April 5th - Reflection

Isaiah 42:14-21 (NRSV)
God will heal the blind
For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor,
I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
I will lead the blind
by a road they do not know,
by paths they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame --
those who trust in carved images,
who say to cast images,
"You are our gods."
Listen, you that are deaf;
and you that are blind, look up and see!
Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf like my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind like my dedicated one,

or blind like the servant of the Lord?
He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.

The Lord was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness,
to magnify his teaching and make it glorious.

Reflection
God's grace is a fierce grace. God is furious with evil and explodes with grace to save his people. God will lead us along the way we are to go. God will give us the sight that we need to follow. God will speak to us through Word and Sacrament and tell us the plan.

Our action is to follow and listen and heed God's direction. God's grace is a fierce grace and he is compassionate and passionate about saving his people. Follow and listen to him. This is Jesus the Messiah---just as at the baptism and at the transfiguration --- Listen to him!

Thanks be to God for fierce grace! Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, strike in me the passion and compassion that you have in your love for us that I may love those you give to me this day and proclaim your will and your way boldly. That I may proclaim to my friends --- Listen to him --- See the Word made flesh --- Your salvation. --- Amen