Isaiah 2:1-5 New International Version
This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple
will be established as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
5 Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Romans 15:4-13 Good News Translation
Paul writes to the Romans:
Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May God, the source of patience and encouragement, enable you to have the same point of view among yourselves by following the example of Christ Jesus, 6 so that all of you together may praise with one voice the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ has accepted you. 8 For I tell you that Christ's life of service was on behalf of the Jews, to show that God is faithful, to make his promises to their ancestors come true, 9 and to enable even the Gentiles to praise God for his mercy. As the scripture says:
“And so I will praise you among the Gentiles;
I will sing praises to you
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colours and races, give praise!
And Isaiah’s says:
“A descendant of Jesse will appear;
he will come to rule the Gentiles,
and they will put their hope in him.”
May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him,
so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple
will be established as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
5 Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Romans 15:4-13 Good News Translation
Paul writes to the Romans:
Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May God, the source of patience and encouragement, enable you to have the same point of view among yourselves by following the example of Christ Jesus, 6 so that all of you together may praise with one voice the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ has accepted you. 8 For I tell you that Christ's life of service was on behalf of the Jews, to show that God is faithful, to make his promises to their ancestors come true, 9 and to enable even the Gentiles to praise God for his mercy. As the scripture says:
“And so I will praise you among the Gentiles;
I will sing praises to you
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colours and races, give praise!
And Isaiah’s says:
“A descendant of Jesse will appear;
he will come to rule the Gentiles,
and they will put their hope in him.”
May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him,
so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Reflection
The first Sunday of Advent and we light the candle of hope. Now I don’t know about you but I get a cynical about the Christmas season especially when it starts the day after Halloween! I get little bit antsy when it comes to all the feel good, happy stuff that surrounds this holiday, even Advent; Hope, Peace, Love, Joy.
I mean I look around and there’s all this crazy stuff going on in the world and half of it I can’t even understand. Wars, poverty, homelessness, refugees, climate disasters, natural disasters, economic disasters and then there’s COVID and the flu.
It’s complicated! How does Peace, hope, love and joy stand a chance. Where does hope come in in the face of losing your home, losing your family, losing your community and losing yourself.
You know what I am talking about: there are migrants dying trying to get to a new life, there are refugees waiting years to get to a new life, there are Indigenous teens in Canada, children, who give up because new life, a different life seems to be pie in the sky rather than something that can come to be.
The Jews around Isaiah about 8th century BCE knew what I am talking about. And Isaiah, son of Amoz, has a vision about the future – maybe.
He is gifted with a new way of seeing, that is he has his eyes opened, he is able look at the now and see that perhaps there is a different present reality that can be seen. What we would call the Kingdom of God in the here and now.
The time when the coming of the Kingdom of God announced by Jesus emerges into the Kingdom of God in our present time and space.
2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
Isaiah sees the highest mountain where the Temple is built lifted even higher, and YHWH is the center of the universe and all that YHWH represents. And “many peoples”, “all the nations”, those the New Testament calls “Gentiles” all those non-Israelite peoples who stand over against Israel. Egyptians, Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, Ara-me-ans, Canaanites and countless smaller groups who over the centuries have warred and struggled with those who live in the land of Judah and Israel.
"Many people" from all the world's nations flow toward the great mountain of YHWH, and they say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that God may instruct us in God's ways, that we may walk in God's paths" The vast human stream flows toward God's mountain to learn what God uniquely has to teach. And what that is now becomes clear. "From Zion, Torah goes forth, the word of YHWH from Jerusalem"
What YHWH has to impart to the world is Torah: the Law of Moses and the Deuteronomists. This word is too often translated "law," severely limiting its broad and expansive meaning. It means "instruction," "teaching," the very ways and paths of YHWH.
The Israelites and their God, Yahweh are key elements in the turning of the world, in the changing of perspective on how life is to be lived and respected and blessed.
Because this God, Yahweh, has a vision as well, and that vision, what we call the Kingdom of God on earth, has no place for swords and war and terror so that swords are turned into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. “Nation does not lift up sword against nation; they no longer learn war."
That is Isaiah’s vision that we are called to embrace, the same vision that we see in Jesus’ lessons, and Paul’s exhortations, the same vision inspired St Francis and Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi and countless other who understand the destruction and terror of war and oppression.
This is the vision of a world that unites people not only in their dreaming but in their actions. This is a dream of a kingdom where people matter. When Jesus includes those who were often left on the outside: lepers, tax collectors, gentiles, Samaritan women, women, bleeding women, the blind and sick and lame, the thief on the cross next to him:
he is bringing them into the Kingdom the same way Isaiah brings the nations. Paul reinforces the vision when he writes to the people in the congregations in Rome insisting that they break down the artificial walls they have put up between them; Jews and Gentiles become brothers and sisters in Christ.
I will sing praises to you
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give praise!
And Isaiah’s says:
“A descendant of Jesse will appear;
he will come to rule the Gentiles,
and they will put their hope in him.”
May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Yahweh is the God of all creation and God’s on a mission to bring about his vision for creation, and we are included in the vision. In fact, we are a necessary part of the vision, if the vision is to have any chance of all, we are that hope.
We do live in a complicated, complex world and we may not know the answers to all our questions and problems but as Christians we are care called to be hopers and visionaries and dreamers in a long line of hopers, visionaries and dreamers in a longer tradition of hopers and visionaries and dreamers, we know whose we are as God’s beloved children, we know we are blessed and called to be a blessing to others as directed by Jesus’ command to love God and love others as ourselves, and we have a vision to live into.
Advent points us toward hope and to a vision where peace reigns, joy abounds and love wins.
May it be so Amen
The first Sunday of Advent and we light the candle of hope. Now I don’t know about you but I get a cynical about the Christmas season especially when it starts the day after Halloween! I get little bit antsy when it comes to all the feel good, happy stuff that surrounds this holiday, even Advent; Hope, Peace, Love, Joy.
I mean I look around and there’s all this crazy stuff going on in the world and half of it I can’t even understand. Wars, poverty, homelessness, refugees, climate disasters, natural disasters, economic disasters and then there’s COVID and the flu.
It’s complicated! How does Peace, hope, love and joy stand a chance. Where does hope come in in the face of losing your home, losing your family, losing your community and losing yourself.
You know what I am talking about: there are migrants dying trying to get to a new life, there are refugees waiting years to get to a new life, there are Indigenous teens in Canada, children, who give up because new life, a different life seems to be pie in the sky rather than something that can come to be.
The Jews around Isaiah about 8th century BCE knew what I am talking about. And Isaiah, son of Amoz, has a vision about the future – maybe.
He is gifted with a new way of seeing, that is he has his eyes opened, he is able look at the now and see that perhaps there is a different present reality that can be seen. What we would call the Kingdom of God in the here and now.
The time when the coming of the Kingdom of God announced by Jesus emerges into the Kingdom of God in our present time and space.
2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the temple of the God of Jacob.
Isaiah sees the highest mountain where the Temple is built lifted even higher, and YHWH is the center of the universe and all that YHWH represents. And “many peoples”, “all the nations”, those the New Testament calls “Gentiles” all those non-Israelite peoples who stand over against Israel. Egyptians, Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, Ara-me-ans, Canaanites and countless smaller groups who over the centuries have warred and struggled with those who live in the land of Judah and Israel.
"Many people" from all the world's nations flow toward the great mountain of YHWH, and they say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that God may instruct us in God's ways, that we may walk in God's paths" The vast human stream flows toward God's mountain to learn what God uniquely has to teach. And what that is now becomes clear. "From Zion, Torah goes forth, the word of YHWH from Jerusalem"
What YHWH has to impart to the world is Torah: the Law of Moses and the Deuteronomists. This word is too often translated "law," severely limiting its broad and expansive meaning. It means "instruction," "teaching," the very ways and paths of YHWH.
The Israelites and their God, Yahweh are key elements in the turning of the world, in the changing of perspective on how life is to be lived and respected and blessed.
Because this God, Yahweh, has a vision as well, and that vision, what we call the Kingdom of God on earth, has no place for swords and war and terror so that swords are turned into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. “Nation does not lift up sword against nation; they no longer learn war."
That is Isaiah’s vision that we are called to embrace, the same vision that we see in Jesus’ lessons, and Paul’s exhortations, the same vision inspired St Francis and Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi and countless other who understand the destruction and terror of war and oppression.
This is the vision of a world that unites people not only in their dreaming but in their actions. This is a dream of a kingdom where people matter. When Jesus includes those who were often left on the outside: lepers, tax collectors, gentiles, Samaritan women, women, bleeding women, the blind and sick and lame, the thief on the cross next to him:
he is bringing them into the Kingdom the same way Isaiah brings the nations. Paul reinforces the vision when he writes to the people in the congregations in Rome insisting that they break down the artificial walls they have put up between them; Jews and Gentiles become brothers and sisters in Christ.
I will sing praises to you
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give praise!
And Isaiah’s says:
“A descendant of Jesse will appear;
he will come to rule the Gentiles,
and they will put their hope in him.”
May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Yahweh is the God of all creation and God’s on a mission to bring about his vision for creation, and we are included in the vision. In fact, we are a necessary part of the vision, if the vision is to have any chance of all, we are that hope.
We do live in a complicated, complex world and we may not know the answers to all our questions and problems but as Christians we are care called to be hopers and visionaries and dreamers in a long line of hopers, visionaries and dreamers in a longer tradition of hopers and visionaries and dreamers, we know whose we are as God’s beloved children, we know we are blessed and called to be a blessing to others as directed by Jesus’ command to love God and love others as ourselves, and we have a vision to live into.
Advent points us toward hope and to a vision where peace reigns, joy abounds and love wins.
May it be so Amen
