Imagine returning to your homeland after almost seventy years in exile, to find only devastation. Your parents or grandparents had maintained alive the memory of the country and the holy city which was at the heart of the life of your nation. When you arrive, nothing seems to correspond to what you were expecting. Everything speaks of despair and despondency.

This is the background to these first verses of Isaiah 61. Returning from exile, the people find their land and city in ruin and they themselves are marked seemingly for ever by their experience. However, the words we read show the true vocation of a prophet. The prophet is there to acknowledge the situation, with all its complexities, but at the same time to open a path of hope.

And what is the source of that hope? It comes from the trust of the prophet that God is present through God’s Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is not a personal possession, not only for some form of individual consolation. The Spirit leads us into a partnership with God and with others for the benefit of all.

When we welcome the presence of the Spirit in our lives then we are drawn into the life that God wants for humanity and for the whole of creation. Hope in that sense is not something purely intellectual or inward; it is a motor which leads us to act as we let the Spirit fashion us.

What is the good news that the prophet must announce here? It is first of all to be close to those who are oppressed, who are still captive, whose hearts are broken and wounded by all that they have been through. In a certain way, it is these marginalized and vulnerable people who will become the factors of change and reconstruction, receiving a crown of beauty and the oil of joy as the prophet describes in a poetic manner their transformation.

The prophet lives from the certainty that suffering will not have the last word. God will show favor again. The “day of vengeance of our God” can also be translated as the “day of vindication”. What God has promised will take place. And that promise is first of all a promise of comfort and transformation.

And in today’s context, to whom might this text be addressed? We can think of people displaced because of war or persecution, of those who seek a better way of life for their families but who encounter only obstacles, of victims of abuse who carry the wounds of what they have experienced in their body each day.

What does it mean for us to be close to them? First of all to remember that it is the Spirit of God that is acting here. The Spirit sets free but also respects each person’s liberty. And what does a person in suffering need? It is for them to say, for us to listen and to act accordingly. It may mean that we have to accept that I am not the one who can help in that situation. But sometimes a faithful, selfless presence can allow trust to grow and, perhaps with time, wounds to heal and the rediscovery of a new freedom, the courage to take part in the reconstruction of what was destroyed.

The vocation of the prophet as described here sums up succinctly the mission of a servant of God in any age. Are we ready to take these words of Isaiah to heart? Jesus took them as the blue print for his life (Luke 4:17-19)

Monthly Bible Commentaries

Journeying together

Luke 10:1-11

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

Monthly Bible Commentaries

“Do Not Be Afraid!”

Matthew 28:5-20

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” […] Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 5-20)

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Hoping for Everyone

1 Peter 3:18-22

Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (1 Peter 3:18–22)

Monthly Bible Commentaries

Walk humbly with your God

Micah 6:6-8

With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Sometimes it feels as if we live in a trembling world where every step is uncertain. The first chapter of the book of prophet Micah finds words for such experiences: it seems as if “valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.” In the sixth chapter of the book of Micah, the reaction to this shaking of the foundations is initially a lot of activity, the understandable attempt to find something to do, to cope. It almost sounds hectic, exaggerated. But then the text becomes calm. The narrative stops itself and takes us into this quiet space: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?’”

Monthly Bible Commentaries

Choosing to Love

1 John 3:11-18

This is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that that one laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:11-18)

Monthly Bible Commentaries

Love Builds Up

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “we all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God. So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak,it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)

Monthly Bible Commentaries

Discerning God’s Presence

1 Samuel 16:1,6-13

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” (…) When Jesse and his sons arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. (1 Samuel 16:1,6-13)

Monthly Bible Commentaries

The Light of a New Creation

John 20:11-17

Mary of Magdala stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ’I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:11-17)

Monthly Bible Commentaries

The Baptism of Jesus

Mark 1:7-11

John the Baptist announced, “One stronger than I am is coming after me. I’m not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”