Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 12 verse 3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation,” (NRSVB). The prophet gives a glimpse of the City of Jerusalem once the Captives return from Babylon and the temple is restored. This image of Jerusalem spans a great horizon of time and tells of the New Jerusalem, “Where the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the cow and the bear feed side by side, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like and ox,” (Isaiah 11 verses 6 to 7). Not only nations will be reconciled with one another and peace will reign among the people, but creation and the animals will also be restored to a state of peaceful co-existence, as it was in paradise. The prophet Isaiah prophesied that God will make a high-way from Assyrian back to Jerusalem. After the time of captivity God will lead the remnant of the captives back on this open road, that will remind them of the road that God made through the Red Sea when they left Egypt and the bonds of slavery.
Those who will be returning to Jerusalem and help to rebuild the walls of the city and the temple of the Lord, will experience God’s grace. They will not be afraid to continue with the work of restoration while they will have a praise song on their lips. God is their salvation and their joy is overflowing as they enjoy the day of the Lord’s deliverance. Out of the lineage of the remnant of the exiles God raised One, the Messiah, from the line of Jesse, who was King David’s father, this Branch would grow and bear fruit. Jesus Christ was born, the Shoot out of the Stock of Jesse. His journey on earth brought the water of salvation in the midst of the people. Christ called, in the words of Isaiah, inviting those thirsty ones to receive fresh and living waters. The word of God is the refuge of the believer. and his promises strengthen their bones and revive their hope, as if fresh waters are poured over the parched soil of their thirsty hearts.
When Jesus dwelled on earth he was saddened that ordinary people lived lives steeped in pain and sorrow for they carried burdens too heavy to shoulder alone. Jesus felt great empathy for the people and their plight. He continued to change the circumstances that people found themselves in, for the better, through his teaching and preaching, his healing and miracles. His interpretations of the Word of God and the Laws of the Torah were so different to the interpretations of the religious leaders of the day, that they saw his teaching as radical and divisive. Jesus taught that God is the loving and merciful God, who wants the best for his children. He waits for them to return to him when they realize that they are not able to care for themselves on this journey of life. Once when humans joyfully accept that God is God and his intention towards human beings is that they should have life, and life in abundance, then one can cast your burdens on him. He is not going to punish us be cause we are too weak to carry the burden of our sin, he has already sent his Son to carry this burden on our behalf. Our wrongs have been cast in the sea, and we are set free of our guilt and pain, this is the joy of salvation.
Christ invites us, as he invited his followers two thousand years ago, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest,” Matthew 11 verse 28, (NRSVB). Rolling our worries and anxieties unto Christ, who cares for us, will cause us to face the future unafraid. We do not know what the future holds, be we do know who holds the future, and he promises that he has plans for us for good. Things look bleak when we stare up in the sky and see the dark clouds on the horizon, the clouds filled with bad news and worrying stories, but looking at the clouds from heaven’s side, we see that the dark clouds are filled with cleansing and nourishing rain.
God rains his salvation on us in the midst of the droughts and floods, disease and death, rumours of wars and calamities. Christ comes to stand along side us. He will change our circumstances and we will sing his praises. He wants us to rest in our faith and trust in him, that he will make a way for us. He will bring us safely to the place that he desires for us.
Father, we thank you that our mourning will change to joy, that our hope and salvation is in you, you our God who carries our burdens and allows your tired children to rest, Amen.