Embedded Files
Isaiah 61:1-11 The identity of the messenger in Chapter 52 is made more clear. He would bring good news to those who are suffering, and he would free and cure them of their infirmities. He would bring about a spiritual renewal that accompanied great joy and would fulfill all the promises made to the patriarchs. This harbinger of so much good is the truly anointed one, the Christ, who brings salvation to the world and comfort to the poor and afflicted. (CCC 716)
Ch 61:1-2 These verses were read by Christ in the Temple as he began his public ministry, whereupon he stated, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” indicating that he is the promised Messiah (cf. Lk 4:18-21). His title, “Christ,” means “anointed one,” which indicates the fullness of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 436, 695, 714, 1286)
Ch 61:6 Israel as a whole was chosen to become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:6). Among the Tribes of Israel, priests were chosen from the Levites to officiate in ceremonies of worship and sacrifice. The baptized faithful enjoy a share in Christ’s priesthood called the common priesthood of the faithful. Among baptized men, some are called to the ministerial priesthood by which the sacred minister acts in persona Christi capitis (“in the Person of Christ the Head”). An important function of the priesthood of the New Covenant is the celebration of the sacramental liturgies. (CCC 1118-1120, 1539, 1547, 1552, 1591-1592)
Ch 62:1-12 Speaking in Jerusalem directly, this prophecy compares again God’s love to paternal and spousal love. God’s love, in many instances, is compared to the love of a bridegroom for his bride. God, through his prophet, urged his people to be vigilant in preparation for the last day. (CCC 219, 1611)
Ezekiel 20:1-32 The people of Judah and Israel found themselves ridiculed frequently by the various nations because of the defeats they had suffered throughout history. The pagan nations would make light of their faith and taunt them on account of their suffering and God’s ostensible indifference. Given the fact that the worship of the one true God was at the heart of the Jewish religion, the worship of idols flew in the face of the Mosaic Covenant. Only through a severe purification could God bring his people back to their commitment to the Mosaic Law. (CCC 2811-2812)
Ch 20:33-49 After recounting the history of his people, the Lord promised to reunite his people and make a new covenant restoring Israel once again.
Blazing flame: The devastating fire (which will turn into a sword at the beginning of the next chapter) represents Babylon, who invaded and defeated the surrounding nations.
Green tree...dry tree: The righteous and the wicked will all suffer the effects of the Babylonian conquest.
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
GOSH YOU GUYS!
Isaiah Chs 61 and 62 are SO PHENOMENAL!
In our LECTIONARY, the list of readings at Sunday Mass and Daily Mass
Isaiah is READ A LOT
It’s all SO SO GOOD
It’s all SO SO POWERFUL
It’s all SO SO IN MANY WAYS FAMILIAR
One of the things that is so helpful for us is THE CONTEXT
THE CONTEXT IS INCREDIBLE!
Isaiah 61:1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God...”
This is JESUS when he goes into the synagogue in Luke Ch 4
Jesus reads from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah
Jesus says, “This Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing this day.” !!
We’ve been on this journey for 220 days
WE KNOW THIS HAS BEEN HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF YEARS IN THE MAKING
All the way up to Isaiah
AND HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF YEARS AFTER THAT
Jesus walks into the synagogue and says, “This Scripture passage is FULFILLED in your hearing TODAY.”
And it makes us REALIZE
OH MY GOSH, LORD GOD!!
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GIFT IN LUKE 4:18-19
This Scripture is FULFILLED IN CHRIST
So what is it?
It’s all about BLESSINGS
Isaiah Ch 61 is Good Tidings for the Afflicted
God is saying, “I the Lord hate robbery, hate wrong, I love justice, I hate evil, I love goodness, therefore I hate sin and therefore I will faithfully give them their recompense and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.”
This highlights God’s PROMISE to make an EVERLASTING COVENANT
At the LAST SUPPER, what does Jesus say?
He takes the chalice of wine and TRANSFORMS it by his power of his Word and the power of the Holy Spirit into the Sacrament of his Blood
“This is the blood of the NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT.”
THE EVERLASTING COVENANT
WHICH IS INCREDIBLE
WHICH IS SUCH A GIFT FOR US
Isaiah Ch 62 the CONTEXT helps us SO MUCH
This is Isaiah preaching and speaking in the LORD’S VOICE
Isaiah 62:1-2, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory…”
REMEMBER THE CONTEXT
We have been journeying for so long with Isaiah
All this DESTRUCTION
All this DIVIDED KINGDOM
All this ASSYRIANS COMING IN AND GETTING PUSHED BACK
All this BABYLONIANS COMING IN AND DOING THEIR DAMAGE
We recognize that here is the Prophet and God speaking through the Prophet saying, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest”
Why?
Because Zion is under attack
Because Jerusalem is under attack
God is saying SO POWERFULLY, in Isaiah 62:3-4, “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My delight is in her, and your land Married…”
It’s worth reflecting on this
GOD HAS SWORN THAT HE IS GOING TO REJOICE OVER YOU!
God says, “So shall your God rejoice over you.”
One thing Fr. Mike skipped over in Isaiah Ch 61 is the “SWITCHEROO”
SWITCHEROO is a technical Biblical term 😉
Isaiah 61:3, “...grant to those who mourn in Zion-to give them a garland instead of ashes…”
God will give them a CROWN instead of ASHES
Ashes are a sign of MOURNING
Garlands are a sign of JOY
Here is a WEDDING FESTIVAL
Isaiah 61:3, “...the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit…”
So think of those THREE SWITCHEROOS
GARLANDS/CROWN INSTEAD OF ASHES
OIL OF GLADNESS INSTEAD OF MOURNING
MANTLE OF PRAISE INSTEAD OF A FAINT SPIRIT
Isaiah 61:3, “...that they may be called oaks of righteousness…”
WHAT A GIFT THAT GOD IS PROMISING TO HIS PEOPLE IN THIS WAY!!
On to Ezekiel Ch 20
It’s a long chapter
The Lord is coming to Ezekiel (Fr. Mike said Isaiah but...well you know 😉) to speak to those elders who have presented themselves before Ezekiel asking, “What does God have to say to us?”
God is almost like, “How dare you?”
God gives them a SYNOPSIS of their lives, a SYNOPSIS of the People of Israel
God says, “I chose you and you were UNFAITHFUL. I chose you AGAIN and you were UNFAITHFUL. I chose you AGAIN and you were UNFAITHFUL. You rejected my ordinances. You did not walk in my statutes.”
Ezekiel 20:16, “...and profaned my sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols…”
This is a KEY THING for Ezekiel and the ENTIRE BIBLE
Did you notice in Ezekiel Ch 20 and also throughout the entire book, we noticed the POWER and IMPORTANCE of KEEPING THE SABBATH
This was important not only for the People of Israel
This IS important for CHRISTIANS
This is IMPORTANT FOR US
Sabbath is the NUMBER 7
It denotes not only SATURDAY
It denotes the word COVENANT
IT IS THE SAME WORD
It is the NUMBER OF COVENANT
Ezekiel 20:12, “...I gave them my sabbaths, as a sign between me and them…”
The SIGN of the COVENANT is the SABBATH
YOU BECOME FAMILY WITH EACH OTHER WHEN YOU MAKE A COVENANT WITH EACH OTHER
So God says, “I made a covenant with you and the sign of that is the SABBATH.”
“The sign of that is YOU GET TO REST.”
“The sign of that is YOU ARE NO LONGER SLAVES.”
“The sign of that is YOU TAKE THAT TIME AND YOU WORSHIP ME ON THIS DAY.”
We recognize the IMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH because it is a SIGN OF THE COVENANT
It is a sign of BEING IN RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
We can’t just overlook this and say, “Well that was Saturday that was the Old Testament.”
Christians worship God on SUNDAY (Except for Seventh Day Adventists, but that’s another discussion for another day...say on Day 366, ok? 😉)
There’s a REASON FOR THAT
It’s because the day of the LORD’S RESURRECTION was on a SUNDAY
THE LORD’S DAY HAS SURPASSED
THE LORD’S DAY HAS BECOME THE NEW SABBATH
THE LORD’S DAY HAS BECOME THE NEW DAY OF CREATION
Because it’s the EIGHTH DAY
It STILL is a sign of the COVENANT for us to WORSHIP and REST on Sundays
The People of Israel that Ezekiel is preaching to, and the Lord God is talking to
It wasn’t just because they were DOING EVIL THINGS TO EACH OTHER
It wasn’t just because they were BEING UNJUST
Although that was one of the accusations leveled against them
It was also because, “They did not walk in my ways, says the Lord God, and my sabbaths they greatly profaned.”
It’s worth it for us to just recall that for ourselves and ask the question
What are the two primary tasks of the sabbath?
TO WORSHIP
TO REST
WORSHIP means to live as someone who BELONGS TO THE LORD
REST means to live as someone who IS NOT A SLAVE
I get to ask myself this same question
Do I live like that?
Do I live Sabbath like this?
Do I live Sunday like this?
Is it TRULY the Lord’s Day?
Where I give God the WORSHIP HE ASKED FOR?
Where I enter into REST?
NOT RESENTFULLY?
NOT GLOOMILY?
NOT LEGALISTICALLY?
BUT FREELY?
REMEMBER…
NOT A SLAVE
YOU GET TO BE FREE
YOU GET TO REST ON SUNDAY
You can see with the emphasis that Ezekiel and the rest of The Bible places on Sabbath, you can see that the Pharisees were NOT like the evil ogres that got it all wrong in terms of wanting to keep the Sabbath HOLY
BUT…
They missed out on the HEART OF THE SABBATH AS WE LEARNED BEFORE (Want a refresher on what we learned, two days after we learned it? Go read Day 218: Each Will be Judged in the Bible in a Year Study Guide 😁)
Keeping that in mind, we are still called to keep the Lord’s Day holy
We do that by giving God the WORSHIP HE ASKED FOR
We do that by ENTERING INTO REST
Sometimes in such a great way that rest involves FAMILY
Sometimes in such a great way that rest involves FRIENDS
There are MANY PEOPLE who are ALONE on Sundays
We go to church by ourselves
We pray by ourselves
We go home by ourselves
PLEASE…
If that is YOU, please know that our prayers are with you
The prayers of this community are with you too
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
YOU ARE PART OF THIS COMMUNITY
WE ARE PRAYING FOR EACH OTHER
WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU
ESPECIALLY IN THOSE LONELY TIMES
ESPECIALLY WHEN THOSE LONELY TIMES HAVE BECOME DIFFICULT TIMES
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 this day. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for this opportunity to be together. Thank you for constantly calling us back to yourself. Thank you for constantly...sigh...gosh Lord, your Word in Isaiah of promise, your Word in Isaiah of consolation, your Word in Isaiah of yes, destruction and horrible things have to happen, but it’s all so that we can come back to you and you can bless us. So help us come back to you and please bless us this day. Especially bless the members of this community, God, who stand in particular need of your help right now. Who stand in particular need of our prayers. Who stand in particular need of your Grace. Give them your Grace this day and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”
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