A Reflection for Tuesday of the First Week of Advent
Find today’s readings here.
Today in the primary reading we hear that famous Isaian vision of God’s kingdom to return, which the Quaker artist Edward Hicks so famously captured in his painting The Peaceable Kingdom. “The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest.” It’s mainly a return to Eden.
But toward the top of that pastoral scene of former predators and prey making a house together, we get these two lines: “The newborn shall play by the cobra’s den, and the kid lay his hand on the adder’s lair.” (Isa 11:8) It’s the primary and only time that human beings are mentioned within the scene, and the pictures are viscerally disconcerting. I do know that what we’re being told is that even essentially the most vulnerable human beings shall be protected here, but the concept of a baby playing near a cobra continues to be unimaginable to reconcile. In a way I don’t care what the reading is saying; on a gut level I would like those children to be taken to safety right away. Babies mustn’t be left near snakes.
I believe Isaiah intends that response. It points to only how inconceivably different the dominion to return is from our own current reality, so different that it seems not only unimaginable but by some means scandalous.
Isaiah points to only how inconceivably different the dominion to return is from our own current reality, so different that it seems not only unimaginable but by some means scandalous.
In our own context, we’d say that the Kingdom of God is a spot where every Palestinian has a house of their very own, and each Israeli, too, they usually dwell in peace together.
The Kingdom of God is a spot where people can go right into a synagogue, or wear a kippah or a burqa, and never feel like they’re in peril.
The Kingdom of God is a spot where people aren’t pulled over, arrested or worse due to the color of their skin. It’s a spot where Black and Brown parents don’t must fear for his or her children’s safety every time they leave the home or get in a automotive. It’s a spot where law enforcement officials and other people of color have block parties and help one another.
The Kingdom of God is a spot where you may hold hands with whoever you would like, or go into any bar without fear. It’s a spot where everyone seems to be welcome at church, and nobody ever has to fret about hearing themselves or someone they love shamed from a pulpit or condemned. It’s a spot where bishops go to tug shows and drag queens sing at Mass, and none of it’s a giant deal.
Advent is a season of expectation and waiting. That’s a part of what I like about it, that sense of anticipation. But we sure could use more of that scandalous Peaceable Kingdom right away.
