DO ALL WORDS LAST?

INTRODUCTION

The title of homily for this Tuesday in the 1^st  Week  of  Lent  is, “Do All Words Last?”

TODAY’S FIRST READING FROM ISAIAH

In today’s first reading from Isaiah 55:10-1, Isaiah dramatizes the Lord saying that his words will last. They are not voided. They do the Lord’s will. They achieve the end for which they are voiced, sent.

We know that Jesus pondered Isaiah’s words - words that lasted for centuries - by word of mouth first and then written in ink on scroll and book - up till our time.

I like Bibles that have those little tiny references to other texts along side the texts. The Jerusalem Bible is the best for this in my opinion.

We were taught that the Bible - contains echoes of earlier texts - over and over again. It’s not plagiarism. It’s referals without quotation marks.

Those then who mark these echoes with tiny text references make it easier to hear these earlier sounds. It wasn’t till the early middle ages that chapter and verse numbers were added to our Bible.

I love the scene in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus walks into the synagogue  at Nazareth - and they hand him a copy of the written scroll of the words of Isaiah. He unrolls the scroll and voices words from Isaiah 61:18-19. He uses them for his inaugural address:

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,

for he has anointed me.

He has sent me to bring the Good News to the poor,

and to the blind, sight,

to set the downtrodden free,

to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.”

Then Jesus went out and made those words flesh.  Or as they say in 12 Step Language, “He talked the talk, then he walked the walk.”

The title of my homily is, “Do All Words Last?”

Isaiah’s words - become Jesus’ words. Then when we make those words real in action, we are helping to make those words last.

Mary is the model for all this. She said, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” Then the Word became flesh in her and lived among us.

Do all words last?

An “I love you!” lasts - and sometimes an “I hate you!” lasts even longer.

Think back on life!  Which words last? What words do we remember all our life?

Words can  be like tattoos - they last on the inner skin of our mind and memory  - for better or for worse - forever.

To replay and make a play on e.e. cummings famous words, “be of love a little more careful than anything” - we can say, “be of words a little more careful than anything.”

Don’t we all remember from grammar or high school Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “I Shot An Arrow Into Air”?

THE ARROW AND THE SONG

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend. 

Isaiah in today’s first reading saw rain and snow come down from the sky - and watched their impact on the arid soil of Israel. 

I once preached in the Tucson, Arizona area for 2 weeks - and I was hoping, hoping, hoping for rain, because I heard when one wakes up the next day, one sees that the desert has bloomed. Didn’t happen.

Isaiah is comparing rain and snow to words - falling down on people - changing them - helping them blossom.

Isn’t that why we read the scriptures? Don’t we want good words to rain down on us? Isn’t that why we read good books and magazines, listen to good music, attend lectures, talk to each other, so we can flourish.

Isn’t that why we pray - our own prayers - or Jesus’ prayer as we heard it in today’s gospel, “the Our Father.”

CONCLUSION

Today - may our words - be words that lift those we’re with - words that are made of oak - words that grow and stand tall in the woods of each other. Amen.