A Vision of Hope
Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time. Fr Leo Edgar considers God’s timeless message to the world.
Writing this article some days before ‘Polling Day’, and aware that it is likely to be read a few days after the result has been declared, I can’t help wondering whether we can compare our world of today, with all its uncertainties and anxieties over the future, with the world of Isaiah around 700 BC, and the chance to learn something from the comparison?
The great prophet Isaiah had warned the Kings of Judah (Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah), of the danger of playing ‘power politics’, and despite trying hard to convince them of the errors of their ways, he was largely rejected by them. The vision of hope that Isaiah tried to convey was based on the need for God’s intervention, reflected in the prophet’s announcement that Jerusalem should rejoice and that the people should shout for joy (Isaiah 66:10-14)! In this last chapter of the Book of Isaiah, a picture is painted of Jerusalem being like a mother who comforts her son. The Church today sends its ‘labourers’ into the world to offer peace and to bring hope to a world that still needs God’s presence , perhaps more than ever, and Luke’s Gospel (chapter 10) reminds us of Christ’s warning to the seventy-two chosen to be his ‘labourers in the harvest’ that they must expect to be welcomed by some, but not welcomed by others. Nevertheless, they returned, we are told, from their journeys rejoicing and optimistic.
Whatever the future holds for us we can rejoice in the promise God made to his people through Isaiah that he will send ‘peace flowing like a river, and will reveal his hand to his servants’ (Isaiah 66:12). Pope Francis reminds us in his recent exhortation, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’, that ‘God does not hide himself from those who seek him with a sincere heart, even though they do so tentatively, in a vague and haphazard manner’ (art.71); and again he exhorts, ‘may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News’ (art. 10).
We ourselves have recently witnessed so many conflicting ‘prophecies’ of a sort, telling us how our nation should be prepared for an uncertain future, depending on the outcome of the Election; most of these predictions seem to lack the knowledge of Isaiah, inspired as that knowledge was by God himself.
We must always face the future with hope, inspired by the Gospel. Whatever the outcome on July 4th, we can thank God for the inspiration we get from Christ’s words to the seventy-two when he said, ‘rejoice that your names are written in heaven’ (Luke 10:20).
It would seem that God’s message to mankind, either in the Old or the New Testament, either through prophets like Isaiah, or through Christ’s own teaching, is the essential element in developing a true understanding of the sort of world we should be trying to establish for future generations – one based on Christian values of justice and peace, tolerance and love.
Jesus called many people to follow him. Many did and many hesitated (so we are told). Paul wrote to the Galatians (5:1, 13-18) that when Jesus called them it was to be free – ‘and when Christ freed us, it was to ‘remain free’, but also warned them that in order to ‘remain free’, they must serve one-another in works of love. The choice, Saint Paul tells us, is simple: a choice between following the Spirit or giving in to self-indulgence, which is opposed to the Spirit.
Led by the Spirit we can resist the temptations that distract from our good intentions. In his letter Paul compares the result of self-indulgence with the fruits of the Spirit – peace, joy, patience, kindness, love gentleness and self-control.
Observing the news in recent pre-election days, it is abundantly clear that our own world faces some major decisions about what constitutes our individual freedom, and how willing we are, individually and globally, to make difficult decisions, between being guided by the Spirit and not by our own self-indulgence.
Testing times ahead for the UK and throughout the world, but the Gospels remind us that we must listen to Christ’s teaching and be guided by the Holy Spirit so that we can be truly free and at peace with one another.
Readings: Ezekiel 2:2-5 | 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 | Mark 6:1-6
