Word to the Wise
Saturday, December 6, 2008 - Saturday in the First Week of Advent [St. Nicholas]
[Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26 and Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5A, 6-8]The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, while from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: "This is the way; walk in it," when you would turn to the right or to the left.
Scripture scholars tell us that the oracle of Isaiah from which today's first scripture is taken was given in a time of severe drought. Isaiah addresses two different droughts, however. Both droughts give rise to longing for deliverance. The first is the fundamental need for sufficient rain to produce food. Starvation attacks not only the body but the spirit! That same hunger speaks to the prophet and the prophetic Word of God. My own pastoral experience assures me that the People of God long for that word. The season of Advent offers the opportunity to examine the times of drought in our lives. Even if there is physical and material abundance and a full pantry, is there still hunger or drought? In the case of St. Nicholas, it was to the poor (who are always in drought) that he brought hope through his charitable giving (which resulted in his becoming Santa Claus in popular imagination). Are we aware of others who are in a time of physical or emotional or economic or spiritual drought? There's no better time than Advent to bring relief! AMEN
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