Reflection for Tuesday, Dec. 7
If the opening lines of today’s first reading from Isaiah seem familiar, it may be because it is an often-referenced passage – or it may be that you recognize them as the opening lyrics of Handel’s great oratorio, Messiah. “Comfort ye, my people!” (Handel uses the Book of Common Prayer language here), we are urged, not once but twice – despite present servitude, despite guilt, despite sin – because salvation is at hand. But then, paradoxically, the God with the immense power to make all things right again is depicted not as a superhero but as a gentle shepherd tending to lambs and ewes in a flock. The brief gospel reading picks up on that same image, but with another paradox, shifting from the comforted sheep to the perspective of the shepherd who is comforted by the retrieval of one of the lost ones – indeed, the shepherd experiences more joy in that rescue than in the satisfaction of knowing that ninety-nine others never needed saving!
The double herald of comfort, followed by the two different images of being comforted, may suggest dual ways for us to find joy in a troubled world. We absolutely can take comfort from the assurance that God has our backs, however bleak things might seem – that ultimately “every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low.” But there is another assertion, that comfort – even joy – comes from tending to the most vulnerable, the most endangered, among us. Do we have the courage to go looking for the strays, to spend our energies tending to the lost? If that’s good enough for God, shouldn’t it be not just an obligation, but a cause for rejoicing for us as well? Then we can all – rescuers and rescued -- shout the “Hallelujah” together!
Christine Doyle