Sunday’s first reading comes from the final chapter of the book of Isaiah, a book so important in Israel’s history that prophecies from three different eras were added to the book.
First Isaiah prophesied from 742 to 700 B.C. His words form Isaiah 1-39. During his time Assyria defeated the northern kingdom of Israel, deported many of its citizens, and settled nonbelievers in its land. This Isaiah imagines all the nations of the earth streaming to Jerusalem to learn the law and a Spirit-filled ruler whose rule of justice and peace will reveal him as Emmanuel, God with us.
Second Isaiah spoke to the people of Israel in exile in Babylon about 540 B.C. His writings form Isaiah 40-55. He called exiled Israelites to go home from Babylon and rebuild their community. He promised God would make a highway through the desert as once God opened a dry path through the sea.
Third Isaiah is a prophet of Israel’s rebuilding after their return from exile. In Sunday’s reading he describes Jerusalem and its temple as a nursing and nurturing mother that reveals God’s presence. The second temple becomes a place that helps the people recover their religious identity.
God restores Jerusalem.
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, you who love her. Exult, exult with her, you who mourn over her — that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breasts, that you may drink deeply with delight from her abundant breasts.
For thus says God:
I will spread prosperity
over her like a river,
and the wealth of nations
like an overflowing torrent.
You shall nurse, be carried in
her arms, and fondled in her lap.
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you; you shall
be comforted in Jerusalem.
You shall see and your hearts
shall rejoice, and your bodies
flourish like the grass.
It shall be known that God’s
hand is with God’s servants.
Isaiah 66.10-14
- What nourishment do you draw from Isaiah’s vision of Jerusalem as a mother?
- What is a place that nourishes who you are?