GOING TO THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD


MONDAY, FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT

Isa 2:1-5; Ps 122:1-2,4-5,6-9; Mt 8:5-11

Let us go to God’s House

The prophet Isaiah lights up the season of Advent for us in a unique way through the precision of his prophetic messages. The Church presents these prophecies to us as she guides us through the season's expectations. We read through his prophecies as if we were reading one of the Gospels of our Lord Jesus Christ, for his words are as though he witnessed the days of Jesus Christ before informing us of his coming. One of his opening prophecies of the Messiah is what we are to consider in the first reading. It is about the Lord’s appearance in Judah and Jerusalem. “In the days to come the mountain of the Temple of the Lord shall tower above the mountains and be lifted higher than the hills. All the nations will stream to it, people without number will come to it.” The clarity of God’s revelation of himself to man will make the mountain of the Temple of the Lord tower above other mountains therein. Thus, we must understand that the towering of the mountain of Jerusalem will not be anything physical but spiritual. The clarity of God’s self-revelation that the Messiah will bring will be such that any previous knowledge of God would be nothing compared to it. The beauty of this clarity of God's self-communication will make every nation and people stream to Judah and Jerusalem to receive salvation.

Going up to the mountain of the Temple of Yahweh in Judah and Jerusalem would not be optional, for the revelation of God that would happen there would be for the salvation of everyone. Hence, anyone who desires eternal life and fullness of peace would need to go up to the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Because the life of man here on earth is nothing if not aligned with the will of God, nations would seek out the knowledge of God. “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths; since the Law will go out from Zion, and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Because the self-revelation of God is more spiritual than physical, it would be possible to replicate the mountain of the Temple of God over the whole world. The prophet meant this when he said that the Law of the Lord would go out from Zion and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem. God’s self-revelation will commence from Judah and Jerusalem because of the promise made to Abraham and David. But it will stream to all nations and bring about healing and restoration of nations to be subject to the reign of the Son of David.

By the last explanation, the prophet tells us he is talking about the Messiah. The Messiah will rule peoples and nations by his fullness of divine knowledge and associated power. “He will wield authority over the nations and adjudicate between many people; these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles.” The fullness of the knowledge of God the Messiah would cause the darkness of error and falsehood to recede from the minds of the people minds and relations, bringing indescribable peace and harmony, healing, and well-being to individuals, families, peoples, and nations. The Gospel tells us the prophecy talks about Jesus Christ. His interaction with the centurion who came to solicit for the health of his servant confirms for us every aspect of the prophecy of Isaiah. “Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.” Our Lord's revelation of his Father makes him the King, who rules in peace and guides every human heart to the experience of peace and harmony with God. Advent is a season for all of us to go to the House of God to renew the peace and harmony between us and God and one another. “I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house.”

Let us pray: Keep us alert, we pray, O Lord our God, as we await the advent of Christ your Son, so that, when he comes and knocks, he may find us watchful in prayer and exultant in his praise. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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