Links for today’s readings:
Jul 23 Read: Isaiah 52 Listen: (2:46) Read: Psalm 119.73-96 Listen: (15:14)
Scripture Focus: Isaiah 52.1-2
1 Awake, awake, Zion,
clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.
Reflection: Awake, Awake! Amaze, Amaze!
By John Tillman
“Amaze! Amaze!” entered the cultural zeitgeist from the film Hail Mary Project. Perhaps it will stick around. I hope it does.
In the film and book, a human scientist, named Grace, is on a desperate “Hail Mary” space mission to save Earth from a deadly disaster. At his destination, Grace meets a rock-like alien, sent from his planet to solve the same problem. They work out a rudimentary translation system to communicate, work together, and save both their planets.
Grace names the alien “Rocky,” for obvious reasons. Rocky’s limited number of words in the computer translation program don’t seem to include adjectival present participles, like “amazing.” This is why Rocky shouts the verb, “amaze” repeatedly at moments of joy and discovery. And honestly, isn’t “Amaze, amaze!” objectively better than “amazing”?
Like Rocky, biblical Hebrew repeats words for emphasis. Most English translations rephrase them. For example, in Isaiah 26.3, the literal translation would be “peace, peace,” but to capture the intended emphasis, most translations say “perfect peace.” But here, in Isaiah 51.9 and 17, and in 52.1, the literal translation of “Awake, awake” preserves the poetic emphasis of the original.
The first “awake, awake,” is a cry to God, to arise and save Israel as in former times. The second cry is to Jerusalem, drunk and collapsed from God’s cup of judgment. The third is to Zion and encourages her to rise up from her suffering and enslavement to be what God calls her to be. On her own, she fell into shame and defilement. But God offers salvation. In his power, she need not stay down. She can awake.
She is captive but can break the chain from her neck. She is disheveled but can clean herself off. She is naked but can clothe herself in royal garments. She is powerless but can sit on the throne God provides.
This message is also for us. God says to us, “Awake, awake!” The grace of Jesus saves us from deadly disaster. We can be set free, washed clean, clothed in righteousness, and commissioned to his purpose. (John 8.36; Titus 3.5; Gal 3.27; Acts 1.8)
Salvation comes to us in a moment, but awaking to its full meaning is a process we participate in. How awake are you? If you are awake, are you rising up? Are you liberated? Cleansed? Empowered? God says to us, “Awake! Awake!.” Say back to him, “Amaze! Amaze!”
Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.
One day tells its tale to another, and one night imparts knowledge to another.
Although they have no words or language, and their voices are not heard,
Their sound has gone out into all the lands, and their message to the ends of the world.
In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber; it rejoices like a champion to run its course.
It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens and runs about to the end of it again; nothing is hidden from its burning heat. — Psalm 19.1-6
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: The Stretching Arm of Salvation
Self-help righteousness has been tried. It failed. We cannot reach salvation. Salvation reaches for us
Read more: The Arm of Flesh versus the Prince of Peace
We may often find ourselves opposed by those who use interpretations of scripture against us.
