NOTES for Isa 55:1-13
1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. |
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. |
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. |
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. |
5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. |
6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: |
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. |
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. |
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. |
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: |
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. |
12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. |
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. |
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Today's reading brings us back to the theme of the messianic Kingdom, revealing it from a side perhaps somewhat unexpected for the prophet's contemporaries. Isaiah says that in the Kingdom a person receives everything necessary for life as a gift (vv. 1-2). And this is not simply about an extraordinary abundance of earthly fruits, which in the transformed world a person can receive without labor. It is no accident that the prophet connects this abundance with the covenant (v. 3), which presupposes witness to the pagans (vv. 5-6) and the turning of the wicked and apostates (v. 7).
Such an approach did not fully fit the ideas about the covenant and the Kingdom that were traditional for those times. To religious people, and they were the overwhelming majority in the Jewish community, whether among the repatriates or among those who remained in Babylon, it was completely obvious that the right to enter the Kingdom had to be earned. But Isaiah, speaking in God's name, says something else: the Kingdom is given as a gift to those who seek it.
Such a view, of course, immediately devalued all achievements and made all religious arithmetic meaningless. But it opened the road into the Kingdom to everyone who sought that Kingdom. Gold and silver can pay for earthly life and earthly goods; for the life of the Kingdom a person has nothing with which to pay. Earthly currency is not accepted there, even if it is the currency of religious achievements and merits. But relationships with God are fundamentally important; without them neither turning nor witness can be imagined. The person who turns to God and repents of his sins also can count not on the fact that from now on he will "reform" and "work it all off," but only on the mercy of God.
All this seemed so strange and so contrary to settled ideas that Isaiah, speaking in God's name, says directly to his listeners that human thoughts and ways are as far from God's designs and ways as earth is from heaven (vv. 8-9). And he says that God's word does not remain barren, making possible what is impossible for man (vv. 10-11). The time will come, and the impossible will become real: the Word will become flesh, and the Savior will enter the world.
Readings for 29 September 2025
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