Thought for Today
Isaiah 11:6 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Matthew 18:2 He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
James 1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
The theme this week in These Days has been, “Where Is Hope to Be Found?” Today’s author reflected on the Isaiah passage in chapter 11 and wrote, “We think that is impossible, but Isaiah paints a picture of what can happen when new life grows from the old stump of the past. Life will look different.”
My own theme this week has in part been “Advent is an extended birthday party celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Son of God.” Many reading these Thoughts are past remembering that when we were young, birthdays were about more than parties. Birthdays . . . and Christmas were also times where and when miracles were possible. Long before Harry Potter, birthdays and Christmas were also times of magic. The impossible and the unimaginable somehow became possible and not just imaginable but actually real.
Isaiah’s words have long been understood as messianic. Our Hebrew ancestors and our ancestors in the Christian faith looked to Isaiah’s words as the promise of a changed reality.
Last Sunday we lit the Candle of Hope. I believe that the most important and effective message Christianity offered and still offers is the message of hope. The One whose birthday we will celebrate on Christmas Day brought that message of hope into the world. The answer to the question posed in that theme this week is “Hope is found in Jesus, the Christ!”
When some of us read Isaiah’s words, especially “and a little child shall lead them,” we think of the headlines we read in the newspapers or the lead stories on television news and cannot help but wonder if most nations are already led by little children. I’m thinking about what is often referred to as “The Terrible Twos.” Do the news stories we read, see and hear reflect the leadership of sane, reasonable national leaders? How many of those nations about whom we read, see and hear can claim to be led by those who have read and understood the words of that little child born in that manger 2000 years ago?
“The Father of lights” of whom James wrote had given the world the “perfect gift.” The birthday party we will celebrate in just a few weeks is for the “little child” who can lead the world into the ideal world Isaiah imagined. In his life, ministry and death (Incarnation, Ministry, Crucifixion and Resurrection) Jesus has shown us the way to Isaiah’s ideal Creation. It is certainly closer to the understanding of the writers of Genesis than is the world we see all around us.
Will Creation be different when we reach that for which we regularly pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?” Obviously! In our world, cows and bears cannot peacefully coexist. Lions and ox cannot safely and peacefully graze together. In our world wolves prey on lambs. There is a natural food chain with apex predators at the top of the pyramid.
In our world, aggressor nations invade neighbors, political parties fight partisan issues instead of cooperating in the best interest of those they claim to serve. We do believe that the meek will inherit the world . . . but most days that seems to be in the unimaginably distant future.
But, during Advent the possibility . . . the HOPE seems not merely possible, not merely theoretical but tangible. This season, God’s will being done on earth seems so close. All it will take to make it so is for us to do so. The “little child” has shown us the way. We just need to follow that way . . . all year long. We can make the HOPE the reality of our world. It’s up to us.
Stay safe, do your part to make it so, trust God,
Pastor Ray