Seven hundred(ish) years before Jesus was born, the Greek poet Homer wrote what is considered by most scholars to be the first and greatest adventure story of all time. He called it The Odyssey. The Odyssey chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The entire story is worth reading, but today I am just going to highlight an event that occurs on two pages[1] in the middle of the Odyssey. Due to a violent storm sent by the disgruntled deity, Zeus, Odysseus, and his men have been lost at sea for nearly two weeks. Homer tells us “hardship and anxiety” were eating at the hearts of Odysseus and his men when they finally beached their boats on an island. Odysseus sends three men to learn about the inhabitants of the island, but the men never return. Odysseus finally finds his men in the company of other lost travelers. The three men are unharmed and joyfully eating a mysterious fruit that comes from the lotus flower. Odysseus discovers this lotus-fruit dulls the senses and causes the eater to completely forget about their hardship and anxiety. The lotus-fruit had such an effect on the three men that Homer tells us “they forgot their way home” and were content to spend their days among the lotus eaters. In the story, Odysseus must drag the three men kicking and screaming back to the ship and quickly set sail before the rest of his men succumbed to the effects of the lotus-fruit. The story continues with Odysseus and his discouraged crew sailing to the land of the cyclopes.
Homer’s Odyssey was written 3,000 years ago. And yet somehow the poet is able to write a story that is eerily relevant to today. Self-medicating to dull the senses so that one forgets about the hardships and anxieties that are eating at the heart is kind of our thing. But also, spiritually speaking, we understand the appeal of the lotus-fruit. We are not lost at sea, we have not been stranded on an island, but sometimes it feels that way. Life crashes down on you with wave after wave of sadness and sorrow. There is stress and frustration at work and there is tension and conflict in the home and on a daily basis you find yourself battered back and forth between the two. Even if you are fortunate enough to find a brief moment to yourself where you are sheltered from the storm, still you can’t help but feel like you are stranded on an island. You can’t help but feel isolated and alone. The rest of your family doesn’t seem to be blown and battered through life. Your friends seem to be sailing through life so much smoother than you. The people at church always seem so happy, clearly, you assume, they are able to weather their storms better than you. You look at your family, your friends, and the people here at church and you can’t but think that you are the only one whose is drowning in a sea of stress and frustration, tension and conflict.
What you wouldn’t give for a taste of the lotus-fruit; what you wouldn’t give to forget about the hardship and anxiety that eats away at your heart! “What would you give?”, Satan harmlessly asks. “Would you give up your character and convictions?” “Would you give up your morals and principles?” “Would you give up your devotion and faith?” “These are the things”, Satan suggests, “that are causing all the hardship and anxiety in your life.” “If you want life to stop battering you around, all you must do is stop fighting the current of your culture and go with the flow.” “The reason there is stress and frustration at work is because you come to work with too much care and not enough corruption.” “The reason there is tension and conflict in your home is because you insist on holding to this outdated moral code and the teachings of a crucified carpenter.” “you want a life free of hardship and anxiety, then stop fighting the current of your culture and start going with the flow.”
More than a few men and women have accepted Satan’s invitation to join the lotus eaters. To think you have not been or will not be tempted to do the same is foolish and naïve. Which is why, at about the same time as Homer is writing about the island of the lotus-eaters, on the other side of the Mediterranean sea, the prophet Isaiah writes, “1 Awake, awake…”.
You see, hardship and anxiety were eating at the hearts of the Israelites. A wave of Assyrians had already carried the northern kingdom off into captivity and on the horizon a wave of Babylonians was preparing to sweep the southern kingdom away as well. These were hard times for God’s people. I don’t know if Homer’s story had made its way across the Mediterranean yet, but if it had, I am sure these Israelites could identify with poor Odysseus and his battered men, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were more than a few Israelites ready to set sail for the land of the lotus eaters.
Thankfully, before God’s people forgot their way home, God sent the prophet Isaiah to wake both them and us. In verse two the prophet commands, “2 Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.” Yes, your life, like everyone else’s by the way, is full of hardship and anxiety. But do not for a moment believe Satan’s invitation to join the lotus eaters is motivated by his desire to spare you from hardship and anxiety. He wants you to join the lotus eaters so that you forget your way home. So, wake Up! Shake off your dust; you are not downtrodden doormats upon which the world wipes its feet! Rise up; you are not powerless pawns to be pushed around in the game of life! Free yourself; you are not vulnerable victims of situation or circumstance! “For this is what the LORD says” By the way, in verses 3-6 those words or a version of them are repeated again and again like an alarm clock that refuses to be snoozed.
In verse three we read, “3 For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.” The Israelites would be, but you have been, redeemed. When we sold ourselves into sin and allowed ourselves to be carried off into captivity, God received no compensation from Satan or sinner. Therefore, God was and is under no obligation to expend effort, energy, or anything else to rescue us from Satan’s shores. But because of His great love, because of His rich mercy[2] God choose to redeem you; He choose to buy you back from the land of captivity. But the price of your freedom was steep, so steep that it could not be purchased with gold or silver. The price of your freedom required the blood of the sinless Son of God to be spilled. So that is what Jesus did. Jesus spilled His blood for you. As a result, you have been redeemed from captivity and your citizenship in heaven has been secured. Which means you have a great deal in common with a character like Odysseus. You too are on an odyssey of sorts; you, and your fellow redeemed, are on a journey home.
It is a journey fraught with hardship and anxiety, hardship and anxiety that do not escape the attention of the LORD. In verses four and five we read, “4 For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them. 5 “And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD. “For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,” declares the LORD.” Though the waves of life batter you back and forth, you are not lost at sea. And you are not alone, though I know sometimes it feels as though you are. The Lord sees your oppressors, as easily as He saw those who oppressed the nation of Israel, and the LORD sees how you suffer at their hands. The Lord sees the stress and frustration at your work, and He see the conflict and tension in your home. Satan wants you to believe the LORD has forgotten about you, abandoned you, turned his back on you and left you to fend for yourself. But that is simply not true. The LORD sees you; He has not abandoned you and He has not left you to fend for yourself. When life crashes down on you with wave after wave it is the LORD who keeps you afloat. When you feel isolated and alone it is the LORD who gives you the strength to shake off your dust, rise up, and free yourself. Regardless of what Satan would have you believe, in this odyssey we call life you are not lost, and you are not alone.
Finally, your life may be full of hardship and anxiety, but eventually the LORD will bring you home. In verses five and six the Sovereign LORD says, “5… all day long my name is constantly blasphemed. 6 Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.” “in that day”. Oh, how we long for the day the LORD foretold. The day the LORD described back in verse one where He foretold a time when we would cast off our torn and filthy rags and be clothed with “strength” and “garments of splendor”; a day when we will be separated from the “uncircumcised”, “defiled”, and all who steer us off course. That day will come friends. The one who laid the earth’s foundation, hung the stars in the sky, and knit together the fabric of time foretold that day would come. Do not lose sight of it. No matter how badly the waves of life batter you about, no matter how isolated and alone you might feel. No matter how appealing life among the lotus eaters might seem. Do not lose sight of “that day”; the day your odyssey comes to an end and the LORD calls you home.
I hope this does not ruin The Odyssey for you but, after a long wandering journey full of violent storms, mind-altering flowers, angry cyclops, and siren songs Odysseus eventually made his way home. Chances are no one is going to describe your life’s story as the greatest adventure of all time, but it has been a journey, you have been battered around by life a bit, you know what it feels like to have hardship and anxiety eating away at your heart. I hope this does not ruin your odyssey when I say this but, eventually, by the grace of God, you too will make your way home. At this point Homer would say “the end”. I prefer “Amen”.
[1] Homer the Odyssey, translated by WHD Rouse, Book IX pgs. 100-103… seriously read the entire book, you won’t regret it.
[2] Ephesians 2:4