Pope
Francis has designated this the first annual celebration of Sunday of the Word
of God. Each year, on this the third Sunday of Ordinary Time, is now marked as
a time to marvel at the reality that God has given us the gift of scripture. Of
course, we read scripture every week at Mass. We have three readings, many of
our prayers contain bits of scripture. But, sometimes, we’re so concerned about
the particular passages of scripture that the Church lifts up for us each week,
that we don’t take a step back just to ponder and to marvel at the fact that
God gives us scripture. God gives us the gift of words, words which reveal God
in a special way, words which are worth holding high and processing around the church
with, words which in a very real way are relics of Christ.
That’s
true in a particular way of the Gospels, of course, but it’s true of all
scripture. First Peter tells us that the Spirit of Christ was active in the
prophets, inspiring what they said. The reverence with which Matthew in
particular treats those prophetic writings can help us learn to appreciate them
as a gift. Let’s take the reading from Isaiah that we heard as our first
reading. We might get put off by the start for a couple of reasons. Firstly,
there are a bunch of place names that maybe we can’t pronounce, and we
certainly don’t feel much connection too. Secondly, there’s a rather uncomfortable
statement about them: that God degraded them.
With
the first issue, that’s where a good study bible might help. Those place names
are places that were part of Israel, but were annexed by the Assyrian king
Tiglath-Pileser III in the 8th century, during Isaiah’s lifetime. These
are places that had known military conquest, forced migration, violence and
destruction. The second takes less research and more wrestling: what does it
mean to say that God degraded them, more literally in Hebrew, God made light of
them? Not every bad thing that happens to us is God’s punishment, that’s really
important to stress. Jesus tells his disciples that you can’t assume someone’s
being punished by God because something bad happens to them (and that lesson’s
already in the Old Testament in Job). But God does punish sometimes. Like any
parent, God uses discipline, uses punishment as part of the way he rears us.
The
prophet doesn’t dwell on this punishment. He moves to what happened next. The
people in darkness have seen a great light. That’s a beautiful image, but I
also love the one that ends the reading: God has taken off the yoke that bound
them and taken away the rod of their taskmaster and smashed them. Scholars aren’t
entirely sure what events Isaiah is describing in this way. Some think that
this is about the end of the exile in Babylon, even though that’s not really
what this part of the book of Isaiah is about. Others take their lead from the
next few verses which talk about the gift of a child to be called “Wonder-Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (verses we read in Advent) and
think that this is about either the birth of an heir, or the coronation of a
king. These are the kind of questions that in my day job as bible scholar I get
to ask, and they’re fascinating, but we’re not going to be able to resolve them
here. What we should note, though, is that the prophet is talking about
something that he’s already seen happen. The people in darkness have seen a
great light. The yoke is smashed.
And
that’s where our prayer can start. We can take this passage, read it, and let
those images start to come alive for us. When in my life have I felt like I’m sitting
in darkness? Have I felt God’s discipline at some point in my life? Where do I
see light? Has there been a time when I needed to have so many things I thought
I could rely on turn to darkness so as I could see the light that really
mattered? Are there things that used to bind me that no longer do? Then we
might move to the future. What still binds me? What can I imagine God smashing
that binds me? Then we might move out towards others. Who else in my life might
seem lost in darkness? Who needs me to cooperate with God to shine that light? Do
I hold a rod as taskmaster? Who have I yoked? Might God be coming to smash the
rod I hold? How can I drop that before it’s too late?
When
we ask these questions, we let scripture be a light in our life. A light that
shows us what things in our life really are, what is gift, what is
yoke-awaiting-smashing, what is that warm brilliant light of God.
Matthew
let scripture probe him, probe his life like that. And when he asked, where
have I seen God’s light, the answer was clear to him. God’s light had a name, had
a human face. God’s light was Jesus. That’s why Matthew says that what Isaiah said
is fulfilled in Jesus. It’s not that Isaiah’s words were a prediction which has
now come to pass. They weren’t. They were a telling-forth, a prophecy in that sense,
a way of helping people see that whatever particular events Isaiah was talking
about, these sad then joyful events really were God’s action, God’s shedding of
light into a place of darkness. But Matthew shines the light that is that text
onto his world, and he says, yes: I was in darkness before I knew Jesus and he
has lit up my world. And the sin that bound me, he is smashing to pieces, he
has nailed to the cross. The fullness of God’s action is revealed in Christ.
Friends,
God has acted definitively in Christ for us. God continues to act. God will act
at the end in a final way. We can become more and more aware of that action and
so get on the right side of it, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And of the
many gifts God gives us to help us do that, scripture is the one we celebrate
today, the light that helps us see things for what they truly are.
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