Scripture: 2 Kings 20: 1-11
Sermon: The Gift of a Second Chance
Preached: December 13 am, Woodlawn CRC
Rev. Michael Abma
2 Kings 20: 1-11
20In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death.[1] The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’ 2Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: 3‘Remember now, O Lord, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.’ Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5‘Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.’ 7Then Isaiah said, ‘Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.’
8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?’ 9Isaiah said, ‘This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised: the shadow has now advanced ten intervals; shall it retreat ten intervals?’ 10Hezekiah answered, ‘It is normal for the shadow to lengthen ten intervals; rather let the shadow retreat ten intervals.’ 11The prophet Isaiah cried to the Lord; and he brought the shadow back the ten intervals, by which the sun* had declined on the dial of Ahaz.
INTRODUCTION
Recently our family watched the 1946 Frank Capra film, It’s A Wonderful Life. It is a Christmas classic, and a staple in the film repertoire for this time of year. The thing is, I don’t think I had ever watched it before – at least not from start to finish.
This black and white film is set in the town of Bedford Falls in the 1930’s and 40’s.
Times are tough.
Unemployment is high.
The depression is deep.
And eventually the Second World War starts too.
The movie follows the life of George Bailey, played by that loveable, aw-shucks nice guy, Jimmy Stewart. The romantic lead is played by Donna Reed – with her smoldering eyes, radiant smile, and generous heart. The movie follows George Bailey’s life. From the time he was a boy, he wanted to get out of Bedford Falls and see the world. But each time he is about to get away, the town has a crisis. The crisis is always caused by Mr. Potter – this is an old, greedy, evil Mr. Potter, not a young, clever lightening-scar-marked Mr. Potter. This old crotchety Mr. Potter controls most of Bedford Falls and wants to control it all. He wants to devour and dominate the whole town. Each time there is a crisis, George Bailey is there to bail out the town – once even using his own honeymoon fund to help out his neighbors. Honesty, self-sacrifice, generosity, and looking out for the well-being of others — this is what George Bailey is all about.
The reason this film is a classic is because we really begin to like George – even love him. We begin to wish the whole world was filled with George Baileys.
And that is when George’s world comes crashing down.
Money is lost.
His business is suddenly in dire straits.
He panics.
He loses it at home with his wife and with his kids.
It looks like his life is ruined,
It looks like he’ll end up in prison
It looks like he may even end up dead.
You can’t help but pray for George.
KING HEZEKIAH
King Hezekiah was the George Bailey of the Kings of Judah.
He was a good man and a good king who ruled Judah and Jerusalem during a hard time.
Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, well, he was the evil Mr. Potter of that age.
The Assyrian Empire controlled the whole region.
They had already wiped out the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
Now they were threatening to wipe out the southern kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem too.
From the time he became king at age 25, Hezekiah did everything he could to resist the Assyrian onslaught.
Hezekiah took gold and silver out of his own palace to pay the Assyrians off.
He continually refused to surrender to them.
He totally re-engineered Jerusalem’s water supply so that it was more safe, secure, and self-sufficient.
He did more than resist the Assyrians.
He also repaired the Temple.
He reformed the priests and levites serving in the Temple.
He revitalized the worship of Yahweh.
He ruined the idols still scattered around Judah.[2]
He was a good man and a good king.
He is described as trusting in the Lord, his God — a phrase repeated again and again.
He is also described as doing what was right in the sight of the Lord,
like his ancestor David had done.
He was so good, in fact, that the writer of 2 Kings writes that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah — either before him or after him.
No one like quite like him.
This is the man,
who at the relatively young age of 37
becomes deathly sick.
So sick, that the whole city of Jerusalem is praying for him.
That is when Isaiah, the prophet, pays him a visit.
The news is not good.
“Set your house in order,” says Isaiah,
“for you shall die and you shall not recover.”
We can’t help but wonder, “Why him? He was such a good king.”
GRIM NEWS
We have heard this kind of news before:
bad news happening to good people.
A pink-slip for a loyal employee doing her best for the company for many years;
A tumor is found during routine tests, and things do not look good;
A business is hemorrhaging, and you are faced with the tough decision to close.
A student I know here at Calvin is working hard to concentrate on her work,
to do well in her courses,
to study for her exams.
But she can’t help but think of her sister back home,
a sister still in high school,
battling stage 4 cancer
and fighting for her life.
We know this all too well.
Good people,
people we love,
people we pray for,
facing seemingly insurmountable battles.
THE GIFT OF A SECOND CHANCE
Hezekiah prays to God. He weeps before God.
And according to the book of Isaiah, the whole city of Jerusalem prays for and weeps for their king too.
Before Isaiah is out of the palace,
God sends him back with a new message.
Tell Hezekiah
“I have heard his prayers
I have seen his tears
And surely I will heal him.
On the third day, he shall go up to the house of the Lord.”
On the third day, he shall go up to the house of the Lord.
Hezekiah receives a new lease on life,
a second chance.
This 37 year old is given another 15 years of life.
This story isn’t only about Hezekiah.
It is also about Jerusalem and Judah.
Jerusalem was on the verge of defeat and ruin by the Assyrians.
Just as Hezekiah received a second chance,
so does Jerusalem.
God says, “I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
And so, Jerusalem receives a second chance and
will remain a free city for another 100 years.
These second chances point to the biggest second chance of them all.
That is the second chance for all humanity.
Ever since Adam and Eve had messed things up in Eden,
ever since creation was infected with a fatal curse and plague from the Fall,
we have been in need of an antidote, a cure,
someone to give us a new lease on life – real life,
someone to cure us – to really make us whole,
someone to give humanity and all creation a second chance.
THE SIGN
Hezekiah was given a sign that God’s promise was for real.
He was told that the shadow of the sundial would move backwards ten intervals.
This was a sign of cosmic proportions – how can the sun move backwards?
That is impossible.
But signs are like that – they are signs because they are seemingly impossible.
The sign given to us is that
we find a child wrapped in bands of cloth,
and lying in a manger.
The sign given to us is that this child is the Messiah,
our Savior, our rescuer, our deliverer,
fully human and yet fully divine.
This is a sign of cosmic proportions.
The sign given to us,
Is that this Messiah would die for us,
then on the third day, rise from the dead with healing in his wings
so that all of us born under the ancient curse
would no longer suffer the result of that curse
as long as we belonged to him and his kingdom.
Jesus, the Christ, has come with good news,
with the gift of a second chance.
CONCLUSION
In the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, the loveable George Bailey gets a second chance. He isn’t ruined after all. This type of second chance was something the director, Frank Capra, knew about personally.
A few years before, when Capra was about 37 years old, he was laid low by tuberculosis. One doctor said that he had galloping tuberculosis and should have been dead. While in the hospital, between life and death, Capra received a visit from a stranger – a little bald man with glasses.
This stranger said,
“Mr. Capra, I do not know if you will live or if you will die.
But if you live, do not be an offense to God. God has given you a gift to use for His purposes. If you don’t, you will be an offense to God.”[3]
Up until that point, Capra had made what he himself called fluffy, merely entertaining films.
Capra ended up recovering from his tuberculosis.
He felt he had been given the gift of a second chance.
He wanted to use that second chance to make films with a meaningful message — films like, It’s A Wonderful Life.
I imagine many of you have your own second-chance story:
A story of
an illness that almost took you,
a heart-attack that almost ended your life,
a car accident that could have been tragically worse,
a marriage that was almost done for,
a career that was almost ruined,
a sin that threatened to sink you into despair.
But somehow,
somehow
you are here this morning.
You are here, I am here, because we have all
have been given the gift of a second chance.
We have been given this gift,
by the God who specializes in second chances,
and third chances,
and fourth chances,
and even hundredth chances.
We have been given this gift
by the God of grace,
whose mercies are new every morning.
We are here because we are people of the Second Chance,
And we have come together
To rejoice in the wonderful second-chance life we’ve been given in Christ,
and to rejoice in our amazing second-chance-giving God.
PRAYER
We, the living, thank you.
While we have breath, we praise you.
For you have saved us,
And given us and all creation a second chance
Through Christ, your Son, and our Lord.
Therefore our souls will tell out your greatness,
And your glory,
Now and to the end of our days.
Amen
-
Some scholars believe Hezekiah had a form of the bubonic plague, and that this plague is what eventually killed much of the Assyrian army. ↑
-
For a review of his reign, see “Hezekiah’s Reforms and the Revolt Against Assyria” in Biblical Archaeologist 58:3, 1995. ↑
-
In Capra’s autobiography, The Name Above the Title, pp. 175-176. ↑
0 Comments