December 4, 2024 Readings: Isaiah 25:6-10a
Untangling the Entangled
Preacher: Megan McElroy OP for theWord
On that day it will be said:
“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
7 And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
Have you ever had such fitful nights of sleep that you’ve found yourself entangled in the sheets in the morning and you have to struggle to get untangled in order for your feet to land on the floor? That seems to be a good analogy for the way the world is right now. We are kicking away, trying to unwrap ourselves from the sheets of chaos, negativity, destruction, fear, willful ignorance, war, climate crisis, rising authoritarianism, illness, intimidation. We are all entangled in the world’s bedsheets together, and it seems no amount of trying to kick them off or unravel them will do. Will such sheets be the end of us, will we die in the effort to be freed and saved?
No, we won’t for we have the promise announced by the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading:
God will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
God will swallow up death forever.
These words of the prophet were words of promise to a nation on the brink of exile; they were words of comfort… if the people changed their ways.
These words of the prophet are words of fulfillment for believers of The Way, for the
God who destroys death, who wipes tears from faces, who provides succulent food for ALL people is the God who was incarnated and whom we await this Advent in the midst of today’s entanglements.
This is the God who in today’s gospel wiped away the tears of the suffering and cured the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. And then he provided for them a meal of loaves and fish.
This is the God who has bestowed his Spirit upon his followers, and as he called his disciples to help in the work of giving food to the hungry crowd, so he summons us to respond to the entanglements of the world, so that all might be safe, nourished, healed, welcomed.
Believe it or not, we have a share in the redemptive work of our God to bring healing and hope to our hurting world. The bedsheets are king-size, and we may be at a loss as to how to untangle them, but little acts go a long way:
- Opening our ears and hearts to listen with respect and understanding
- Opening our mouths to speak words of peace and forgiveness
- Opening our hands and arms to embrace the broken-hearted, the frightened, the lonely
- Being courageous and bold in speaking truth to power
- Being compassionate and caring towards the undocumented in our midst
- Being loving towards others as our God is loving toward us
The God whom we await this season is the God of Disentanglements.
And this God waits for us this season to help in the work of untangling the sheets, so that all peoples may rest soundly and securely. Then maybe, when the alarm clock goes off in the morning, to have a good breakfast ready to be served. Let us be glad and rejoice in our salvation.
