like grass

I've been going to church for a long time. Count in three years of seminary and I've done enough church to be 50 years old. I've heard the scriptures read really well and really, well, not so good. One of the most moving readings I've heard in recent memory came in my intro homiletics course. A young woman with a soft but raspy voice read from Isaiah 40. As she repeated the words of the prophet, "the grass withers, the flowers fade" her voice was so coarse that it sounded as if she were near tears; it is a reading of scripture I will remember for a long time, and a reading that popped into my head this morning as I read from Isaiah 66 when the prophet promises great joy to the city of Jerusalem; including these words, "you shall see, and your hearts shall rejoice; your bodies shall flourish like the grass..."

"You bodies shall flourish like the grass..." Is 66

"The grass withers, the flowers fade..." Is 40

I've been brought to one of those points where reading a passage in light of its placement in a book, and in fact in all of scripture, is really, really helpful (See the late Brevard Childs Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture) Reading the promises of Isaiah 66 can't be done without knowing the sadness that was predicted 26 chapters earlier. The pain of a rebellious nation in Isaiah 40 is turned to the joy of renewal in Isaiah 66. It is a key theme in prophetic liturature; judgment/grace. It is so neat when these moments happen. When something I learned/heard/thought I glossed over in seminary comes back into my mind with full clarity. Childs, Isaiah 40, and judgment/grace... looks like Cassie's investment was a worthwhile one.