Scripture Study for

Isaiah characterizes Jerusalem as a nursing mother, ready to give of herself,  feeding her inhabitants from the fullness of her own body. She carries the people, fondles and comforts them. This same maternal metaphor then characterizes  God. The metaphor of water is also employed to describe Jerusalem’s life-giving properties. This is a powerful image, since Israel was bounded on several sides by deserts or barren wilderness. On the day Jerusalem is transformed, the people will rejoice with their hearts and their bones. The power of God will shine forth from the restored city, and the people of God will rejoice. 

Paul speaks of the death of Jesus and of his own suffering. Jesus died as a convicted felon, and Paul boasts in the sign of this death. The centrality of the cross has turned the world upside down. Joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus,  Paul has struck a death blow to the world and its system of values, and that world is now dead to him. Faith in the power of the cross of Jesus, not circumcision,  effects membership in the people of God. Thus women and men from every race and ethnic origin are welcome in this community. 

Jesus uses two metaphors to represent the mission of his disciples: harvest,  and lambs among wolves. Harvest suggests that the seventy-two have only to gather up the fruits of the work of others. Still, the field of ministry is threatening and the missionaries themselves are vulnerable as lambs. They are to trust in God and depend upon the hospitality of those to whom they go. The urgency of the time precludes usual social niceties. Peace! will suffice as an adequate greeting. The people will witness the power of God triumphant over the powers of evil. As important as are the wondrous deeds that they will be able to perform, more wondrous still will be the fact that their names will be inscribed in the heavenly book.