Isaiah 2:1-5
2 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Dear All,
Isaiah, along with a few other Hebrew writers, are always good companions through the Advent season, as we look for Jesus to come among us. In fact, Isaiah is so important in how Christians have come to understand Jesus that it has sometimes been called ‘a fifth Gospel’. As you may know, Isaiah is actually the writings of at least three Isaiahs. The first lived before the great disaster and warned people it was coming but they still could avoid it. The second was with the exiles living through the great disaster and he taught them how to hold on and hope in dark times. The third spoke to those returning about how they should learn from all they had endured and ‘build back better’.
In this passage from chapter 2, the first Isaiah describes what the people should have been building towards. He goes on to say how they have been distracted and fallen short of this vision. The Temple is meant to have earned high esteem, making Jerusalem seem the most important, most impressive, highest city. All nations are meant to be learning peace from it. God’s Word will teach them a way of life that means they do not have to live in constant conflict with one another. They can recycle their weapons into farm implements and completely forget about training for war.
We hear in the last sentence God’s plea to his people to be like that, to work for that vision: ‘walk in the light of the Lord’. We sense that in this our time we have not arrived yet. During Advent and Christmas this year we rededicate ourselves to ‘walk in the light of the Lord’. How might we do this? Let us wholeheartedly embrace a hopeful, inclusive vision of God’s peace and justice. At Christmas, and always, let us seek to make love tangible: welcoming the marginalised, promoting and pursuing all that is good and fair in community life, and always advocating for policies that protect the most vulnerable. Let us practice compassion across differences, trusting that God’s light is revealed in every act that promotes dignity, inclusion and reconciliation. Let us hold a progressive and forward-looking faith, work to heal creation, confront prejudice wherever we find it and cultivate ways of generosity, humility, and joy in all we do. In walking in the light like this, we will embody Isaiah’s call to help the world move closer to God’s promised peace, a peace very much needed in our world this Christmastime.
Wishing you a joyful and peaceful Christmas.
With much love,
