Lent
April 16, 2019
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord. –Isaiah 65:23-25
The image of refugee children in cages flashed through my mind as I read, They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; I wonder if that is how the refugee mothers feel as they leave one hell-hole of death and oppression only to wander into the grasp of self-serving others who cannot be bothered by their plight. Evil is present in acts of omission as much as in acts of commission.
The perfect vision of the world God created, our world, is presented as a scene of animals sharing a meal together rather than following what we now consider their natural reaction of eating one another while the serpent, symbol of evil, eats dusts. Isaiah has a wonderful way with words.
Where does that leave the followers of this Creator God as we share Isaiah’s insights and feel so helpless to address the carnage that confronts us as we read the papers and watch the news? How do we, in small and greater ways, answer the call of Christ to usher in the Kingdom of God where the lamb does indeed lie down with the lion?
We must first recognize that we are not called to do anything along. We are called to be a branch nurtured by the vine of Christ (See John 15:5). The second thing we must practice is the art of being one in Christ. If ever there was a time for Christ’s followers to model oneness it is now. We are a part of the problem when are a house divided. We need to invest ourselves in finding Common Ground for the Common Good. It is time for us to stop allowing deep issues that divide us, control us. If we dedicate ourselves to following the list of actions Jesus set forth for us in Matthew 25:35-36, “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” and let everything else go, I think we would find those divisive issues would disappear.
Prayer: Lord, make us whole, make us one, make us just. Amen.