break forth and shout, you who were not in labor;
for more numerous are the children of the deserted one
than of her who has a husband.
There is a break here. It is an interruption in the continuity that has been unchanged since the fall. Humanity is barren. We long for life but cannot really bring it forth. The life we do bring forth is subjected to slavery. It isn't the fullness of life. It doesn't have the freedom it is meant for. We are "those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life" (cf. Heb 2:15). As humans, we know a lot about the frustration that life in this world brings.
But the life for which we long does indeed come, though not through human effort. It does appear, though not through the same old things we've been trying again and again throughout history. It comes not by way of effort but rather as a gift.
Humanity is first prepared. The barren woman eventually receives its most perfect form in the Virgin. She is cleansed from sin and made free. In this freedom she does not even attempt to give birth on her own. She is made to be entirely receptive to the gift that is to be given. She is given grace to be perfectly open to the gift and speak her fiat to it.
The gift she is given cannot be overstated. It is "something greater than Solomon"
and "something greater than Jonah". All other signs that are ever given in history point to this gift. This gift cannot be subverted to point to something else. No looking past it as if some other sign could be more significant than the thing itself will be tolerated.
Jesus is not a finger pointing to the moon. He is the moon. The healings he does, the gifts he gives, these are signs pointing to him. If we fixate on them we miss the point. He himself is the gift. In him we have freedom. When we let our gaze be drawn by his special effects we are submitting to slavery in small ways. We are given the old order of the world a power over us that it shouldn't have.
For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm
and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
When we meet Jesus we are set free. We are free indeed. But we know that we all must still taste death. The freedom he gives doesn't (usually) change that. It is something even more significant. It is freedom, not from death, but from the futility of death. It is freedom to truly live and embrace the full will of God for each one of us. Sickness, suffering, and death are now subverted to God's purpose for each of us. Which is not to say that he doesn't often show his power over those things. But he does this so that his preeminence may be revealed. He displays in these actions the truth of his position at the top of the metaphysical hiearchy. These actions are not salvation, though. They cannot be. He isn't just going to do a patch job on the old order. He has a whole new wineskin (cf. Mat. 9:17).
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.
Who is like the LORD, our God,
who looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
What frustrates us today? What seems futile? We are given the grace to stand firm in the freedom of Christ. These things may continue, but Jesus frees us from the power they have over us. Blessed be his name forever!
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