From Richard Rohr’s Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent.
Scripture Readings:
Isaiah 65:17-18 The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind Instead there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create
John 4:50,53 The man put his trust in the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and set off for home. . . . He and his whole household thereupon became believers.
Most of us have been led to believe that prophets “foretell” the future. That is true, and it is also misleading. . . . Prophets are seers of the big patterns; they see what is always and forever true. Prophets like Isaiah know how God acts by watching and listening, and they have no doubt about the “meta-narratives,” the Real Story that is always going on inside of our little stories. One of the big patterns is that God’s message always gets wider and more universal, despite our best attempts to limit it.
So when Isaiah talks about God creating “new heavens and a “new earth,” and “delight” and “rejoicing,” the passing away of “weeping and crying,” or the extended lie of a person, he is not so much talking about concrete particulars as he is talking about universals, the big things that are always true, and might also be true here or there. It seems that ancient peoples had a larger sense of history and truth than we do. Maybe they were just more patient in seeing the big patterns unfold.
When Jesus comes back to Galilee, the first new thing is that he is accosted by a “royal official” who wants a miracle for his dying son. Now for a non-Jew of the “nobility” to trust an itinerant Jewish healer with no formal credentials is certainly a breakthrough into newness. The official trusts Jesus at his word, with no evidence at hand. When the official returns home, his weeping is indeed turned into delight, and we have one of the few examples of non-local healing in Jesus’ ministry. There is no mention whatsoever of any checklist of beliefs, no correct loyalty systems, no asking whether the royal official is in his first marriage, or whether he has made a good confession of his sins. . . .
As it comes to be expected in the Gospels, it is the outsider who invariably “gets it,” while the insiders will largely continue to fight Jesus as they defend much smaller truths. The circle of biblical revelation keeps widening to create that “new earth” of Isaiah. . . . One wonders how we ever made religion into any kind of exclusionary system whatsoever when the vast majority of Jesus’ healings seem to happen to the excluded ones and maybe even the unworthy ones!
Prayer: God of all names and all love, give us hearts to include all that you are willing to include, to forgive all that you so easily forgive, and to join you in doing something truly “new” on this earth. Amen.