A reading from the prophet Isaiah (40:1-11)
‘Comfort, O comfort my people,’
says your God.
‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and cry out to her
that her period of service is ended,
her penalty has been paid;
from the hand of the Lord she has received
double for all her sins.’
A voice crying out,
‘In the desert prepare a way for the Lord.
Make straight across the wastelands
a highway for our God.
Let every ravine be filled in,
every mountain and hill be brought down;
the crooked shall be straight,
the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all humanity shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
A voice said, ‘Cry aloud!’
and I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
‘All humanity is grass
and all its beauty like the wild flower.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on them.
(The grass is surely the people.)
Grass withers, a flower fades,
but the word of our God stands firm for ever.’
Go up on a high mountain, Zion,
herald of good news!
Lift up your voice with power, Jerusalem,
herald of good news!
Lift it up without fear!
Say to the cities of Judah,
‘See, here is your God.’
See the Lord God coming with power,
his arm rules for him,
see, his reward is with him,
his prize goes before him.
He tends his flock like a shepherd,
gathering the lambs in his arms,
holding them against his breast
and leading the mother ewes.
No fewer than three voices mark this opening text of the second Isaiah. The voice ‘crying out’ commands that a way be prepared for God. Ravines are to be filled in and hills brought low. The text is familiar because it is used in the gospels in relation to the ministry of John the Baptist. A second voice cries out that ‘humanity is grass’, and that only the ‘word of our God’ stands for ever. God’s word gives life and allows human beings to thrive. This prepares us for the third voice, that of Jerusalem, which delivers the message, the good news, that God is ‘coming with power’. God will accompany his people as they return home from exile on the way prepared for them, showing tenderness and compassion like a loving shepherd. The three voices are one in proclaiming the coming of God to save.
Psalm 96 (95) The psalm too announces the coming of the Lord, as he ‘comes to rule the earth’. The whole of creation welcomes God in rejoicing, and the message is for ‘all the peoples’.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew (18:12-14)
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains and go in search of the stray? Amen I say to you, if he finds it, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
The gospel takes up the image of God as shepherd which occurred at the end of the Isaiah reading. The short parable of the lost sheep occurs in Luke 15 with two other parables, the lost coin and the lost son, all of them about God’s rejoicing on the return of the sinner. Here in Matthew’s gospel this parable is part of Jesus’ discourse about community. It teaches that the community is the place where forgiveness and care for the lost should be practised.
Should we seek out the lost, or wait for them to return?
God’s good news of salvation is especially relevant for those who are lost.