Embedded Files
Isaiah 59:1-21 Due to the rampant sinfulness of the people, the promised salvation would be long in coming. God reaffirmed his covenant and his imminent judgment.
The Lord’s hand is not shortened: Being All-powerful, the wait for salvation does not indicate any limitation of God. (CCC 311)
Ch 59:17 The military image is appropriate as a model of the struggle against sin and evil. Authors of other books of Scripture and the Church Fathers have used similar language to express the nature and difficulty of this battle against the forces of evil. (CCC 405, 921, 1496, 2015, 2752)
Ch 60:1-22 This poetic hymn of praise extols the beauty of the restored city of Jerusalem. It radiated an overwhelming beauty that reflected the glory of God, which drew people from all nations as promised. Some nations that once were accomplices in the destruction of Jerusalem brought precious stones and raw materials to help build up the city further. The Book of Revelation describes the heavenly Jerusalem in similar terms (cf. 21:9-27).
Your sons...your daughters: Among the people coming to Jerusalem are many of the people of Judah who had been dispersed all around the world. Yet, all who come are of one family, springing from the first parents of the human race, Adam and Eve.
Ch 60:1-6 This passage constitutes the First Reading at Mass on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. The people from afar who brought gifts to the new city are a type of the Magi (TYPOLOGY!!), the wise men or astrologers from the East, who traveled to bring gifts to the infant Christ after his Birth.
Ezekiel 19:1-14 In this allegory, Jerusalem is the lion, and her cubs are King Jehoahaz, who was deported to Egypt as a prisoner, and King Jehoiachin, who was exiled to Babylon. The vine was once fruitful but is now dried and withered on account of the exile.
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
We only have five days left in Isaiah!
It’s been an incredible journey through The Book of Woe and The Book of Consolation
Proverbs Ch 13
Every time we come back to the Book of Proverbs, there are little javelins, arrows, spears of TRUTH
If we MEDITATE on them and PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE…
They will make a HUGE difference in our lives
For example in Proverbs 13:11, “Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but he who gathers little by little will increase it.”
It makes me think of lottery winners or someone who gets a big windfall of cash and doesn’t know what to do with it because they never had it before
SO WEALTH HASTILY GOTTEN WILL DWINDLE
I won big
I scored big
Versus little by little
Someone who gathers LITTLE BY LITTLE will increase it
Because you learned how to live with little
As opposed to someone who thinks they have this abundance but never had to live with abundance
They never learned how to manage their resources because they didn’t have any resources before
AND YET…
If we gather LITTLE BY LITTLE, we learn LITTLE BY LITTLE how to INCREASE IT
The same thing is true with MATERIAL GOODS
The same thing is true with WISDOM
The same thing in some ways is true with FAITH
We continue to walk in FAITH
We continue to INCREASE OUR FAITH day by day
Then we have the kind of faith that can live regardless of what the day is like, regardless of the season
That is something worth meditating on
That is something worth basing the actions of our life on
Fr. Mike said a while ago that the Prophets are going to be rough
Maybe they have been rough for you and that’s completely understandable
At the same time, this has been an INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
There are only six more chapters in Isaiah
BUT…
It’s been remarkable to be able to follow along with the Prophets
To be able to see the context of Isaiah
He is preaching to a people that WILL be sent into EXILE
They WILL be conquered
It will SEEM like God can’t do anything
BUT…
God is going to do A LOT
God is going to REDEEM THEM
God is going to BRING THEM BACK
BUT…
They DO have to REPENT
Isaiah 59:1, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear…”
That is one of the claims that we try to lay against God
We think that maybe God CAN’T do this
We think that maybe God ISN’T LISTENING
The lack is NOT in God
Isaiah 59:2, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
THIS IS REMARKABLE!
Not only for our own day and age
But also he goes on to list the iniquities/sins of the people that are separating them from the Lord
Isaiah 59:3, “For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongues mutter wickedness…”
No one calls for justice
They KNEW what was FAIR AND GOOD
BUT…
They simply just let it be
They relied on EMPTY WORDS
Isaiah 59:6-8, “Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they know not, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked, no one who goes in them knows peace.”
It’s one of those moments where we say, “Yeah, we know the story of the People of Israel, God’s Chosen People who he still loves, he still claims, who TURNED AWAY FROM HIM.”
What happens is the results NOT God’s lacking in POWER
NOT God’s lacking in LOVE
Isaiah 59:10, “We grope for the wall like the blind, we grope like those who have no eyes…”
Because the Lord has taken away the light
AND YET…
That light WILL shine
This is all about REPENTANCE
If you turn back to the Lord, here is the REDEMPTION that is going to happen
IN FACT…
You are so blind right now, you can’t see where to go
Isaiah 60:1-3, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth (YUP)...but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall walk by your light…”
Whose light?
The light of the Jewish people
Fulfilling the PROMISES
Fulfilling the COVENANT
Fulfilling the covenant in JESUS
This is what Jesus extends
Doesn’t Jesus make it VERY CLEAR that his disciples HAVE TO LIVE LIKE SALT AND LIGHT?
Jesus makes it VERY CLEAR that his disciples HAVE TO BE A LIGHT IN THE WORLD?
And here is Isaiah prophesying that this is what is going to happen
When you walk in Christ, you are not only walking in the light
BUT…
YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE LIGHT!!
YOU ARE BRINGING LIGHT TO THE WORLD!!
That’s why we can’t put our light under bushel baskets
People NEED to see what God has done in your life
People NEED to see what God has done in the lives of those who follow him
So they can see it and say, “Wait, that could happen in MY life! That could be ME right there!”
So we are thankful for Isaiah Chs 59 and 60 because it talks about that NEED FOR REPENTANCE
And when we DO REPENT we can have the LIGHT OF THE WORLD
GOD IS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD AND WE CAN HAVE THAT LIGHT IN US FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD
On to Ezekiel Ch 19
The Lamentation of Israel
It’s a short chapter
It talks about the lions and the vine
Let’s get some CONTEXT
Ezekiel 19:1, “...What a lioness was your mother among lions! She lurked in the midst of young lions, rearing her whelps. And she brought up one of her whelps…”
So who is this lion?
Was it a real person?
Was it not a real person?
The answer is that the mother is THE TRIBE OF JUDAH or JERUSALEM
The line of Judah was VERY IMPORTANT
The FIRST LION WHELP that the mother lion brought up would likely be King Jehoahaz
Remember, Jehoahaz was the son of King Josiah
He only reigned a few months and he was not a good king and he was BRUTAL and EVIL
He was removed and brought in chains to the land of Egypt in about 609 BC after only being king for THREE MONTHS
Now the SECOND LION WHELP who comes up is King Jehoiachin
Ok so there was a King Jehoiachim with an M at the end and there was a King Jehoiachin with an N at the end
Jehoiachin (N at the end) was the son of Jehoiachim (M at the end) to alleviate my confusion and probably yours...😉
King Jehoiachin reigned from 609-597 BC
He also was not great
Ezekiel 19:6, “...he became a young lion and he learned to catch prey; he devoured men.”
He continued to spread misery around
So what happened?
He was caught by the King of Babylon and he was taken away in chains
Jehoahaz is the FIRST LION WHELP BROUGHT UP
Jehoiachin is the SECOND LION WHELP BROUGHT UP
This is a LAMENTATION because IT DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN THIS WAY
The lamentation of the VINE could be talking about King Zedekiah
This vine gets planted by King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon
BUT...
Zedekiah gets made into a VASSAL KING (What is a VASSAL KING? Well, a VASSAL KING was a king who owed allegiance to ANOTHER KING OR EMPEROR 🤓)
AND YET…
Ezekiel 19:13-14, “Now it is transplanted in the wilderness...consumed its branches and fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for a ruler.”
She is not suited to rule
Zedekiah was the LAST of the kings of the LINE OF DAVID…
UNTIL…
JESUS CHRIST establishes his reign as the PROMISED MESSIAH, THE PROMISED KING
(If all this is confusing you, read the Didache Notes at the beginning of today’s notes for Ezekiel 19:1-14 above for a simpler explanation 😁)
The line of the LION OF JUDAH keeps going on UNDERGROUND
From Zedekiah until Jesus, the royal line of David goes UNDERGROUND
This is why Ezekiel offers this LAMENT
He knows the PROMISES made to David
His dynasty WOULD NOT END
There would be a descendant of him SET UPON THE THRONE
And Zedekiah is the LAST ONE IN THIS MOMENT IN TIME
At this point, we don’t know how is God going to REDEEM this?
How is God going to FIX this?
So imagine if you will, for hundreds and hundreds of years, the people of Israel are wondering this question
The line of Judah (or did he say LION? Fr. Mike speaks so incredibly fast EVEN AT 0.5x speed so I’m just going to go with LINE OF JUDAH 🤔) is STILL THERE
BUT…
The line of kings has gone UNDERGROUND
And they wondered, what is God going to do now?
THIS IS US SO OFTEN
WALKING IN THE WILDERNESS
WAKING IN UNCERTAINTY
WALKING IN DARKNESS
Just like Isaiah says in Ch 59
AND YET…
We walk in DARKNESS and we HOLD ONTO OUR FATHER’S HAND
HE WILL LEAD US TO THAT PLACE OF LIGHT
WE HAVE JESUS WHO IS OUR LIGHT
HE BRINGS US TO THE WORLD
AND WE BRING THAT LIGHT TO THE WORLD
IS FR. MIKE MIXING METAPHORS??
HE DOESN’T KNOW
I DON’T KNOW EITHER, I’M SO EXHAUSTED
BUT IT MAKES SENSE TO FR. MIKE SO I’M NOT GOING TO THINK TOO HARD ABOUT IT
WHAT A GREAT GIFT TO BE TOGETHER FOR THE LAST 219 DAYS IN THIS FAMILY!!
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for your Word. And we thank you for giving us your Presence and your Wisdom. Help us to receive your Wisdom and not to just let it pass us by, but to live it. To base our lives upon you and upon the truth that you impart and the Wisdom that you share with us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
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