Word to the Wise
Wednesday, December 6, 2023 - 1st Week of Advent - Wed
[Isa 25:6-10a and Matt 15:29-37]On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth.... [Isaiah] Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel. [Matthew]
Prophetic hope is always welcome, but it can have a hard time getting through the disappointments and sorrows experienced by so many people. One hears the words: "Why should I get my hopes up, when I've been disappointed so often?" But hope can be stubborn as we witness in the thousands at our southern borders. The migrants will endure all kinds of hardships in the hope of a better life in the USA. Isaiah's imagery is compelling. I especially love the line: the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.....
In my pastoral experience, especially with college students, I have often had to (in some cases literally) wipe away the tears of disappointment, but this can occur in all kinds of circumstances. Parents and grandparents know the scene well with their children and grandchildren. Health care providers know the tears that are shed with hard health news. And who can count the tears being shed in the terrible wars in the Mid-east and Ukraine? The tears of loss become an ocean of disappointment.
The Gospel According to Matthew shows Jesus as the realization of the messianic hopes of the Jewish people. His healing ministry fulfills Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 35:5-6: Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened; then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy..." The multiplication of the loaves and fishes seem a kind of fulfillment of the prophecy in today's first scripture. It is all a form of wiping away tears and restoring hope.
In Advent, we all have the opportunity to wipe away the tears of disappointment and restore hope. If the food imagery in Isaiah and the miracle of the loaves and fishes could feed hope to those for whom those words were originally composed, we can draw inspiration to "feed hope" in this "season of hope." AMEN