Isaiah 65: No More Weeping

The prophetic book of Isaiah is one of the most poetic and passionate messages spoken from Yahweh to all people throughout all ages.   The extraordinary prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, lived and prophesied in Jerusalem of Judah in the late eighth and early seventh centuries BCE when the Assyrians were a constant threat to the stability of the land and the survival of the people.  As a court prophet Isaiah was an outstanding prophet to the Kings.  The Jerusalem temple had been destroyed in 586 BCE as the people were carried into exile to the land of Babylon.  Isaiah 65 was written after a segment of the exiles, those who can be thought of as the remnant in the thought processes of Isaiah, had begun the slow and arduous return to Judah under the edict of King Cyrus of Persia in 539 BCE. 

The Israelites who chose to return to Judah entered the Promised Land that was the home of their ancestors.  After having been exiled to Babylon for many long years, the community of people dreamed of the glory days of the kingdom.  Before its destruction and the people’s exile, the Temple had sparkled and shone as a reflection of the majesty of Yahweh, the God whose presence dwelled in the innermost sacred chamber, the Holy of Holies.  Some remembered because they had seen it and worshiped God within its walls.  Some remembered because of all the stories they had been told by their families.  Some remembered because they listened to Isaiah speak of the future.  “Fear not!”  Anticipation and expectation filled their hearts with excitement and gave them the energy to make that journey home.  Yet now they were home.  It was many long years later.  The people were living in that future, worshipping in the new second temple, and they were disappointed.  Isaiah encouraged them in their despair.  (Excerpts from Vision of Restoration, a paper I wrote in 2007)

If you are ready to sink into the text and listen with ears attuned to the situation of the returning exiles seeking the Presence of God, breathe deeply and pray a Breath Prayer.  You can use this one or allow one to emerge from within yourself. 

Breathing in ... Creator God
Breathing out ... Re-create my Life

When you are ready to enter the narrative through Lectio Divina, Pray ...Creator God, open my eyes and my heart, that I might understand your Word.

Step 1:  Read Isaiah 65:17-25 (Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible)  slowly and reverently ...What word, or phrase calls for your attention in your reading?  Spend a few moments pondering how God may be inviting you through this word or phrase ...

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth! The things of the past will not be remembered or come to mind!  Be glad and rejoice forever and ever in what I create, because I now create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight! I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few Days, or old people who do not live out their Days. They die as mere youths who reach but a hundred years, and those who fall short of a hundred will be thought accursed. At last they will live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyard they plant.  They will not build for another to inhabit; they will not plant for another to eat. For the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen ones will enjoy the fruit of their labors. They will not labor in vain or bear children doomed to die; for they and their descendants are a people blessed by God. Even before they call upon me, I will answer; and while they speak, I will hear.  The wolf and the lamb will feed side by side; the lion will eat straw like an ox. Serpents will be content to crawl on the ground; they will not injure or destroy in all my Holy mountain,” says YHWH.

Step 2:  Read your selection again and Reflect ...
How does your word or phrase from this passage illuminate your life right now?  How is God inviting you to change or grow or pray or act?

Step 3:  Read your selection again and Respond ...
What do you say to God about your life and how you feel you are being invited?   How do you pray when you consider what God is saying to you?

Step 4:  Rest ...
Come to a place of silence within yourself and just "be" with God.  Try for 10 minutes or beyond ... When you are ready to move on,  pray:

Creator God, every day is a new day.  With you, every day is a new opportunity to live in peace and justice with the world.  Make me an instrument of your peace and justice!  Amen.