1st Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 2:1-5
Many people shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 2:3
At first I read this verse and thought, “this is what so many churches are hoping for–many people coming to the mountain of the Lord. and why are they coming? So they can learn his ways. And so that we can walk in his paths.
Teaching his ways. Walking in his paths.
What are God’s ways?
As I kept reflecting, though, I noticed that the action of the people doesn’t stop at coming to the house of the Lord. The action doesn’t stop at the top of the mountain.
For out of Zion shall go…
The instruction the ‘many people’ receive–about God’s ways and God’s paths–goes OUT OF ZION. The Word of the Lord goes FROM Jerusalem. The dream isn’t for the people to come and say “let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.” The dream is that instruction is going forth from Zion and the Word of the Lord is going forth from Jerusalem.
What does it look like for instruction to go forth from people who have come to the house of God to learn God’s ways and to walk in God’s paths? What is this “Word” that is going out from Jerusalem? See the verses at the end of the reading about weapons of war becoming tools for farming…
And…
Maybe this is where we go to the season of Advent. At least part of “the Word” is that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Even as people go up to the mountain or to Jerusalem–places–where they ‘find’ God, Advent reminds us that in Jesus God came into humanity (organisms) to dwell with us and to find us. We look for God in places. God comes to us in people and in experiences.
We look for God in places. God comes to us in people and in experiences.