Kyle Dresback
Dear Friends,
Today’s lectionary reading in Isaiah 65 describes the dramatic finale of the biblical narrative. But read carefully and you’ll catch echoes of another story:
They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord – and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer… but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
While the action of Isaiah’s “New Jerusalem” vision is playing out on center stage, it’s as if a screen at the back of the stage is displaying a series of flickering sepia-toned images from the beginning of that story. Did you notice the many nostalgic allusions back to the first chapters of Genesis? As those allusions pick up steam (plant… eat… fruit… days… tree… work… bear children… offspring… serpent… dust) the prophet, like a master story-teller, is gathering up a long-told story and pointing it to its long-awaited ending.
This idea of the flickering images behind the main action (memorably employed by New Testament scholar Richard Hays in his book Reading Backwards) provides a literary depth and context to the scene. Without it, we might be tempted to think of this as merely an outdated ancient belief or a prescientific superstition that carries little weight in our complex, modern lives.
Embedded in this larger story, Isaiah’s vision is, like all stories, an invitation. We are not mere readers; we are characters invited to consider our place in that story. When we read of this new creation that touches on life and death, prosperity and security, health and childbirth, harmony with creation and communion with our creator, we are reminded that this is the world we longed for all along and for which we were created.
May we be faithful participants in that story today!
In Christ,
—Kyle