Secret Agents of the Resurrected Man

5 December 2025  Isaiah 29:17-24

The First Friday in Advent

“In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book…, the eyes of the blind shall see.” Isaiah 29:18

The deaf shall hear, the blind shall see. Who doesn’t want that kind of transformation? We all want that – and the oppressed to be liberated, and the sick to be healed, and the ignorant to become wise. Who wouldn’t want it?

The problem is that it always sounds like pie in the sky. The problem is that most of the time it is pie in the sky, the big talk of those who over-promise and under-deliver.  

That same quiet empire, that out fought, out thought, out lived and out died antiquity, today speaks all the languages of the world, and delivers just one message, viz., that Jesus Christ is the Resurrected Man. Jesus Christ is God with us, God in us, God for us, and God forever.

Many who read the Old Testament see stuff like this and scoff a little. They know how it turned out – corruption, conquest, exile. And it didn’t stop there. The Holy Land is one of the most conquered places on earth.

First it was the Egyptians, then the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Persians; then it was the Greeks, the Romans, and the Byzantines; then it was the Arabs, the Ottomans, and the British. The deaf shall hear, the blind shall see, the meek shall obtain fresh joy? Please. We all know what happened.

But what if, amid all that, there really was a time when the deaf heard and the blind saw. What if there were a time when the sick were healed, the ignorant became wise, and the despairing became hopeful because they started talking about a Resurrected Man. What if there were a quiet empire, secret agents of the Resurrected Man, a quiet empire that muddled along, often just below the radar, amid the rising and falling of louder empires, of which the USA will certainly someday be one, proposing a countercultural message which over time has led to the end of slavery, rights for all, and the emergence of modern science. What if that quiet empire were still around, feeding more people, clothing more people, teaching more people, treating more sick people, housing more homeless, strengthening more helpless than any agency, institution, or empire in the history of the world. That same quiet empire, that out fought, out thought, out lived and out died antiquity, today speaks all the languages of the world, and delivers just one message, viz., that Jesus Christ is the Resurrected Man. Jesus Christ is God with us, God in us, God for us, and God forever.

People have scoffed at that message, but they are all dead, and the message is still here. All those secret agents, they haven’t gone away. Neither has the Resurrected Man.

So, when a quiet empire like that puts a host in your hand and says, “This is heaven. This is everything that makes Jesus who He is,” maybe, just maybe, that’s not just big talk. Maybe, just maybe, this is under-promising, and over-delivering – this little bit of bread really is the bread of life; and it doesn’t become what you are, but it makes you what He is. Maybe, just maybe, this is what it takes for you to hear, for you to see. Maybe, just maybe, this heaven in your hands, is what it takes to turn your life around, and your kids, and your family, and your neighborhood.

Maybe, just maybe, the prophet was right because he was talking about what is going to happen to you.

Just maybe.

Just saying.