Advent 2 A

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Isaiah 11:1-10

Knowledge Like An Ocean

Having fought a cold these last few days, I finally sank into a sleep that felt like falling into the warm waters of a deep, healing ocean. Isaiah 11 invites us to be drawn into his vision of just such a deep, oceanic healing for the whole creation. Enter the landscape of the wolf and the lamb, calf and lion, cow and bear, infant and asp. And, of course, the one girded with the belt of righteousness. 

We can see in this vision-scape a place where Eden and Eschaton are married, incorporating and transfiguring everything in between. It is not our world at present. We, of course, exist in the “in between” ground where vipers strike to kill the unsuspecting child. On this middle ground cancer still lurks in the shadows to sabotage healthy bodies. The North Koreas' of the world sabotage peace. Corruption sabotages hope. Etc. The classic Christian response to the wrongs of the world is to label it a fallen world. But Isaiah raises up a vision in which the creatures of the earth who would “naturally” do harm to one another, are, in fact, suffering for lack of knowledge of their Creator. They have – we have – all been, somehow, removed from the source of life, who is God Almighty. It will not always be so. The creation is not really finished yet.

Our fragmentary knowledge of God – across all species, across every level of cognition and awareness- leaves us pathologically incomplete. But the prophet says that on the day we come into that knowledge, the pathos – the sickness of the world – will be healed. Every violation. Every pathogen. Every victimization. In the place of nations and species pitted against one another in a contest for survival, we will find ourselves at a kind of family reunion where everyone has a place in which, by their very existence, the whole is enhanced. Children will be seen on the playground leading lions and calves in their games. Only the knowledge of God can do this. Like an ocean of healing after a long and troublesome sickness.

© 2010 Andy Gay