Reflection - Messiah

By Steve Hall

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120322.cfm
Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26 
Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5, 6-8

Eight hundred years before Jesus, the nation of Judah came to know the Prophet Isaiah. His prophetic writings are among the most beautiful and poetic of the Old Testament. He was among many slaughtered when the Assyrians conquered Judah. In the subsequent centuries his text was tenaciously preserved by the Jewish people. Ultimately it would be the Old Testament book most frequently quoted in the New.

The passage from Isaiah which we hear today is characteristic of the Prophet’s vision. He spoke of the coming Messiah and the Day of the Lord as no other has so compellingly done.

No more will you weep

The Lord will be gracious to you when you cry out,
as soon as he hears he will answer you.
The Lord will give you the bread you need.

and the water for which you thirst.
No longer will your Teacher hide himself,
but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,
While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:
“This is the way; walk in it,”

He will give rain for the seed
that you sow in the ground,
And the wheat that the soil produces
will be rich and abundant.
On that day your flock will be given pasture
and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows

Upon every high mountain and lofty hill
there will be streams of running water.

On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people,
he will heal the bruises left by his blows.
(Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26)

The Messiah will come! The Day of the Lord will come! A time of peace and Justice and prosperity will come! This is the vision of Isaiah. This is a vision worth holding on to. And the people did. For the next 800 years they held tight to this vision.

In the years preceding and immediately following the life of Jesus more than one ‘messiah’ attempted to come to the rescue. This is not to say that Jesus was one among many or that he was selected by the people out of choices available. Rather the longevity of the belief is what should be noted. The anticipation, the longing, the yearning, the contemplation, the visualization — all were still present. However, as with so much of human activity, consistency was lacking. The importance of the Messianic promise would wax and wane. And again, as is typical, the power of the prophecy was related to the circumstances of the people. As long as life was not notably oppressive, as long as there was relative peace, as long as men could believe in their own power to control, as long as problems seemed humanly solvable the power of the prophecy receded. It was when the varied aspects of life conspired to demonstrate the limitations and futility of human effort — it was then that the need for a Savior returned to prominence. With that in mind I look at today.

Do we need bread? We expect those in authority to provide.

Are our rivers and reservoirs going dry? We expect those in authority to solve the problem.

Are factories less than productive? Those in authority will provide directions for efficiency.

Do insults move us to tears? Those in authority will designate ‘cry’ rooms.

In Great Britain Christians have become a minority. In Belgium same seek to be ‘unbaptized. When the situation was brought to the attention of one clergyman he reportedly said: “The church still has a great deal to contribute to national life.” And I ask: What has the church ever had to offer except Jesus Christ and him crucified?

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." (Matthew 9:12)

Unfortunately, we have only a sketchy idea of the sickness that prevails in our time. And so I wonder: How much worse must things be before we recognize that we need a physician, a savior?

Come, Lord Jesus.

Come, Lord Savior.