A reading from the prophet Isaiah (11:1-10)
A branch will spring from the stock of Jesse,
a shoot will grow from his roots.
On him will rest the spirit of the Lord,
the spirit of wisdom and insight,
the spirit of counsel and power,
the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord:
his delight will be in fear of the Lord.
His judgement will not be by appearances,
his verdict not given on hearsay.
He will judge the weak with righteousness
and give fair sentence for the poor of the land.
He will strike the violent with the rod of his mouth
and with the breath of his lips bring death to the wicked.
Righteousness will be the belt around his waist
and truth the belt about his hips.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard lie down with the kid,
calf, lion and fat-stock beast together,
with a little boy to lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze,
their young will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like the ox.
The infant will play over the hole of the adder,
the baby will put its hand into the viper’s lair.
No hurt, no harm will be done on all my holy mountain,
for the land will be full of knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
That day, the root of Jesse,
standing as a signal for the peoples,
will be sought out by the nations
and its dwelling will be glorious.
This is one of just two messianic poems in the first part of Isaiah, the other being found in chapter 9. A branch, a shoot, will spring from the stock of Jesse, father of David. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, bestowing six qualities, from ‘wisdom’ to ‘the fear of the Lord’. His role is to judge the weak with righteousness and to rule for the poor with justice, for justice (tsedeq) will be his belt, and faithfulness (’emunah) will be around his waist. Cosmic harmony will be the result, with peaceful relationships established between all living things, as the conditions of paradise return. The vision of Isaiah embraces both justice and the environment, for the land will be full of the ‘knowledge of the Lord’, a seventh quality of the messianic age. The ‘root’ of Jesse will be a ‘signal’, sought after by all peoples, for it reveals the ‘glory’ (kabod) of the Lord to the nations.
Psalm 72 (71), a messianic psalm, reflects the thought of Isaiah 11, presenting the Messiah as bringer of justice, and friend of the poor.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (10:21-24)
Just at this time, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, for that was your good pleasure. Everything has been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’ Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them on their own, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and did not see it; to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’
Jesus is the Messiah ‘filled with joy by the Holy Spirit’ and Jesus prays in thanksgiving to the Father. He says that ‘these things’ are hidden from the learned and the clever, and revealed to children. The following words of Jesus explain that it is through him that the little ones can know the Father. They are those chosen by Jesus to receive the revelation of the Father. Jesus then identifies some of these ‘little ones’, by pronouncing his disciples ‘blessed’ (makarioi). They are seeing and hearing the Messiah, long awaited by ‘prophets and kings’, by both religious and secular leadership.
What do we most treasure in God’s revelation?
Pray for a humble heart to be ready to learn new things about God.