed are those who do not remain desperate, restless and sleepless in the night, but can sleep securely in God.

Let us enter Holy Week like this: full of expectation every morning for what God wants to say to us and full of trust that we will receive the strength for each day. Let us look to Christ: the blessing Christ who struggles for us. 

I hope that you will experience: where Christ struggles for us and suffers with us, fear and lamentation are silent!

May the peace of God, which is higher than our understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen