Friday of the First Week of Advent , Dec 5, 2025
Isaiah 29:17–24
17 Shall not Lebanon in a very little while become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest? 18 On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. 19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. 20 For the tyrant shall be no more, and the scoffer shall cease to be; all those alert to do evil shall be cut off— 21 those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit, who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate, and without grounds deny justice to the one in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
No longer shall Jacob be ashamed, no longer shall his face grow pale. 23 For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24 And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.
Isaiah offers yet another daring vision of the world transformed: “The deaf shall hear the words of the book, the blind shall see out of their gloom and darkness, and the poor shall rejoice in the Lord.” Why such joy? Because, says the prophet, “the tyrant shall be no more.”
This is not a distant fantasy but a sharp critique of our world — a world where greed still writes the rules of politics and finance. The documentary The Inside Job revealed how unrestrained ambition and market deregulation led to the global financial crisis of 2008. Millions of ordinary people lost everything — jobs, savings, and homes — while those responsible walked away untouched. The tyrant was not a person but a system built on profit without conscience.
Our world is full of people alert to do evil — clever enough to exploit others, indifferent to the ruin they cause, so long as their pockets are full. Many lure the poor with promises of prosperity and then enslave them through debt. Isaiah saw similar corruption in his time. Yet he refused to accept it as normal. He imagined a future where the proud fall, the humble are lifted, and the poor rejoice.
The root of the problem, Isaiah says, is that people live as if God did not exist. Without reverence for God, there is no moral compass. We lose the capacity to be corrected, the willingness to listen. Vice replaces virtue, arrogance replaces humility. But biblical faith restores our hearing and sight. It is not a faith that merely acknowledges God’s existence or seeks individual salvation; it is faith in the living God who stands with the vulnerable and demands justice on their behalf.
Even if all human courts acquit those who caused our financial and moral crises, God will not. His judgment exposes what our systems conceal. Yet this judgment is also mercy — for those who “keep God’s name holy” become teachable again. Reverence opens the heart. The once-deaf begin to hear the Word; the once-blind begin to see truth; the once-arrogant become humble enough to learn.
Isaiah’s vision remains a promise and a warning. When the tyrant is no more, the poor will rejoice. But until that day, faith must keep our eyes open, our hearts humble, and our voices raised for justice.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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