Who is this Messiah?

This week the first readings of the liturgy are from the prophet Isaiah.  Yesterday, in chapter 11: 1-10, Isaiah tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord, not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s affected. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.”

This means that Jesus is filled with the Spirit of the Father, that He is filled with wisdom and understanding of who we are and who we are becoming. Jesus knows when we are separated from Truth, Justice, Wisdom, Wholeness, Understanding and Holiness. Jesus sees our needs and responds wisely, lovingly, compassionately, justly and with strength against Satan, against all that is not of God in our lives.  Jesus comes filled with knowledge of the Father’s will for our salvation, reverencing, respecting, honoring the Father’s plan for our redemption.  We also know that Jesus does not judge us by appearances or by hearsay.  What an awesome God!

From this Scripture passage, we also know that the poor will be judged with justice, that God will decide aright for Blacks and Whites, Native Americans and Asians—all races, persons of all sexual orientations, persons of any religious denomination. Jesus will strike down the wicked: those abusing women and children, those abusing boys and men, those involved in any crime--human trafficking, slave labor, the sex industry, corruption and deceit of any kind.  God comes in power!

As a disciple of Jesus, what am I doing to bring justice to the poor, to right wrongs among us? How do I alert people to the coming of God’s kingdom? To the coming of the Messiah?