CCC Cross Reference:
Is 54 1611; Is 54:8 220; Is 54:10 220
Lk 7:26 523, 719
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Reading 1
Is 54:1-10
Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,
Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,
For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife
than the children of her who has a husband,
says the LORD.
Enlarge the space for your tent,
spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;
lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.
For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left;
your descendants shall dispossess the nations
and shall people the desolate cities.
Fear not, you shall not be put to shame;
you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced.
The shame of your youth you shall forget,
the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.
For he who has become your husband is your Maker;
his name is the LORD of hosts;
Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
called God of all the earth.
The LORD calls you back,
like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
A wife married in youth and then cast off,
says your God.
For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great tenderness I will take you back.
In an outburst of wrath, for a moment
I hid my face from you;
But with enduring love I take pity on you,
says the LORD, your redeemer.
This is for me like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah
should never again deluge the earth;
So I have sworn not to be angry with you,
or to rebuke you.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b
R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Gospel: Lk 7:24-30
When the messengers of John the Baptist had left,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.
“What did you go out to the desert to see B a reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine garments?
Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously
are found in royal palaces.
Then what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom Scripture says:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
he will prepare your way before you.
I tell you,
among those born of women, no one is greater than John;
yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(All the people who listened, including the tax collectors,
who were baptized with the baptism of John,
acknowledged the righteousness of God;
but the Pharisees and scholars of the law,
who were not baptized by him,
rejected the plan of God for themselves.)
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading: Isaiah 54:1-10
Shout for joy, you barren women who bore no children!
Break into cries of joy and gladness, you who were never in labour!
For the sons of the forsaken one are more in number
than the sons of the wedded wife, says the Lord.
Widen the space of your tent,
stretch out your hangings freely,
lengthen your ropes, make your pegs firm;
for you will burst out to right and to left.
Your race will take possession of the nations,
and people the abandoned cities.
Do not be afraid, you will not be put to shame,
do not be dismayed, you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth
and no longer remember the curse of your widowhood.
For now your creator will be your husband,
his name, the Lord of Hosts;
your redeemer will be the Holy One of Israel,
he is called the God of the whole earth.
Yes, like a forsaken wife, distressed in spirit,
the Lord calls you back.
Does a man cast off the wife of his youth?
says your God.
I did forsake you for a brief moment,
but with great love will I take you back.
In excess of anger, for a moment
I hid my face from you.
But with everlasting love I have taken pity on you,
says the Lord, your redeemer.
I am now as I was in the days of Noah
when I swore that Noah’s waters
should never flood the world again.
So now I swear concerning my anger with you
and the threats I made against you;
for the mountains may depart,
the hills be shaken,
but my love for you will never leave you
and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken,
says the Lord who takes pity on you.
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Psalm: Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me
and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,
restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.
At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
The Lord listened and had pity.
The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into dancing:
O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
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Gospel: Luke 7:24-30
When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to talk to the people about John, ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Oh no, those who go in for fine clothes and live luxuriously are to be found at court! Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet:
he is the one of whom scripture says:
See, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare the way before you.
‘I tell you, of all the children born of women, there is no one greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he is. All the people who heard him, and the tax collectors too, acknowledged God’s plan by accepting baptism from John; but by refusing baptism from him the Pharisees and the lawyers had thwarted what God had in mind for them.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Thursday of the 3rd Week in Advent
From: Isaiah 54:1-10
A Glorious New Jerusalem
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[1] "Sing, 0 barren one, who did not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in travail! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her that is married, says the Lord. [2] Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; hold not back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. [3] For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.
[4] "Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. [5] For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. [6] For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. [7] For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. [8] In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.
[9] "For this is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. [10] For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
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Commentary:
54:1-17. After the Song of the Servant, the sacred writer turns his attention again to Zion in a beautiful hymn celebrating the glory and restoration of Jerusalem. By inserting it immediately after the fourth song, he seems to indicate that this will be the first outcome of the servant's work. This hymn is an oracle of consolation and hope after the humiliations of exile. The content of the fourth song was quite new not so this hymn it uses traditional Old Testament imagery -- the barren wife who becomes fruitful again (v. 1; cf. 1 Sam 2:5; Ps 113:9), the unfaithful and repudiated wife who is taken back (v.4; cf. Hos 1:16-22). Zion will have far more offspring than she had before the exile (v. 3). The Lord of hosts will be her Maker and her Husband (vv. 5-6). He forsook her for a short while (vv. 7-9) but now he will make a new Covenant with her, sealed with love (v. 10). He will rebuild Zion's walls with precious stones, and peace will prevail (vv. 11-15). But the figure of Zion now accommodates not just the city's inhabitants: it comes to stand for the homeland of all the Lord's servants.
As the poem develops, so does God's tenderness towards his city and his people: the first stanza (vv. 1-3) sees the city as a woman who was once barren and now has many children: she is the new Sarah (Gen 16:1), the new Rachel (Gen 29:31), the new Hannah (1 Sam 1:2). This will be so, for so "says the Lord" (v. 1). The second stanza (vv. 4-6) stresses the titles of her husband -- Maker, Lord of hosts, Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, etc; and it confirms this by a slight change in wording: "says your God" (v. 6). The third stanza (vv. 7-10) describes the husband's tender affection: he forsook Israel "for a brief moment", but his love is everlasting: as in the days of Noah she was disgraced for a while, but he has sworn to be angry no longer, and not to rebuke her. The oracular formula is now: "says the Lord, your Redeemer" (v. 8b) and "says the Lord who has compassion on you" (v. 10b), which is etymologically the equivalent of "who loves you tenderly".
The second part of the poem consists of two oracles of restoration: the first (vv. 11-15) shows the city constructed with precious stones ("abanim" in Hebrew; v. 11) and full of sons ("banim", in Hebrew) who will be docile to the Lord; the second part (vv. 16-17) confirms that God himself, mighty and just, guarantees the splendor and permanence of Zion.
A Christian reading sees the poem as explaining that the Church is the continuation and culmination of the ancient people of God, especially in its eschatological stage when tribulation will be a thing of the past: "The cry in scripture, 'Sing, 0 barren one', refers to us, because our Church was barren until children were born to it. 'Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in travail': our singing is the prayers we should offer to God, without ceasing, without fail; those who live apart from God will fail. And Scripture adds 'the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her that is married', so that we will see how, though we seemed to have been abandoned by the Lord in the beginning, we are now more fruitful than ever, and more numerous even than the people who believed that God was their God alone" (Pseudo-Clement, "Epistula II Ad Corinthios", 2).
Verses 11-12 will inspire the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation 21: 18-21. Verse 13 is applied to Jesus' disciples in John 6:45 to indicate that God himself guarantees' faith of believers in Jesus Christ.
The Church reads part of this passage (vv. 5-14) during the Easter Vigil, because the death and resurrection of Jesus is, for the new people of God, the fulfillment of this promise made by God, that he would enter into a new and definitive Cove-
nant in which Christ unites himself permanently to his Church, the beloved Spouse for whom he sacrifices himself.
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From: Luke 7:24-30
The Mission of John the Baptist (Continuation)
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[24] When the messengers of John had gone, He (Jesus) began to speak to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? [25] What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts. [26] What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. [27] This is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send My messenger before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.' [28] I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he." [29] (When they heard this all the people and the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John; [30] but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
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Commentary:
28. St. John the Baptist is the greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament because he was nearest to Christ and received the unique mission of actually pointing out the Messiah. Still, he belongs to the time of the promise (the Old Testament), when the work of redemption lay in the future. Once Christ did that work (the New Testament), those who faithfully accept God's gift of grace are incomparably greater than the righteous of the Old Covenant who were given, not this grace, but only the promise of it. Once the work of redemption was accomplished God's grace also reached the righteous of the Old Testament, who were waiting for Christ to open Heaven and let them, too, enter.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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