Lent

March 22, 2021

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

What do we make of signs?

And in the morning, “It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. –Matthew 16:3

The people of the first century depended on signs believed to be God’s supernatural power impacting the natural world. Today we see the sky turning red as an explainable meteorological phenomenon. Whether one could explain it or not, it was a valuable, dependable tool to discern what would happen.  Jesus counsels that if we can understand the weather by its signs, why can we not see that our relationships with God and one another are not working as God intended.

Isaiah, at a different time, was dealing with the same problem. Society is falling away from God and reaping the results of that separation. We Christ-followers read into the above Isaiah scripture a foretelling of the birth of Jesus, and it was, but it spoke to the people of his day. The Israelites were waiting for the Messiah for some time–the arrival of one who would set their world straight, bring righteousness to all. The problem then, the problem when Jesus was present on the earth, and still the problem today is we the people of God want to define our self-righteousness as God’s righteousness. In God’s history, that idea has never worked and will never work because righteousness for one excludes God’s intent for God’s children. Our world was created based on God’s justice, where all are loved and welcomed.  In God’s Kingdom, all are deemed people of worth. We humans seem to have a real problem recognizing that our value is not established by comparison with anyone else. While that may be difficult for humans to do, God is capable of loving everyone just as they are and just as they can become in the shelter of his care. God welcomes us to emulate this behavior.

Prayer: God of Righteousness, grant us the willingness to trust in your love as the key to all righteousness.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.