Isn’t it wonderful to find the camels of our nativity back in Isaiah?
Clearly Isaiah 60 somehow belongs to Matthew 2: 1-12. Both texts have a universal message: this little boy is not just for the Jews; the Holy One of Israel is not just God for Israel but for “all flesh” (Is. 66:23).
Reading the two texts together there is the image of the nations flooding with gifts to this ‘son of Israel’ who is also the ‘glory of the Lord’. In Isaiah there is also the theme of returning home, children returning home. At the same time there seems to be a shadow. In Matthew the shadow is Herod, clearly not all have come to pay homage. In Isaiah the shadow is more ambiguous and diffuse.
It seems as if the nations do not come in freedom but in servitude (7, 12, 14), although those text are outside our reading today. It seems as if the gifts that the nations are bringing are just a blessing for Israel and almost a punishment for the nations. Let us pray that all will come in freedom and joy to bring gifts and proclaim the praise of the Lord.
3 January 2016
Isaiah 60: 1-6
This weekly blog on one of the lectionary readings is by Anne Claar Thomasson-Rosingh, Programme Leader for Lifelong Learning at Sarum College.
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