Rev. Dr. Stephen R. Melton
December 7, 2022
Isaiah 11: 1-10
Kingdom of God
peaceable_kingdom_december_4_2022.docx
In the painting by Edward Hicks, images of the Kingdom of God are in the forefront. Was Hicks denying the harsh reality of the world? Or - and here is the thing for us to wonder about today - was Hicks being like a park ranger? Was he pointing towards beauty and telling us to pay attention?
In the passage today from Isaiah, twice Isaiah says this Kingdom is like the shoot from a tree. Now, shoots are real, but not very large and easy to overlook, but they are real, nonetheless. So, maybe Isaiah is also wanting us to look more carefully?
See, we Christians are not in denial. We know the world is harsh. But we know something else. We know that as divisive as this world can be and as real as conflict is, it isn’t our natural state. As much as we quarrel and argue, our true self is first and foremost looking for peace.
I think that’s why Hicks put the peaceable kingdom in the foreground. We may look out at the world and see disagreements and we may hear arguments, but this isn’t what we want, is it? As much we are prone to fighting, our natural self seeks harmony.
