Do you not know
or have you not heard?
The LORD is the eternal God,
creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint nor grow weary,
and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.
"Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing is so gentle as true strength." Today's first reading from the Prophet Isaiah is meant to assure God's holy people. The Lord first appears in ancient history as the Friend of Abraham, but only one of innumerable gods. What recommends him is not his overwhelming power. If anything that seems daunting. Rather, it was the choice of Abraham and his wife Sarah. "I will be your God, and you shall be my people." As Keats might have said, "That is all ye know and all ye need to know!"
That special relationship carries the arch-couple's descendants into Egypt and out again, into the Sinai desert. In the meanwhile they saw an overwhelming display of power, the annihilation of the world's most powerful army. Who is this God who claims us for his own?
Continuing reflection upon their history, coupled with Isaiah's mystical experience in the Temple, revealed the Friend of Abraham as the Lord of Heaven and Earth. Isaiah was overwhelmed by a terrifying, fascinating, irresistible vision of the Lord seated on his throne amid seraphic angels who cried, "Holy, Holy, Holy!" Everything he wrote afterward reflected that vision.
Shaken to his core, the prophet thought he was a dead man, "Woe is me, I am doomed!. For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
But, despite the scalding experience, he wasn't dead; he was energized and commissioned for he knew God's Majesty and Goodness. With his vision of the Lord of the Universe, he urged us to,
Lift up your eyes on high
and see who has created these things:
He leads out their army [of stars] and numbers them,
calling them all by name.
By his great might and the strength of his power
not one of them is missing!
This is the great paradox of our faith. We worship a most terrifying God and yet we are eager to approach the throne of glory. Should one be afraid of Goodness?
Of evil? Of course! But Goodness draws us to himself.
Because our God is enormously strong he has no need to humiliate or terrify us. Rather, our powerful God gives his people, disabled by their own foolishness, renewed strength:
He gives strength to the fainting;
for the weak he makes vigor abound.
Though young men faint and grow weary,
and youths stagger and fall,
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,
they will soar as with eagles' wings;
They will run and not grow weary,
walk and not grow faint.
In today's gospel we hear Jesus confirm that promise: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."
If Advent and Christmas are exhausting, we're certainly approaching it from the wrong side. The Yuletide Season is God's gift to us, let's enjoy it.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.