Reflection for December 2
Today’s first reading is a message of both warning and hope — warning that a day of judgment is coming but hope for renewal and peace in the aftermath. Here, hope comes with the assertion that the least likely of heroes will be the agent of justice and renewal.
The opening passage refers to a bud blossoming from “the stump of Jesse.” Jesse had a houseful of sons, but when the prophet Samuel came to anoint one of them as the future King of Israel, his youngest, David, was so insignificant that he was out tending to the sheep when this distinguished guest arrived. Nevertheless, it was David whom Samuel summoned, David who became one of the most honored Kings, blessed by the “Spirit of the Lord” with gifts that enabled him to “judge with righteousness.” The gifts listed (wisdom, understanding, and so on) seemed so familiar to me when I read this passage; indeed, they are (minus piety) the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit that we (in the 1960s, anyway!) memorized as potential benefits of our Confirmation. Are we not, then, also anointed to be champions of the poor and the downtrodden, capable of “strik[ing down] the ruthless” and of “slay[ing] the wicked”? Are we not, as God’s anointed, obligated to be such champions?
And to what end? Out of the time of turmoil, Isaiah promises a time of peace and reconciliation, where traditional predators and prey lie down together, where there is “no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain.” This “Peaceable Kingdom” image has long been my favorite Christmas motif, but what I now notice in this passage is that among all the animals dwelling in peace, children are mentioned among them — three times. As I write this, the world’s children appear every night on the news, among the poorest and most downtrodden of the world’s people.
Perhaps we can truly celebrate the Christ child by using the Spirit’s gifts to end wars’ devastation and to lift the world’s children up from poverty, destruction, and starvation, to a place of comfort and joy.
Chris Doyle