The Prophet of Advent: 3rd Sunday-B

Read Isaiah 25:6-10a

God is coming to be with us.

But it's not just the fact that God is coming
to be with us which the prophet celebrates.
It is also the joyous good news that the
very Kingdom of God is arriving.

And how do we know this?

The royal throne, the seat of absolute power,
will be replaced with a manger, which holds the
One who has set aside his equality with God
to become one of us.

The palace, with all its gold, its embroidered
finery, its jewel-encrusted china, will be torn
down as God takes up residence in a barn.

The center of God's rule will move from
the royal city, where kings plot and armies
clash, where politicians hire speech writers
to come up with the best sound bites,
where high priests dine in splendor
as the poor serve in despair, to tiny,
insignificant Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
where choirs of angels proclaim the birth
of the Messiah.

The One we wait for is coming to be with
us, the prophet proclaims: in unexpected places,
at times not on our calendar, in people we would
normally choose to ignore.

God is coming to be with us: to upset our
applecarts filled with wants, to feed us with
peace and hope till our bellies ache, to grasp the
hem of the divine robe and wipe away our tears,
to take away the shroud of death with which we
have wrapped ourselves.

God is coming: for no better reason than to
save us.

Prayer

Come. Please come. Do not delay, do not wait
any longer. Come, God-with-us, come. Amen.

(c) 2005 Thom M. Shuman