Advent Readings for December 11th

Today, as we reflect on the readings, we are invited to examine the times we feel peace knowing that God has our backs.

Isaiah 41:13-20

Israel Assured of God’s Help

¹³ For I, the Lord your God,

    hold your right hand;

it is I who say to you, “Do not fear,

    I will help you.”

¹⁴ Do not fear, you worm Jacob,

    you maggot Israel!

I will help you, says the Lord;

    your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ I will make of you a threshing sledge,

    sharp, new, and having teeth;

you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,

    and you shall make the hills like chaff.

¹⁶ You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,

    and the tempest shall scatter them.

Then you shall rejoice in the Lord;

    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

¹⁷ When the poor and needy seek water,

    and there is none,

    and their tongue is parched with thirst,

I the Lord will answer them,

    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

¹⁸ I will open rivers on the bare heights

    and fountains in the midst of the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water

    and the dry land springs of water.

¹⁹ I will put in the wilderness the cedar,

    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;

I will set in the desert the cypress,

    the plane and the pine together,

²⁰ so that all may see and know,

    all may consider and understand,

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

    the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Matthew 11:11-15

Jesus Praises John the Baptist

¹¹ “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and violent people take it by force. ¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John came, ¹⁴ and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. ¹⁵ Let anyone with ears listen!