Tuesday of the 1st Week in Advent
Readings of the day: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Luke 10:21-24
Do any of us remember our favorite
stories as children, or maybe a favorite story we have read to our children,
nieces, nephews, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren? How many of these
stories employ vivid images or are set in a kind of fantasy world? I can think
of a few favorite stories from when I was a child, some of which are now being
enjoyed by my five-year-old niece and three-year-old nephew, that exaggerate or
go totally beyond reality. They feature animals not behaving as they should;
wild animals interacting peacefully with people; animals speaking; bright
colors and images; strange things and places, and so forth…
When we hear our first reading today
from Isaiah, are some of us perhaps reminded of these children’s stories?
Isaiah seems to be describing a fantasy world: “The wolf” as “the guest of the
lamb,” the leopard with the kid, “the calf, and the young lion” eating
side-by-side in peace, “with a little child to guide them,” and the baby and
the child resting and playing over the dens of poisonous snakes.
But Isaiah’s point transcends the
fantasy world he describes in today’s first reading. Isaiah is speaking of the
future reign of a king, a reign of peace and justice that will defy everything
we have ever experienced. What will be the characteristics of this king? How
will this king bring about a reign of peace and justice as has never before
been experienced?
This king will bring about
never-before-experienced peace and justice because he will be gifted with God’s
own Spirit, “a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a Spirit of counsel and
of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD.”
We have known a king of the kind Isaiah
speaks; a king of justice and peace greater than our world could ever achieve.
This king is Jesus Christ. But the king Isaiah describes is not primarily
Jesus. No, we have all received God’s own Holy Spirit, “a Spirit of wisdom and
of understanding, a Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge
and of fear of the LORD.” How many of us recall receiving these gifts at our
confirmation?
We
are
the rulers; the people whom Isaiah imagines will be given God’s own Spirit;
will co-operate with God in bringing about God’s reign of justice and peace
that has never yet been experienced.
Might some of us be thinking, “This is
the height of fantasy; It would be unrealistic for us to be called to co-create
with God a world of justice and peace that is yet to be experienced”?
This is not as unreal as we might think.
Isaiah asks us to think with the imagination of small children. But let us not
stop at imagining this Advent. Jesus Christ has already come once. He promises
to return. We who have God’s own Spirit are God’s co-creators; called to reign with
God; with our Lord Jesus Christ over a world of peace and justice never before
experienced. This is not fantasy. This is ever more real.
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