Our Venerable Father Gerasimus of the Jordan (475)
Great Fast Day 18
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 11:10-12:2; Vespers – Genesis 7:11-8:3; Proverbs 10:1-22
According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Isaiah 11:10-12:2
A central element of God’s plan of salvation and redemption is to reunite His people under the authority of the Messiah—the Anointed One. In the imagery found in this reading, Christ will raise a banner and be the sign around which the scattered people of God will gather. Those remnants of Israel in Africa, Mesopotamia, Syria, and elsewhere will return. Judah and Ephraim, the leading tribes in the southern and northern kingdoms respectively, will move past their differences and distrust and unite under the Messiah. Together, they will rule the world by the authority of the Almighty.
The military images abound in this passage. The Christ is to be like a great king who gathers and unites the peoples which previously had been one and since became divided. Together, they will rule.
This sort of earthly militaristic messiah is what most Jews at the time of Jesus believed would come. But we know that God had different plans. The Messiah was not to be an earthly ruler who conquered enemy nations, but a heavenly king who reigns in eternity. The enemy is not an earthly one, but the devil and his angels. All of the children of Abraham in faith are welcome into this united heavenly Kingdom, including the sons of Israel.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, continue your march towards the establishment of the eternal reign of God. Renew your effort in prayer, for that is your greatest weapon in war. Keep your gaze on the battle flag, Christ Himself, and allow Him to lead you to eternal blessedness.