Today, the Monday of Holy Week, Father Steve Grunow shares his sermon about Isaiah, Christ, and the many complexities to a story that ultimately serve to simplify, redeem and illuminate.
Our first reading for today is an excerpt from the Old Testament Book of the Prophet Isaiah. In this text, the prophet reveals a mysterious figure, which he names as the servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord has been chosen by the God of Israel for a particular mission.
The mission of this servant is the restoration of Israel. The prophet Isaiah speaks the word of the Lord from the midst of distressing and painful circumstances. The once-mighty Kingdom of David has fallen into ruin and its past glory has retreated into memory. The fall of David's Kingdom has left Israel vulnerable to the powers of the world that have seized their lands, destroyed their cities, desecrated their holy places and reduced Israel to the status of a slave. It is to this Israel, seemingly forsaken, that the servant of the Lord will come.
The Church understands Isaiah's vision of the servant of the Lord as a foreshadowing of Christ.
As one reads further in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah one discerns that the servant of the Lord will effect the restoration of David's Kingdom through his suffering and through his willingness to accept this suffering as a mission that comes from God, he will offer Israel forgiveness and hope.
That the servant of the Lord would suffer confounded many in Israel and still seems strange to us today. Humanity has tendency to read service to the Lord as by necessity resulting in material blessings. In this construel of Biblical revelation, the commitment to serve the Lord should result in deliverance from the hard facts of life and result in a life that is by all measure successful...
Often folks use the Bible as some sort of soothsaying device. This is missing the point. It is, instead, an introduction, a conversation, with Christ. Father Steve Grunow explores this theme, especially in Advent as we revisit the prophet Isaiah, and gives us comfort that in the midst of our desolation, suffering and despair, we always have a choice. And we always have an answer.
We are not a people of the book.
Why do I mention this? Often, this is the impression that people have, that like Jews and Muslims, Christians understand the revelation of the word of God in the same way. We do not.
The Church esteems the Scriptures, accepts that the Bible marks and remembers the revelation of God in a way that is singular, unique and privileged beyond all other claims to revelation. But for us, the definitive revelation of God is not simply delivered to us in a text, even the biblical text. The definitive revelation of God is a person — Jesus Christ and the scriptures reveal their significance inasmuch as they reveal him.
Contrary to what has become a popular perception, the Church does not use the Bible as if it is some kind of oracle. Instead, the scriptures are reverenced as a long, sustained introduction to Christ. Through the inspired authors of the Bible, who construct its stories, poems, histories and essays, God introduces us to Christ and Christ introduces himself to us.
And this is important. Knowing Christ is necessary if we are to know God, and as the Fathers of Second Vatican Council aptly put it, knowing God in Christ is the best means by which we can understand ourselves...
Today, the Monday of Holy Week, Father Steve Grunow shares his sermon about Isaiah, Christ, and the many complexities to a story that ultimately serves to simplify, redeem and illuminate.
Our first reading for today is an excerpt from the Old Testament Book of the Prophet Isaiah. In this text, the prophet reveals a mysterious figure, which he names as the servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord has been chosen by the God of Israel for a particular mission.
The mission of this servant is the restoration of Israel. The prophet Isaiah speaks the word of the Lord from the midst of distressing and painful circumstances. The once-mighty Kingdom of David has fallen into ruin and its past glory has retreated into memory. The fall of David's Kingdom has left Israel vulnerable to the powers of the world that have seized their lands, destroyed their cities, desecrated their holy places and reduced Israel to the status of a slave. It is to this Israel, seemingly forsaken, that the servant of the Lord will come.
The Church understands Isaiah's vision of the servant of the Lord as a foreshadowing of Christ.
As one reads further in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah one discerns that the servant of the Lord will effect the restoration of David's Kingdom through his suffering and through his willingness to accept this suffering as a mission that comes from God, he will offer Israel forgiveness and hope.
That the servant of the Lord would suffer confounded many in Israel and still seems strange to us today. Humanity has tendency to read service to the Lord as by necessity resulting in material blessings. In this construel of Biblical revelation, the commitment to serve the Lord should result in deliverance from the hard facts of life and result in a life that is by all measure successful...