Today’s Advent Reflection is from Phil Wadsworth
Advent in One Chapter
Isaiah 55:1-13
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold you shall call the nations that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Reflection
Before those responsible for such things decided to change some of the dates in the Kalendar, today, 16th December, was an Observance called O Sapientia, the celebration of Divine Wisdom. Much theological and philosophical debate, and many books, have covered the subject, but in essence, while Jesus is identified as the Logos, the Word of God (as in at the beginning of John’s Gospel), Divine Wisdom is, variously, characterised as that aspect of God becoming incarnate as Jesus, or as the Holy Spirit (or as an aspect of the Trinity). An interesting – to some! – aside is that in the original Greek, Ἁγία Σοφία (Hagía Sophía), is feminine.
That may seem rather abstruse and not particularly relevant, but it’s no accident that O Sapientia was – and is, on 17th December now – celebrated during Advent. In this season of preparation and consideration, reflection and self-examination we need to appeal to and for wisdom: both better to understand ourselves, our Faith, and our relationship with God; and for our preparations to bear fruit in plans for our development in future. As we have been made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) – in the sense of being independently sentient entities – we can sense, if dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12), the preparations and plans of omniscient Wisdom; and God’s preparation and planning for our salvation, beginning to be realised at the Incarnation, is what Advent and Christmas are all about.
Isaiah 55 lifts a corner of the veil on this. We are reminded, though, that “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (verse 8): we cannot hope to understand more than a little of how God brings about the things which He intends, how His plans are made and accomplished, and the means by which His actions fulfil His purposes. We can rest assured, though, that they are perfect, and will exactly bring about that which God intends; everything that God plans and executes is fulfilled completely (“so shall the word … that goes forth from my mouth … not return to me empty”, verse 11a) and brings about what God intends (“it shall accomplish that which I purpose and prosper in the thing for which I sent it”, verse 11b).
While considering our own personal journey through Advent, our self-examination and resultant plans, the above part of Isaiah 55 provides assurance of support, guidance, and a route; all dependent upon the divine planning of the Incarnation and all that the revelation of Emmanuel, God with us, means. While this is seen in the central part of the chapter, its earlier verses give us a range of things to think about during our Advental contemplations and self-examination, and directions in which we may (hopefully will) plan to go. We’re called to think about ways in which we are wasteful; to turn to God for things which last; to listen to God and to come to God; to be witness to those who don’t know God; to follow the path that God intends for us.
Isaiah 55 is, in some ways, a complete ‘Advent package’: It begins with things to think about and to plan to do, it moves on to glimpse the sure foundation in God on which all is based, and it concludes with the message of comfort and joy. Echoes from elsewhere in Isaiah recall themes which keep bubbling up and bursting out, in some of the most well-known passages and elsewhere. “For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace …” (verse 12a) continues the loving assurances that God gives in ”Comfort, comfort my people, says your God …” (Isaiah 40:1); while the glimpse of God’s coming Kingdom, in which “instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle” (verse 13a) recalls “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb … and the calf and the lion and the fatling together” (Isaiah 11:6).
The chapter ends with the reminder that while our Advents and Christmases come and go, and all the things of this world are transitory, God’s preparation and planning, which includes each of us individually, is for eternity; that the Incarnation and its full working-out are for eternity; and that, for each and for all of us, our indwelling within God’s love is for eternity – “it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off” (verse 13b).