Third Tuesday of Advent

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7

Key Verse: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ~Isaiah 9:6

When a person has been surrounded by darkness for a long time, any amount of light can seem blinding, even painful. For a person who has been oppressed and imprisoned, freedom can seem terrifying and uncertain. So often it can be tempting to simply slip back into the shadows or return to our prison, not because we enjoy either place, but because they have become comfortable and normative. We so easily are willing to live lower than God desires for us because it requires less of us. Israel had been sitting in darkness, enslaved and oppressed for years and years. In fact, much of her history involved darkness and oppression. After that long you might forget how to see and how to move about freely. Many in our world today find themselves in similar, seemingly hopeless situations. The Church has Good News though! We are called to proclaim the words of Isaiah, that a great light has come into the darkness and it is still shining brightly through the witness of the faithful. We are called to proclaim that the rod of the oppressor has been broken and that peace has come. On what does this Good News rest? On the coming of a little child, the entrance of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and brings about our redemption, bringing healing, mercy and peace. Yes, let us say with Isaiah: “For us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6).

Thank you Father, for sending Jesus, Immanuel, to rescue us, to bring us light and life and freedom. Help me to see Him more every day, and to follow more closely in his footsteps. In His Name I pray, Amen.

For Further Reading: 2 Peter 1:12-21 Luke 22:54-69 Psalm 45