Readings:
Isaiah 40-41
Proverbs 16
Romans 8:1-17

Isaiah 40-41

This chapter begins what’s called the Book of Consolation. It speaks of the majesty of God and his plan to redeem Israel after their exile ends. It kind of makes me think of a loving parent that has to correct their children for the sake of discipline, and to make completely clear that their actions that brought about the discipline are completely unacceptable, but at the same time the corrections and punishment is not what the parent wants to do. Israel was in dire need of correction, but God is a loving God and does not rejoice in the suffering of his children.

And while this can and should be read as a prophecy of their eventual return to the land, it’s also a foretelling of the ministry of John the Baptist and is often used as the first reading in the lectionary in conjunction with the related texts from the Gospels.

Romans 8:1-17

Paul says we’ve been set free from the “law of sin and death” by the law of the spirit, and that we are free creations in Christ. Not only are we free of condemnation because we’ve been acquitted and redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus, but the Holy Spirit gives us the strength and help to avoid further sins.

The Spirit frees us, not from the Law of Moses, but from the law of sin, and this by slaying sin and helping us in the daily struggle against it

Saint John Chrysostom

It’s this Spirit that we’ve received that makes us heirs with Christ and able to call God our father.

Readings:
Isaiah 42
Proverbs 17
Romans 8:18-39