The prophet Isaiah’s words today were originally addressed to a people who had spent many years away from their homeland, the victims of war, living as captives, exiled to their conquerors’ land. He offers them hope that their time of warfare is over, the time for their homecoming is drawing near, that God is going to do a new thing – this will be a time of re-creation, a fresh beginning, a new exodus as God’s chosen people return to the promised land and the holy city of Jerusalem.
There are times in our lives when we feel like exiles – living in a foreign land, oppressed by forces beyond our control, held captive by our own inner impulses or by external influences. We can feel alienated from God, from other people, even estranged from our own selves – not really the people we know ourselves to be.
When we were baptized we, like Jesus, also had those wonderful words spoken to us by the Father: “You are my beloved child – me son, my daughter – my love is with you.†At our baptism, the Lord spoke His powerful word into our lives in order to recreate us, and the Holy Spirit came to live within us, to lead us and guide us on our journey home, secure in the knowledge of God’s love.