Week 1 of Advent
Dec. 6, 2019
Is 29: 17-24Provincial House, New Rochelle
“On that day … the
lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of
Israel” (Is 29: 19).
A great many of our
readings from Isaiah during Advent begin with or include the phrase, “On that
day.” With the prophet we look toward a
day when the Lord will intervene and bring salvation to our world.
Isaiah speaks of
physical healing, and we hear an example of that in today’s gospel (Matt
9:27-31)—just one of many such examples from Jesus’ ministry of mercy. In Christ we look for total healing, new
life, “on that day.”
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| Two blind men calling on Jesus (by Tissot?) |
The prophet also
speaks of salvation that comes from the administration of justice—the end of
tyrannical government and unjust legal rulings (29:20). There will be no need for impeachment “on
that day.” All these forms of salvation
will be rooted in reverence for God:
“They shall keep my name holy; they shall reverence the Holy One of
Jacob and be in awe of the God of Israel” (29:23). Jesus addresses this concern, too, e.g., when
he advises us to render to Caesar what’s his and to God what’s his—which is
restriction on Caesar’s unjust claims and a defense of the divine image in
every man and woman (Matt 22:15-21).
The coming of “that
day” is entirely in God’s hands. But,
like Jesus during his earthly ministry, we can—we are obliged to—foreshadow
that day by bringing “the work of [God’s] hands” into our midst (Is 29:23), by
helping others, especially the young, to see “the loveliness of the Lord” (Ps
27:4) in every person, in the world around us, and in worship of “the Holy One
of Israel” (Is 29:19).
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