Harmony Restored

Tuesday of Week 1 in Advent

Is. 11:1-10 & Lk. 10:21-24

What a beautiful picture Isaiah describes in the first reading! It is a world where justice reigns, and where all of nature is in harmony. Animals which seem to us to be natural enemies of each other are living peacefully together. A child plays in complete safety, free from any harm or danger. This must have been the situation Adam and Eve knew, for when God created the world everything in it was good. It was when our first parents turned away from God that disaster occurred. Harmony and unity with God were shattered, and so we live in a broken and damaged world.

Yet, Isaiah looks forward to a time when harmony will be restored. A Messiah will come who will reconcile Man with God and bring everything in creation back to its original harmony. God will give him wisdom, knowledge, power and the authority to judge people with fairness. Isaiah prophecies that this Messiah will spring from the stock of Jesse, the father of David. All the nations will look forward eagerly for the coming of the Messiah.

By giving us this gospel in Advent the Church continues yesterday’s theme that if we want Jesus to come to us this Christmas we have to cast out all our pride and be childlike and completely dependent on God. It is interesting to note that if we are fortunate enough to be able to enter the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem we must bend low to enter – as if it were a sign of how we need to express our littleness if we want to meet Jesus. In fact this entrance was made small to prevent men riding on their horses into the church. If they wished to enter they were required to dismount, to bend low to meet the Lord Jesus.

Lord Jesus, make us Your disciples, childlike and small, so that we may know You. Show us the way to the Father that we might begin to know Him.