Many years ago a friend and I were at a stop light in a run-down section of lower Manhattan. Looking out the window we saw a burly policeman with his arm around a homeless man comforting him. We were moved by the compassion the policemen showed the poor man. It was a study in contrast seeing the “law-and-order” man acting in the role of a comforting mother.
The prophet Isaiah, today, presents God in a set of mixed images. Is he a policeman enforcing justice or a tender-hearted minister trying to give hope to a lost soul? (Isaiah 40:1-11)
“Comfort, give comfort to my people…Speak tenderly to Jerusalem…proclaim to her that her guilt is expiated.”
God speaks from the tenderness of his heart to his weary, beaten-down people.
Then Isaiah “shifts gears.”
“In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God…Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.”
Get to work! God is about to show up! Level mountains, smoothed the rock roads, fill in the valleys! No time to waste in paving away in preparing for God’s return. What happened to Isaiah’s comforting voice?
“Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: here comes your God! Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm…”
With power. Ruling with a strong arm. God is moving in among his people as a warrior king, ready to take charge and get his people back in order. Who is this God whom Isaiah announces—is he a strong ruler or a tender-hearted Father—or both?
A people under threat from warring neighbors want to see a “policeman God” as much as they want to see a “comforting” God.
So as Isaiah bounces back and forth with his images of God, how does he end up?
“Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.”
This passage culminates with the image of a shepherd carrying a “reward” with him (A huge sack of fresh food?). He is eager to feed his hungry sheep and to pull the anxious lambs to himself—picking up those who are hurting and lost and holding them in his arms. When the tender-hearted Shepherd appears, the lambs jump with joy. The wolves and the bears who are lurking in the woods, however, shrink with fear. They know what will happen to them if they dare get near his sheep.
In the Gospel passage the Church emphasizes the Good Shepherd (Matthew 18:12-14).
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?”
Jesus is the Good Shepherd who goes to extremes to search out the strays. In fact, Jesus focused his ministry on seeking out the strays—the rejects and the lost. He is not content to have the “99” if one is missing.
How will we spend our prayer time today? What about closing our eyes and experiencing Jesus, our Good Shepherd, ministering to the needs of our hearts—allowing him to feed, heal, and comfort us.
Yes, God has come! And he surprises us by coming as a Shepherd who gathers us to himself. Just whom we need!
“He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy” (Ps 96:13).
