Fr. David's Lenten Reflections Day 2
Day 2:
Today we come to the second day of our Lenten journey, God bless you as you travel the path to the Cross to our Lord’s resurrection.
This year’s reflections focus on the Lenten readings from the prophesy of Isaiah. I’ll do those readings in my reflections. At the beginning, today’s reading has to do with reward and punishment. God’s desire is that we would follow Him because it’s good for us t
o do that, our lives are better when we follow Him. Then, toward the end of the reading, there is a second prophesy which talks about all the nations of the world coming to the house of the Lord in order to worship Him. This, brothers and sisters, is another benefit of our following after God: it is through our hands and feet that God brings salvation to the world. Listen for the two different parts of Isaiah 1:19-2:4.
19 And if ye be willing, and hearken to me, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 but if ye be not willing, nor hearken to me, a sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.
21 How has the faithful city Sion, once full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged,
but now murderers. 22 Your silver is worthless, thy wine merchants mix the wine with water. 23 Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving bribes, seeking after rewards; not pleading for orphans, and not heeding the cause of widows.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Woe to the mighty men of Israel; for my wrath shall not cease against mine adversaries, and I will execute judgment on mine enemies. 25 And I will bring my hand upon thee, and purge thee completely, and I will destroy the rebellious, and will take away from thee all transgressors. 26 And I will establish thy judges as before, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: and afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful mother-city Sion. 27 For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy. 28 And the transgressors and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be utterly consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they delighted in, and they are made ashamed of the gardens which they coveted. 30 For they shall be as a turpentine tree that has cast its leaves, and as a garden that has no water. 31 And their strength shall be as a thread o
f tow, and their works as sparks, and the transgressors and the sinners shall be burnt up together, and there shall be none to quench them.
1 The word which came to Esaias the son of Amos concerning Judea, and concerning Jerusalem.
2 For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be glorious, and the house of God shall be on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come to it. 3 And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.
As we make our way through Lent, brothers and sisters, let us look at our hands and our feet, they are the instruments God is using to bring His good news of peace and salvation to this broken world.