Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, October 8, 2019
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: God’s promise of redemption is radical and certain.
Isaiah prophesied to Judah a generation before Jeremiah (who we learned about last week). Isaiah lived in Jerusalem at a time when Assyria was a constant threat, and the threat of Babylon was just on the horizon. (Assyria eventually fell to Babylon.) Isaiah repeatedly warned that if Judah didn’t change their ways, soon they would be punished for their sin.
But God could never completely abandon God’s people. Even in the middle of Isaiah’s words of warning were words of comfort.
Second Isaiah (chapters 40-55) begins with a conversation in the heavenly court. The Lord commands that a word of comfort be spoken to Jerusalem, and an unnamed heavenly voice cries out—the salvation that is awaiting Jerusalem is so radical, it has the power to alter the DNA of creation, raising valleys and laying mountains flat.
The unnamed voice urges God’s prophet, Isaiah to cry out as well. “What shall I cry?” the prophet asks. The promise is revealed. Even though people are as fragile and fleeting as the grass, they are like children to God. God comes both with power to defeat their enemies, and also with gentility to nurture God’s people.
When John the Baptist came to proclaim the coming of the Lord, he quoted the prophet, Isaiah, to reassure the people that God’s promises were real, that they were coming to pass soon. As we wait for Jesus this Advent season, we can hold tight to God’s promise that the radical redemption of humanity has been made certain in the birth (and death and resurrection) of God’s son.
What shall you cry as the promised One comes?
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