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Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies…”
Isaiah 1:24
There is a classic theatrical set-up in which a messenger rushes in from the wings and shouts, “The Prince is coming!” The crowd onstage turns and looks in the direction from which the messenger has come and waits – and waits. Eventually, the Prince enters alone from the other side of the stage completely unnoticed and “comedy ensues.”
The writer of today’s reading from Isaiah reminds me of that crowd. As an oppressed people they have expectations for how God is going to come to them and what he’s going to do when he arrives. They are definitely not expecting a baby born in some provincial village. My experience is that God seldom comes from the direction I expect. My prayers are usually not answered in the way I had hoped, but I always get help that is more generous than anything for which I would dare to ask.
I was reminded of this Divine Unpredictability last week when a friend texted me to say that her adult goddaughter had showed up at her house without her shoes. When she asked the young woman about it, she simply said: “I saw a homeless woman walking down the street barefoot and her feet were bleeding – so I stopped to talk with her and ended up giving her my shoes.” My friend ended her note by saying, “Today, Jesus walked into my house, and she was barefoot.”
You never know what direction God is coming from.
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