“God Comforts Us!”
Isaiah 66:12-14 – July 16, 2023
Many people I’ve talked with are interested when I talk about puppies. Or, kittens. Or young bunnies, or chicks or ducklings. When we see them at a pet store, or at the zoo, or on television or documentaries, a common reaction is, “Awww!” and “How darling!” Can you imagine watching a mama cat or dog, washing her little ones, or making sure that they are safe and warm, cuddled up and safe next to their mama.
So similar to what the prophet says about the nation of Israel, here in Isaiah 66! Listen again to these verses: “12 For this is what the Lord says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
The prophet Isaiah wrote at a time of great upheaval in both the kingdom of Israel and the sister kingdom of Judah. The kingdom of Israel had been conquered by the Assyrians a few decades before, in 722 BCE. Isaiah was a prophet in and around the city of Jerusalem, in Judah. I am certain that the political situation was precarious for many years following the conquering of the northern kingdom, the domination of that part of Palestine by the Assyrian army.
Sure, Isaiah was a prophet of the Lord, and as such had many words of warning and judgment for the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Yet, Isaiah is also one of the most hopeful and positive of the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Here in chapter 66, the last chapter of the book, the prophet writes about the future. Coming attractions, for the Jewish people. “Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad! Rejoice!” Such calls are common in this section of the book of Isaiah following chapter 40, where hearers are called to rejoice, take joy, exult, sing and shout out.” [1] The commentator Kristin Wendland makes special note of the personification – the metaphor of the nursing mother, here in Isaiah 66! In these verses we see the future, restored Jewish community made whole again. We see children and toddlers born, nurtured, nursing at the breast and dandled on the knees.
What is more, the prophet is hearkening back to a time two or three generations before, when the city of Jerusalem was under siege for an extended period of time. There was great starvation within the city, and mothers could not feed their babies and children. Many today can remember times of recent want and deprivation in their families and loved ones’ histories, just within the past century. I am sure this reference struck a chord with the prophet’s readers!
Can you imagine our almighty, all-powerful Lord, who made heaven and earth, extending comfort, care and nurture, just like this image of the nursing mother? That is exactly the point! Here we have the highly respected prophet Isaiah saying exactly that.
Again, I come back to what the Rev. April Yamasaki has to say about differing views of God. She has preached on Scripture using “masculine, gender-neutral, and feminine imagery to talk about God. God is the father waiting for his prodigal son. God is the mother who comforts us. God is the Rock that never changes.” And, April hits the nail exactly on the head. She continues, “Like it or not, all of these and more are in the Bible. Humanly speaking, there is enough in Scripture to challenge all of us.” [2]
You and I might be anxious or downright afraid of a different kind of image or picture of God. You or I may be totally unused to maternal or nurturing Godly images. “But instead of mentally crossing out anything that disturbs us, we need to allow the different images of God in Scripture to challenge us, to correct us, to shape and expand our relationship with God,” says Kristina LaCelle-Peterson. [3]
God’s Divine nature is too immense to be captured by only one image. Moreover, our disparate, all-over-the-board life situations are definitely too varied – too multi-colored! – to be considered by only one Divine reference or metaphor.
I am re-reading a marvelous book on prayer by the equally marvelous Christian and devotional writer Richard Foster. He suggests that we access this kind of Divine metaphor with our imaginations. Using the prayer mode of Ignatian prayer, we can see these mothering, nurturing aspects of God with our mind’s eye, to see, to hear, to touch what is right here in the biblical narrative.
Richard Foster tells us “We must not despise this simpler, more humble route into God’s presence. Jesus himself taught in this manner, making constant appeals to the imagination in his parables. Many of the [Christian] devotional masters encourage us in this way.” [4] In this simple, straight-forward way, we are urged to enter into a close, intimate relationship with our Lord. What a way to come home to God!
Who doesn’t want to have a fresh relationship with God? Who doesn’t desire close communication with our Lord? Right here, right now, we are invited and urged to use these vivid mothering metaphors and climb into God’s lap ourselves. Can you decide to welcome such a caring and loving God into your Daily Prayer?
God is surely a source of comfort and nurture, for all! Not only for those in Isaiah’s time, but for all of us, all those under God’s loving protection and care. What a promise! What a Divine presence that spells “home” and comfort for us all. Alleluia, amen.
(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!
[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-14-3/commentary-on-isaiah-6610-14-4
[2] https://aprilyamasaki.com/2015/05/11/mothers-day-revisited-and-how-god-is-like-your-mom/
[3] Ibid.
[4] Foster, Richard, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (HarperCollins: New York NY, 1992), 147.
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