We live in a time where the world feels fractured and divided. War and violence plagues many countries, millions of migrants are on the move, and politics is filled with partisanship and vitriol. It is tempting to look to technology, to utopian solutions, or worse, to totalitarianism and populism, that might impose an order on such chaos.
The inhabitants of ancient Israel, living in times of unrest and turbulence, also desired peace and security, and through the prophets, the LORD gave them a vision of hope. In today’s first reading, we hear part of that vision: people of many nations will come to Jerusalem, taking hold of people’s garments and saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Finally, war and strife will cease, and all people will worship together on the LORD’s mountain.
We Christians share in that vision of peace and hope. We know that at the end of the age, Christ will come again, and all people will see him plainly, so that we might together sing a hymn of praise in the Spirit to the glory of the Father. Today, let us ask the Lord to renew our hope and to begin living out that vision of harmony.