Each of us wants to live into the Isaiah 11 idyllic reality of the lion and the lamb. But this image of a place where natural enemies lean on each other for support seems so alien to us. If the language of coexistence were as easy as Isaiah’s metaphors make it seem, John the Baptist would not have been calling God’s people to repent many generations later. Is your inner lamb truly ready to trust my inner lion? Are we all ready to acknowledge the lion, bear and asp within each of us?
Yet John challenges us to face an even more menacing image. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance” (Luke 3:7-8). John the Baptist pokes the sword of law at our need for forgiveness and grace.
Here’s the truth. Regardless of how we hear John’s language, we – each of us – must recognize our inner viper. When we all honestly acknowledge the place of our brokenness, we have a chance of living into Isaiah’s beautiful image of harmonious coexistence.
This message is excerpted from “Happy indeed” by Twila Schock in the December 2018 Gather
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