Justice and Joy

Justice and Joy – Through this Advent season we are reading words of Isaiah, and today’s prophecy from chapter 64 comes again to a people in despair but offers a glimmer of hope, and beyond that hope it offers comfort and joy. Today, the third Sunday of Advent, we light the third candle, a pink one representing joy, and in that sense this section of Isaiah fits. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus preaches for the first time in his own hometown and uses these words from Isaiah, but the people are upset because the joy he describes is dependent on justice for people who aren’t the ones hearing him and aren’t themselves experiencing injustice. We can experience joy when God’s vision of justice for everyone is realized, and we have roles in making that happen.