Isaiah chapter 63: On being carried along

63:9 ‘In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.’

                                         http://joog07.wordpress.com/leona-lewis-footprints-in-the-sand-review/

Enter once again hesed – God’s unique loving kindness – spoken of in other chapters of this Book including chapters 54 and 55 (following on the heels of the ‘Suffering Servant’ chapter 53.

Being lifted up happens mainly to children.  There are times in our lives when there is no other option but to be lifted up and carried. The sad irony is that it is literally true for some ending their earthly journey.

#JourneyIsaiah

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Isaiah chapter 62: All the more beautiful

62:3 ‘You will be a crown of splendour in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.’

If we only knew how much God loves us, heals us, restores us. Only He sees the full beauty that is within us. Even those scars that disrupt and weaken us can be filled with gold to make us all the more beautiful.

There is a Japanese saying that ‘We become stronger in broken places’.  “When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold.  They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.” (Billie Mobayed)

#JourneyIsaiah

O King of the nations, and their desire,

the cornerstone making both one:

Come and save the human race,

which you fashioned from clay.

Chapter 61: People with a mission

61:1-3 ‘The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.’

This passage is used by Jesus at the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:18-19).

'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing'.  Jesus demonstrated, by his actions, that the kingdom of God has broken through into the lives of those around him.  It is something real, immediate and living.  Jesus stood up in his local synagogue, took the book and read from it.  There was no sermon or interpretation beyond the simple statement that 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing'.  What people would see is what they would get – a human being – an ordinary and extraordinary human being making a deep impression on his listeners – speaking to their hearts and minds and setting them free.  The Jewish people expected salvation from a Messiah.  This salvation came in a most unexpected way – without respectable trappings.  Freedom was on offer but it was too immediate, too obvious and too concrete for many to grasp it.

How does this story speak to us today? Let’s take just two inter-related themes:

-        recovery of sight to the blind

-        letting the oppressed go free

Reflecting on what these might mean in today's world for individuals as well for communities these words may be put in a contemporary context.

At one level we can read this literally as referring to the curing of the blind (e.g. Bartimeus in Matt 20: 29-34) and the setting of Barabbas free (Matt 27:26). At another level we may see blindness and oppression as spiritual conditions. There is a danger that, on the one hand, we can over-spiritualise what Jesus is saying and doing to reduce his message to a metaphor for a personal, introspective spiritual searching. According to this view, Jesus saves us from our personal and individual darkness and spiritual blindness to receive light and inner freedom.  At the other extreme there is the risk of reducing the story to a purely 'this-worldly' account where Jesus the social prophet and saviour of Israel comes to save the poor of Yahweh and free the people from foreign oppressors. The freeing that Jesus that brings is much deeper than either of these perspectives. To use the evangelist's John's account: the Truth will set you free' (John 8:32). Freedom – that elusive idea that defies commodification – is something that Jesus offers those who will listen and follow his call.

One of the difficulties that followers of Jesus encounter in a contemporary context is the distance perceived between human autonomy and the demands inherent in Jesus' message. In the Gospel Jesus offers and promises freedom.  However, many see his call as mediated through a particular tradition or rule of life as undermining freedom – even oppressive and restrictive of true human potential. In what sense is real freedom on offer here? In what way is Jesus's message and gift bringing about new sight where blindness prevented our seeing before?

Perhaps too often the community of Jesus' followers has become the problem more than the answer to questions of freedom. In other words instead of setting people free it imprisons them in a false ideology based on exclusion and self-righteousness.  Instead of giving sight to the blind it blinds to the truth of God's love in others – very different and very much distant from orthodoxy. Luke's Gospel is filled with stories of undesirable persons and groups intruding on 'correct religion' in a context of Jesus reaching out, bringing in, healing and setting free. And the prophet Isaiah more than hints that persons outside the chosen tribe will be brought in to join the others.

To be a disciple of Jesus in the 21st Century is to be free – that is faithful and open to what is best in God’s gift of catholic tradition and reformed order – valuing the dignity, freedom and honesty of individual souls who find their love in communities united around the Word who is made flesh in real people like you and me and the 'other'.

#JourneyIsaiah

O Morning Star,

splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:

Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Isaiah chapter 60: Your day has come

60:1-3 ‘‘Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.  Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.’

It is the shortest day in the year here, today, in the Northern Hemisphere.  Your day, our day, my day has come. It is time to rise from our sleep and walk in the light. 

#JourneyIsaiah

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;

you shut and no one can open:

Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,

those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Becoming one of us

 ‘… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.’ (John 1:14)

John 1:1-18 (Year B: Christmas Day)

“Theology is rather a divine life than a divine knowledge. In heaven indeed we shall first seek, and then love; but here on earth we must first love … and we shall then see and perceive and understand” written by Jeremy Taylor (cited in Edward Dowden, 1901 ‘Puritan and Anglican: Studies in Literature)

My Personal Prayer for Christmas

In the beginning was the Word

And the World became flesh

And that flesh became bread;

Which has now become us

Broken for a united world

At peace and returning to the Word

‘Believers are in love, theologians write love-poems and metaphysicians – natural theologians – write criticisms of poetry’ H Root (1962:13)

#JourneyIsaiah

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;

you shut and no one can open:

Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,

those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Never fails

 ‘… For no word from God will ever fail’ (Luke 1:37)

Luke 1:26-38 (Year B: Advent 4)

Failure to deliver is a common human experience. We fail to deliver on our word – sometimes – and others do likewise. The basis of trust in society is delivery and faithfulness held together by the Hebrew concept of Hesed (loving kindness unique to God). Because, the One who loves us more than we ever imagine doesn’t fail to deliver at the right time, in the right way and in the right measure.

Sometimes we can fear the signs of the personal day and the world around us. But, fear not!  

Everything serves a purpose and we are part of that great adventure here and now – not tomorrow or next year because the only reality is our Yes now.

In the story of how Mary gave her yes to God there are three principal moments:

• Grace in presence and invitation
• A moment of troubling (‘Mary was greatly troubled at his words’)
• A decisive yes

#tothesources

Isaiah chapter 59: Bridging the gaps of separation

59:2 ‘But your iniquities have separated you from your God’.

Sin is that which separates us from God and from our neighbour – near and far.  It blocks any positive and life-giving relationship with others. But, there is a remedy for sin. It is in ‘the arm of the Lord’ which ‘is not too short to save’ (verse 1) because his ear is not too dull to hear (verse 1). God stretches out to us in our misery, confusion and sin. And this is salvation – that we can merit his saving help but He has chosen to love us with an everlasting covenant.

                                                        Pic: www.cbckansas.org/covenantEverlasting.php

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;

before you kings will shut their mouths,

to you the nations will make their prayer:

Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

#JourneyIsaiah