The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist Service 12/7/25.

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
a spirit of counsel and of strength,
a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,
and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.
Not by appearance shall he judge,
nor by hearsay shall he decide,
but he shall judge the poor with justice,
and decide aright for the land's afflicted.
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
Justice shall be the band around his waist,
and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.
Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra's den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea.
On that day, the root of Jesse,
set up as a signal for the nations,
the Gentiles shall seek out,
for his dwelling shall be glorious.

(Isaiah 11:1-10)

It’s the second Sunday of Advent, and all of our readings today have to do with the coming of the Christ and the justice and peace he will bring with him. In Isaiah, he speaks of a blossom from the root of Jesse, coming to give justice and to set things right in the world. In today’s Psalm (72:1-17), we hear of the king’s son and the flowering of his peace and justice. And in Matthew (3:1-12), we read John calling God’s people to repentance in preparation for the Messiah’s coming, so that the coming wrath might pass them.

Although words of judgment and wrath might be off putting, in reality, we have all the reason to celebrate this. But this can actually be hard. I feel that sometimes, depending on how much I pay attention to the news, it is hard to imagine a world that’s full of peace and justice, let alone to celebrate a coming world like that. But I think that it’s important to imagine what something might look like if we are to wait for it and look forward to it. And I feel that to imagine something, there needs to be time given to that imagining.

I’d like to take a moment for us to really think about the things in this world that shouldn’t be. Isaiah already gives us some material to work with: “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever,” and “the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD.” In these verses we see that the sort of natural violence we’re used to in a fallen world is replaced with predators and prey that live in harmony. What I think helps me imagine this future the most, though, is the imagery of the baby and child and the snake's dens. For something so precious and vulnerable to us as a baby or child to be playing in a situation that would normally be immediately dangerous and probably lethal, and to have no fear or worry about it is particularly striking to me. The radicalness and difference of this scene to our experience helps me take the seriousness of a world with complete peace and justice into consideration when imagining Christ’s coming. With these things in mind, I’d like to take a few seconds for us to imagine a world like this…

These are things that we hope for, that we look forward to, and that have been promised to us. God wants to bring justice, goodness, and peace to us, so let us keep a spirit of repentance and look expectantly towards Jesus’s coming.

For the guilty, judgment can be frightening. For those who have been saved, and are in the habit of feeling guilty, judgment can also seem frightening. But those who are saved don’t need to fear that part of judgment, because we’re covered by the blood of Jesus.

Envisioning Christ's Redeemed World: Tayt Thomas

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