These verses from Isaiah are a prayer to God from a people oppressed and powerless. Their first response is to lash out at their oppressors (verses 1-4) and to ask for God’s intervention. Israel prays that God will intervene and show the other nations who it is that is really in charge.
In the midst of this diatribe against their enemy, the prayer abruptly changes tone and focus. “We sinned…we have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.” It is not that they have suddenly realized that their enemy is not so bad after all. It’s just that while reflecting on their enemy they have come to realize that they are not much different. They, too, are self-centered, self-righteous seeking power, authority and control. They, too, have forgotten God in the name of self.
In the final movement of Israel’s prayer they reclaim their proper place opening their hearts to God’s outstretched arms, “O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
As a season of preparation, Advent invites us to surrender and recommit our lives placing them firmly in God’s hands. We surrender that we might receive. We receive that we might share. That sounds like a wonderful formula to prepare our hearts for the coming of God’s love.
O come, O come, Emmanuel!
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