Readings Meditation Continued…
This day promised by God will, however, be a day of justice, when the cities–the cities of ancient Israel and of modern Israel as well, the cities of our own nation, not just New York City and Washington D.C. and New Orleans, but Cleveland and Detroit and St. Louis, too–will not be ruined, and “the land” will not be scarred by poverty and violence and greed. A day is surely coming, the prophet says, when all of God’s children will live in peace. Everyone will have enough to eat, shelter and safety, the goods of life provided so generously by a loving God. The one who is yet to come, the one we await, will bring this justice and righteousness, and we order our lives differently today as we wait and hope.
So we begin the season of Advent with this reading from a time long ago, when a king in the line of the great King David was the hope of the people of Israel. It seems that the promises God is going to fulfill are as this-worldly as next-worldly, and the promise of a “Branch” that will “spring up for David” indicates that leadership is very important if human beings are going to participate in this great day. Gene M. Tucker notes that this promised one, like God, will focus on the justice of our “governmental, political concerns, both domestic and foreign,” and he calls this “not just an ancient Israelite hope, but the Christian expectation at Advent as well” …more tomorrow.