It took a year to read the Bible, then almost 9 months to read the Apocrypha. Now, I'm going to try to offer reflections on the Narrative Lectionary. But, I won't be posting daily--at least, for a while.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

How Beautiful, Reflection on Isaiah 52:7-10

Isaiah announces to Jerusalem that they are saved. Paul will use this passage to encourage missionaries (See Romans 10:15). As did Handel, in a passage in his Messiah, How beautiful are the feet.


Notice the tension underlying the passage, a tension that exists on into our time. God is king; yet, we don't always live like it.


Their ancestors had seen God act in their lives at the Red Sea. Was God absent during their captivity?


What holds us captive? What hides the presence of God from us?


Lectio Divina: Isaiah 52:7


Isaiah calls to the Judean people in exile,  "Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem" (v.9).  


Allen & Williamson's Preaching the Old Testament: point out that this instruction by Isaiah to celebrate their release from captivity and their return to Jerusalem comes at a time when they are still under the control of Babylon and Jerusalem is a devastated city. Allen & Williamson remind us:
In this context, Isaiah celebrates God's victory, much as at Christmas Christians celebrate the coming into the world of Jesus, of whom the angel and the heavenly host sing ....(Luke 2:14). Peace, God's peace, is that to which we witness, for which we work, of which we sing at Christmas, and for which we achingly long.

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