I.
This week we again listen to Isaiah and with even more emphasis Isaiah calls on us to pay attention –

“Listen to me …Look …
Look … Listen to me …
give heed … Lift up your eyes …
and look … Listen to me …”

What do you hear and see?

II.
Isaiah 51:1-8 (New Revised Standard Version)

Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness,
you that seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.

Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
but I blessed him and made him many.

For the Lord will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.

Listen to me, my people,
and give heed to me, my nation;
for a teaching will go out from me,
and my justice for a light to the peoples.

I will bring near my deliverance swiftly,
my salvation has gone out
and my arms will rule the peoples;
the coastlands wait for me,
and for my arm they hope.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
for the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and those who live on it will die like gnats;
but my salvation will be forever,
and my deliverance will never be ended.

Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
you people who have my teaching in your hearts;
do not fear the reproach of others,
and do not be dismayed when they revile you.

For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool;
but my deliverance will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.

III.
Of the things that Isaiah calls on the people to listen to, to listen for, and to see, what captures and holds your attention?

Maybe that he speaks to those who “pursue righteousness” and “seek the Lord”?

Or maybe that he calls them to recall the “rock” and “quarry” from which they came and form an essential part of their nature?

Or maybe it’s his speaking to those “people who have my teaching in your hearts.”

Where do you find yourself among his hearers?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}