This first week in Advent, that Christian season of anticipation leading up to Christmas, often takes the theme of HOPE. Today, we reflect on what kind of hope and what kind of future we are anticipating.
Picture from PXFuel.
The Hope of Advent is in the expected Messiah or ‘Anointed One’ who will reign on earth; God made human in Jesus of Nazareth; a Christ whose coming will touch and transform life. An oft-cited and beautiful prophesy about this is found in the Hebrew Scriptures associated with the prophet Isaiah. It paints a picture that we can always read with fresh eyes.
Here is a short and striking excerpt:
“The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.”
A new world order is here described. That order began in destruction. At the original point in Israel’s history, the destruction in question was of forces in northern Palestine. These are likened by Isaiah to branches being lopped off, reducing the power of the Assyrian Empire.
The emerging new world requires a suitable leader who governs rightly by fearing YHWH (God), refusing to make hasty decisions based on hearsay and prioritising what is just for those who suffer.
These words of Isaiah’s vividly describe the ruler who is open and obedient to the Spirit of YHWH and has the strength to carry out plans to completion. It is by such a one, making such decisions, based on such rules that the wicked will feel as though they have been struck. Their way of life is being put to death.
Now creation remembers the counsel of YHWH, and there is unheard-of security in the natural world, portrayed in images of babies handling snakes and lions passing up a steak dinner!
Hyperbole is used because such a scene is impossible, in human terms. We can only - and we are invited to dare to - HOPE and pray for the future coming of the Anointed One, in remembrance of that arrival in Bethlehem on the first Christmas.
Further Reflection
Nowhere in this passage is there language of ‘King’. Nor does the anointed rule with military might. (Only decrees from his mouth strike the land and slay the wicked.) Does this fit with your image of the coming Anointed One?
The passage challenges caricatures of a timid Messiah, that meek version of Jesus who doesn’t get political or say unsettling things. How do you feel about this?
We read that ‘ … a little child shall lead’. We think of the baby Jesus, of course. Perhaps we should let children image the story of shalom, or wholeness, for us as we anticipate the Prince of Peace at Christmas. Children such as:
Ruby Bridges, the first African American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans
Greta Thunberg, the 17-year-old Swedish activist who speaks out about climate change and its impact on generations to come
Muzoon Almellehan, a Syrian activist and refugee working out of the United Kingdom to keep Syrian girls in school
Emma Gonzalez, survivor of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School and activist and advocate for gun control in the United States.
Or others that come to mind, for you. Do children speak up in your context? What is their message of peace - and how is it communicated?