and streams in the desert
the burning sand shall become a pool
and the thirsty ground
springs of water
Isaiah 35:6-7
Isaiah 35:4-7a
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. God will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. God will come and save you."
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
Isaiah
In a formal sense, the long book of Isaiah divides into three main sections:
• chapters 1-39, 1st Isaiah, before the Babylonian exile;
• chapters 40-55, 2nd Isaiah, during the exile;
• chapters 56-66, 3rd Isaiah, after the exile.
But that's not quite the way it really is. First Isaiah essentially is over when chapter 34 ends. After a series of judgments in previous chapters that lead up to the tempered news in Isaiah 36–38 of no more Assyrians, but then bad news of impending exile to Babylon in Isaiah 39, today's chapter 35 brings the spirit of hope, renewal, and resurrection we find in Second Isaiah (40 through 55) that likely was written mostly during the exile, and then edited or redacted after homecoming to Jerusalem. In addition, the fabulous Messianic banquet with its feast of fat things in Isaiah 25:6-9 almost definitely is not from Isaiah of Jerusalem.
Today's First Reading
Vengeance in 35:4 can refer to vindication, benefit, a payment that restores justice, or simply God's response or answer, as in "God`will come and save you" suggests.
When John the Baptist was in prison, John told his followers to go and ask his cousin Jesus if he [Jesus] was the promised one "who is to come," or if they needed to keep looking and searching for someone else. Jesus told John's followers, "Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, dead are raised, good news proclaimed to the poor…" [and blessed are those who take no offense, do not consider me a stumbling block/scandal."] Jesus assured John he was the promised one who'd change the course of history. Matthew 11:4,5,6 Luke 7:22,23
This Isaiah vision is even more dramatic than Jesus' message to John. Springs and streams, maybe actual rivers, glorify the desert wilderness. Water is life! People who used to be-lame walk, and they leap like gazelles. Formerly speechless people talk—and sing!
Isaiah 35 comes shortly before bad news of deportation and exile to Babylon.
Practicing Resurrection
Like all of scripture, First Isaiah, or Isaiah of Jerusalem celebrates the effects of God's presence. Throughout scripture, death isn't only when you stop breathing and your body shuts down. Death is everything that limits a full life. Death is whatever interferes with our common life. Death is there when creation doesn't flourish. Resurrection sometimes restores spiritual life, sometimes physical or emotional or communal health.
In baptism we received God's Spirit of Resurrection from the dead. Like God's promise through whichever Isaiah recorded today's scripture passage, like Jesus' reply to his cousin John the Baptist, God often calls us to be the reversal, the newness, the resurrection to new life God promises and people need. Jesus was the promised one who'd change the course of history; now we are Jesus' presence in the world. As we practice resurrection!
Do you know Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by farmer-poet-theologian Wendell Berry? Among other things he advises us:
Every day do something that won't compute.
Love the Lord.
Love the world.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
…
Practice resurrection.
so the Lord surrounds his people
from this time on and forevermore.
Psalm 125:2
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