Sunday Gospel Reflection, July 7, 2025: As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you...

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…
If God is with us, how can we not rejoice?

    As the Book of the Prophet Isaiah comes to a close, the Lord instructs the people of Israel to stop mourning and instead rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her. The city to which the people are returning is personified as a nursing mother: Oh, that you may suck fully at the milk of her comfort, the Lord says. It is not the vision of prosperity that should cause the people to rejoice, but the Lord’s invitation to relationship, an invitation to intimacy with a maternal God who is generous and nurturing and caring, a God whose capacity to care for us is infinite! Once the people accept God’s invitation, they will be able to, as Psalm 66 suggests, Shout joyfully to God and sing praise to the glory of his name, even speaking to God directly, saying, How tremendous are your deeds! 

   If these Old Testament readings show individuals who rely entirely upon God, whose identity comes from God alone, this same dynamic would continue throughout Jesus’ lifetime. When, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus appoints seventy-two whom he sends ahead of him in pairs, he instructs them to go out with confidence, for he will be with them, intimately present to them, throughout their journey. As the disciples discover, even the demons are subject to them because of Jesus’ name. It is precisely their relationship with the Lord that allows them to do his work, fueling their preaching, teaching and healing. In utter dependence, the disciples will learn to share the good news of Jesus: The kingdom of God is at hand! 

    Years after the dying and rising of Jesus, Paul can also share the good news because he remains in intimate relationship with the Lord. Paul writes to the Galatians, May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord. For Paul, the cross is the unique route to salvation, a gift from God which the external world sees as abhorrent. Paul suggests that peace and mercy will be given to all who embrace and follow this rule, and are compelled to share their knowledge of God’s activity with their world. 

    Like the disciples, we too will rejoice, for our names will be written in heaven! We too will have a place in God’s heart, in God’s arms, in God’s lap, as Isaiah foretold: as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you and your heart will rejoice! To be Christ’s disciple, one who understands the Christian mission and allows God to work in her and through her, is a true reason for rejoicing!

This post is based on OLMC’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com