Friday 10th December - The Spirit of the Lord

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

I’m not sure, after all, that yesterday left us feeling any less challenged. The prophetic blast is insistent and does not let us rest; but it does not easily translate into a course of action that we can do and docket, and the rest again. That, of course, is by intention. And the answer we are driven to is equally by intention. Only the Spirit of God can do these things.

Today’s passage catapults us forward again another 50 years to a time soon after the fall of the Babylonian Empire as the people of Israel glimpse the possibility of a return from exile. Powerless themselves, they had learnt the surprising lesson that even a Persian prince, Cyrus, could be the agent of God. Now, in terms reminiscent of the Cyrus oracles and Servant Songs earlier in the book, Isaiah casts a vision of the Spirit-anointed Servant Messiah, which Christ himself will both claim (Luke 4:14-21) and fulfil.

One of the great themes and truths of the scriptures is that the same Spirit which hovered over the waters in creation and fills a man like Joshua, and which hovered over Christ at his baptism and filled him, is also poured out on us and fills us too. The alarm call is sounding a note that will be vital for the story to come. Without the Spirit’s breath the ashes will never glow.

Talk of the Spirit can lead us quickly to matters of inspiration and spiritual gifts; but we often over-separate the persons of the Trinity, and today’s passage from Isaiah reminds us, as does of course the life of Christ, that at heart the work of the Spirit is all one with Christ’s work of Redemption. The Spirit comes on us and in us not as an overlay on our humanity but to transform it. This, and only this, is why the command that nothing be lost can be fulfilled: because nothing is beyond God’s redemption. Even death gives way to life.

In some of my own darkest days it has been this truth that has kept me going – and I have often turned to the powerfully moving words of George Matheson’s hymn to express it:

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee:
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine oceans depths its flow
May richer, fuller, be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee:
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee:
I lay in dust in life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

For your prayer today, why not meditate on these words above, and make them your own. If needs be listen to it below, read them aloud, or write them out.

This entry was posted on 10/12/2010 at 10:15 am and is filed under advent2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.