Intimacy is the Model

The prophet Isaiah relates the tender care that the people returning from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem are experiencing from God in this text from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. ( Isaiah 49:15) "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” The psalmist proclaims the compassion and intimacy of the Lord to those who call on Him. In the Gospel of John the author explains the great difficulty of the religious authorities with Jesus. The claim of Jesus that he and the Father were one was beyond belief. The text continues to expound on the relationship between Father and Son which is one of the Presence of the will of the Father in the actions of the Son. The tenderness of Isaiah 49 and the closeness of the Divine to those who are bowed down, in the words of the psalmist, is physical and human. The delight of the Divine in Creation is expressed in flesh. This is truly much more than mere human awareness can easily accommodate. The indwelling Spirit, the love of Father and Son, is the language with which mere humanity is in intimate community with the Divine.