Sunday Readings: Isaiah 11.1-10 Romans 15.4-9 Matthew 3.1-12

When John the Baptizer made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea, this was his theme. “Reform your lives! The reign of God is at hand.” It was of John that the prophet Isaiah had spoken. “Aherald’s voice in the desert: ‘Prepare the way  of the Holy One, make straight God’s paths.’” (Matthew 3.1-2). Matthew’s gospel sees in John the Baptist’s camel-hair clothes and grasshopper diet a prophet like Elijah, who wore a hairy mantle and ate food ravens brought him in the wilderness. Fierce and holy, the Baptist is a lone voice in the wilderness, calling people to repent and prepare for one who will baptize them in Spirit and fire. Repentance is the true inheritance of Israel, he insists.

Sunday’s first reading remembers the prophet Second Isaiah’s vision of a peaceable kingdom when the dead stump of the great king David’s family tree sprouts, “from the root of David’s father Jesse a bud shall blossom.” This new leader will be blessed with the gifts of the Spirit, the same gifts Christians received in Confirmation. God’s spirit shall rest upon this leader: a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of
counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and awe at the presence of God.

In this community opposites reconcile their differences: “the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf, the lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s den; the weaned child lay a hand on the adder’s lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all God’s holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of God as water covers the sea.

For Christians this leader is Jesus, whose birth Advent prepares us to celebrate. Isaiah envisions a leader who requires reconciliation rather than winners and loser, a leader who uses justice and faithfulness as tools of peace and community building. In our democracy we not longer look to kings to lead but each of us can hear this call to lead lead where we live, where in our families, neighborhoods, towns, states, nations
build community and work for the well-being of all.

• What seeming opposites have your held in tension and discovered a new path?
• Whose words and actions have opened you to the mystery of God present in our world today?