ISAIAH 35:01-10
Say to those with fearful hearts:
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come, he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
This poem from Isaiah expresses a beautiful symbol of the blessing that is the presence of God. In the prophecy of Isaiah, several poems are included. Besides being a deeply inspired man, the author is a great writer and poet. This song is a “prophetic” announcement, in the sense that it expresses faith in the future overcoming of all evil. It is the same idea represented in the story of Paradise… up to the visions of “THE NEW EARTH AND THE NEW HEAVEN” in Revelation. More than announcements of the future, they are acts of faith in God, who saves from evil, from chaos, from death…
The context of the song is The Exile (which is why the text does not seem to be from Isaiah, much earlier, but from the “second Isaiah”, interpolated later). The exiled people receive the promise of a return to an Ideal Land. This restoration is presented with beautiful images of an idyllic nature, the suppression of all disease, abundance, the triumph of Zion. God will do it.
Texts like this will give rise, through corruption, to a deformed messianic hope. The signs are understood as realities, and a Messiah will be expected to physically fulfill all those promises of outward triumph, of reconstruction – for Israel of course – of the “Paradise on Earth”.
We understand the more spiritual sense of The Exile – an image of life in darkness, deprived of the evidence of God – and of The Return – an image of the Homeland, the restoration of our human condition in freedom, as Children of God in the House of the Father.
JAMES 2:01-05
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
It needs no special explanation. It is interesting to see how these problems of “favoritism” already existed precisely in those first communities, often presented (especially in ACTS) as ideal and perfect. In this paragraph we find a common idea of these times: the certainty that the poor and simple have received The Good News better.
José Enrique Galarreta