Isaiah 65:17-18, 21-22, 25
17 For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
and its people as a delight.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.
The witness of scripture ranges from the First Creation in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, to bondage and liberation, gifts of covenant and land, exile and homecoming, to incarnation, death, resurrection, and the New Creation at the end of Revelation. Scripture gives human creatures a place within the created order and a call to steward, maintain, treasure, and support the rest of creation; the Ten Words or Commandments that relate human creatures one to another and to all creation are critical for the planet's survival. The Creator God covenants with all creation, and as creatures in God's image, so do the people of God.
This is the next to last Sunday of the Christian year. Next Sunday we celebrate Reign of Christ, and then the hope-filled season of Advent begins a new year. For the past three months the lectionary has focused on experiences of uncertainty, exile, and homecoming to a place that has been almost totally destroyed, and no longer could support anything resembling life as they'd known it—and probably assumed it always would continue. Habakkuk, Haggai, and Jeremiah's latest writings brought realism about the people's past and most recent situations along with God's promises of future restoration.
Today's first reading is from the third part of the long book of Isaiah that's in three main sections. Chapters 1-39, "First Isaiah" mostly written by Isaiah of Jerusalem (with a few insertions of passages from others) ministered before the Babylonian exile. Isaiah of Jerusalem was the subject of God's dramatic call we find in Isaiah 6. Addressed to people exiled to imperial Babylon, chapters 40-55 comprise Second Isaiah that opens with "Comfort Ye – Every Valley Shall be Exalted." Almost everyone knows those words and music well from Handel's Messiah that has become an icon of Advent hope for Christians as we anticipate Jesus' birth in our midst. Scholars don't know much about Third Isaiah, whose inspired words form chapters 56-66, but evidence says the writer was active during the time the city of Jerusalem was being restored, the temple being rebuilt.
New Creation
Today's scripture starts with God's promise of New Heavens and a New Earth. In a very practical sense, that newness will include houses and fertile land. This assigned reading ends with friendship and reconciliation among all creatures in all creation. You've probably seen at least one Peaceable Kingdom painting by Edward Hicks? I did realize he'd painted more than one, but several websites said 62 versions! A Society of Friends or Quaker minister, Hicks lived from 1780-1849. Quakers are one of the historic peace churches, and it's interesting Hicks chose this passage to illustrate. It's also clear the writer of Third Isaiah knew and drew upon a similar passage from Isaiah of Jerusalem that's widely considered a reference to Jesus of Nazareth as a descendant of Jesse:
From Isaiah 11
1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
4a With righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Apocalyptic
Apocalyptic is a genre found in literature and in the visual arts. Although it means revealing or unveiling, it has achieved a popular connotation of devastating destruction. Several Old Testament prophets use apocalyptic imagery; in the New Testament, the gospels of Mark and Luke and the book of Revelation include sections of apocalypse. Every year Advent opens with a splash of scriptural apocalyptic because God in our midst will signal the end of the world as we've known it, but definitely not in a negative sense.
Scripture moves from the waters of the old creation to the rivers of the new; the narrative of scripture moves from the garden of the first creation to the city of the new creation. That "end time" of the no more of cycles of war, violence, famine, hatred, deceit, and deprivation will be a time of the fullness of redemption for all creation, not solely human creatures. The wolf shall live with the lamb … the calf and the lion will feed together… The apocalyptic, eschatological, "final things" feast of the Eucharist is sign, symbol, realization, and reality of the answer to the apostles' question to Jesus, "will you at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?"
Are we ready to celebrate Reign of Christ / Christ the King? Are we ready for Advent 2022? Are all of us ready to explore and trust that uncertain post-Covid new normal? Are we ready for the end of the world as we've known it?
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