In today’s first reading we hear Isaiah’s great vision of peace and joy: “In days to come, the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills.” All people and nations are invited to climb up to the mountain of the Lord to receive “instruction” (torah). God’s instruction or Torah will teach all nations the way of peace: “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” God’s will and God’s way is the way of peace.
Isaiah’s vision is also a hope and a prayer. Sadly, this vision has yet to be realized as we continue to see one nation lifting up a sword against another in Isaiah’s and Jesus’ homeland. We see how destructive and senseless these wars are. We are horrified by the killing of innocent civilians, especially the children. We continue to pray for peace in Israel, in Gaza, and in Lebanon and are challenged to call all nations to turn from the way of hatred and war to the way of peace.
In today’s Gospel a Gentile centurion recognizes his unworthiness: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” We also recognized our unworthiness as we repeat the centurion’s words right before communion: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” None of us are worthy but all of us are invited to come to Jesus for healing and forgiveness. Jesus incarnates the vision of the prophet Isaiah and invites all people to come to him for instruction to learn the true way of God, the way of peace, of justice, and of mercy:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Today all of us are invited to climb the mountain of the Lord. We are invited to encounter Jesus today and each day of our life. We are invited to learn anew each day the instruction and the way of the one true God.
Image: “mountain” by barnyz is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.