Open-ended,
Life-centred,
Gospel-Focused Explorations of Hebrew Bible
Readings from the Australian Prayer Book.
ISAIAH 66: 10-14... 6th S.after Pentecost, Year C ....For LK 10:1-24
scroll on site.
NOTES: 1]Read the Hebrew Bible in the light
of our Christian understanding of God revealed in Jesus.2] The IS who wrote
Chs.1-39
was called by God to be a Prophet in 740BC. Another great
unnamed Prophet, referred to as 'Isaiah of the Exile' (Peterson) wrote
Ch.40-55 about 200 yrs.after. Later still, Chs.55-66 were written by
'Trito' (3rd) IS, who may have been a
group of 2nd IS's followers.3]
We need to read & understand this as the poetry it is. 4] Compare IS's hope for the
restoration of Jerusalem to the Jewish people exiled in Babylon with
what Jesus hopes for in the Gospel. 5]
Note the feminine
imagery compared with the male imagery fanned by
patriarchal churches & biblical fundamentalists.
WARMING UP: When & where do
we feel
most comfortable, most at home?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
10-11 How do we feel towards Jerusalem & what it
stands for today? How important is it for us all, Jews & others, to
distinguish between
what God may want of today's Israel from what its people may want for
themselves today? What does God want
for Australia, compared with what we may want for it? If it was failure
to
read the political signs (on the ground as well as in heaven!) that led
ancient Israel into exile (again) & to the eventual destruction of
Jerusalem (again, in 70AD) are we any better at reading them
today? How do the politics of God work compared with those of any human
country or party? Does God have a 'party manifesto'? Are we, is God
more likely to rejoice or mourn over our
community, & why?
Given God is by definition
neither male nor female, do we feed enough
from the 'female side' of God's nature, rather than simply the
ingrained 'male side'? Are we making sure we have a balanced
diet, spiritually as well
as physically? If someone were to ask, "What are you feeding yourself
on spiritually?" could we give an acceptable answer? Acceptable to
whom? When we look around & see people feeding themselves on junk
food, physically, mentally, & spiritually, does that say anything
to us about taking a
constructive & healthy (a word closely connected with 'salvation'!)
balanced approach to the diet for our whole life?
12-14 What lies at the
heart of prosperity as God sees it? If we equate prosperity too readily
with things like money, plenty, property, power, etc, rather than
understanding them as something we hold in trust for the good of others
as well as ourselves, are they likely to be a destructive stream rather
than a replenishing one as God promises here? How do we respond to the
idea of God comforting us like a child? Have we become too
sophisticated for that kind of thinking & feeling? If being
comforted 'in Jerusalem' means 'back home', where is 'home' for us? Is
there such a place, or is it more a dimension of well-being? How do we
achieve such a state?
Does talk of bodies
(lit. 'bones') flourishing raise for us the inter-connectedness of
physical, mental, emotional, spiritual
health, & 'salvation'? Or is it simpler, safer, to keep
all these separate? Is the salvation God offers through IS then
Jesus (e.g. via the 70 He sends out in the Gospel) any
different from what He offers to those who will be his servants rather
than his enemies now? Can we
see any evidence that 'the hand of the
Lord is with (us) his
servants', now? Or that God is 'indignant against
his enemies', now? What makes a person God's servant? What makes a
person God's enemy? Does Jesus' expectation in the Gospel throw any
light on whose side we're on?
