Main news for 17 June 2024

Enemies are approaching Jerusalem, yet the prophet Isaiah promises salvation to King Ahaz and the people. This promise will be confirmed by a wondrous sign: the Virgin will conceive in her womb and bear a Son whose name is "God with us."

Seven centuries later the evangelist will apply this prophecy to the birth of the Savior of Israel, in whom God Himself will visit His people. Thus the news of the coming Messiah becomes salvation for God's people - Christ saves those who believe in Him even seven hundred years before His birth.

Isaiah's prophecies are filled with the expectation of meeting Christ, of this knowledge of Christ and His meaning for the world - and in the New Testament sense: knowledge of Christ as the Son of Man, as Savior and Redeemer from sins. At the same time the prophet constantly speaks on God's behalf, as a being to whom it has been given to understand what the Lord is doing and preparing for all people. And through the prophets the Lord gives promises to people, telling us what the fullness of peace, the fullness of His word, and the fullness of His love are. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel".

These words will stand at the beginning of the Gospel. And the message will be announced to the world, and all the prophecies will be fulfilled. From His birth to the Ascension, not one word spoken by the prophet about the Savior of the world will be forgotten. Everything will be fulfilled by Jesus - and even more.

But we are still the same kind of people as those to whom Isaiah spoke. Even though we believe and pray to Christ. And on the day of Judgment we will stand before Christ on the same level as Adam and Cain; and all our sins, all our vices, all our blindness and our ignorance will become condemnation for us if we do not choose the path of repentance and do not ask for mercy and healing.

"I will not ask for a sign." Why does a person need signs when he can explain away any sign, even the most fantastic and unbelievable one, in such a way that God drops out of the equation? And on the other hand, why do we need something visible when what matters far more for each of us is a real sense of God's work in our own life?

When you receive an answer to a question, when you see that what you asked for has been done, signs are unnecessary. We demand proof when we do not believe and do not trust, when we need the option of saying that the evidence is unconvincing. But when we understand that God's works are real facts, even the word "sign" disappears from our vocabulary. The Virgin Mary did not ask the Angel for proof that what was promised would happen; she simply asked him to explain how the prophecy would be fulfilled.