Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Matthew 8:5-11
Today's psalm is one of the psalms 'of ascent', songs sung by the people as they made their way in pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They are among the most beautiful and joyful of the psalms. In them the people look forward to their first sight of the holy city, to their arrival within its walls, and above all to the moment when they enter beneath the roof of the Temple to be as close to the glory of God's presence as it was possible for most human beings to be. Only the King and the High Priest could go closer, into the Holy of Holies itself, and then only on rare occasions.
These psalms evoke a settled time in the history of God's people. They are resident in the land, doing their work and rearing their families, seeking to be faithful to the covenant and to receive the blessings promised for that faithfulness. Part of that faithfulness was their worship in the Temple, on the appointed days, for the appointed feasts. It was after all 'the house of the Lord for the tribes of Israel' - both parts of that statement to undergo radical revision as the story unfolds.
The first reading is a passage from the early chapters of Isaiah which take us to a particular historical moment. Jerusalem, Judah, Israel - all are under threat from foreign armies and already it seems that there have been significant losses. But the Lord says, through his prophet, that a remnant will remain in the city. It feels like an effort to 'patch things up' or at least save something. Things are slipping away, falling apart, but for now the Lord will confirm the presence of his glory in the city, a cloud by day and a fire by night just as in the years of desert wandering. For now the Lord's glory will continue to provide shelter and protection.
Later came exile and the radical challenges it presented to the people's self-understanding and to their understanding of God. The loss of everything - land, city, temple - meant thinking out again from the beginning how they understood their own call, how they understood the Lord their God whose glory had then departed from the Temple, how they understood what God had to do with all the other people there are in the world and what all those other people might have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel.
The Advent season invites us to think about where we might be in relation to such historical experiences of God's people. Are we settled and secure, peaceful in our worship of God and in our understanding of our relationship with him? Are we under pressure, feeling that things are slipping away but that a moment of 'searing judgement', as Isaiah puts it, a re-affirmation of God's call, might just be enough to get us back on track, certainly if it comes with a new manifestation of God's glory present among us? Or are we in exile, having lost the securities which up to now had confirmed for us the call of God, His favour towards us, His presence with us, our special place in His plan?
Perhaps we need to prepare ourselves for a new moment in the history of God's people, a new chapter in the history of the Church? The coming of Jesus was just such a moment. Instead of people seeking the Lord in Jerusalem we see the Lord seeking the people wherever they are. 'I will come and cure him' is Jesus' immediate response to the centurion who asks his help. Instead of preparing himself to enter under God's roof, the Lord offers to come under the roof of the centurion, to come to where he is, to dwell with him. 'Only say the word', the centurion says to Jesus.
Jesus is that Word, the only Word, spoken by the Father into the world and its history. All other messages and revelations are echoes, before or after, of this one Word. We are getting prepared once again to celebrate the birth of this Word. Looking at our world, at the Church, and at our own lives, we might well be tempted to say 'Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof'.
The centurion is a foreigner, not a believer by the criteria of Israel's religion and yet nowhere in Israel has Jesus encountered such faith. Once again our understanding is to be blown open (this is the searing judgement spoken of by Isaiah). We need to think it all out once again, to seek a fresh understanding of God and of God's presence to human beings, to understand in a new way the meaning of the call we have received as 'members of Christ', to think again about what God has to do with all the other people there are in the world and what all those other people have to do with Him.
Our minds are focusing on Bethlehem, the house of bread, a temple for all peoples, God pitching His tent among us. This new thing God wants to do - speaking His Word once more into our world and into our history, into our time and place - will be, as always, particularly directed to places, communities and individuals who are 'paralysed and suffering greatly'. We find hope and courage in the response of Jesus to the centurion, 'I will come and cure him'. 'Come Lord, cure us.'
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