Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, and will eat curds because of the abundance of milk that they give; for everyone that is left in the land shall eat curds and honey.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, December 21, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I’ll admit to being kinda stumped by this passage. I mean, I get that the current warlords will just disappear and there will be a promised messiah who will be called “God with us” and he’ll eat curds and honey and now it seems like everyone will be eating curds and honey. But at the same time, huge areas of land will turn from valuable vines to briars and thorns where nothing useful will grow, but the cows and sheep (who are making all these curds) will graze happily. And then, throughout it all, we keep hearing about the king of Assyria, who we know is the next big bully who will come along and conquer Judah.
All I can glean is that God is saying things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. But don’t worry. I’m sending help eventually. In the meantime, enjoy some lovely cottage cheese and honey.
So I will simply reiterate the promise of Advent in the midst of an often frightening world, in which crises of climate, injustice, war, and sickness lie over all creation like a pall. God hears us, suffers with us, weeps with us, and promises transformation and renewal. That transformation came in the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago, it breaks into the world wherever and whenever God’s justice is done, and it will finally, once and for all, renew all that is for all eternity.
Meanwhile, help yourself to the cottage cheese.
Do I often find myself scratching my head when reading the Bible? What things help me find meaning in perplexing passages?
