April 6, 2025
Revised Common Lectionary
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8
Lectionary for Mass (RC)
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 (3)
Philippians 3:8-14
John 8:1-11
In today’s reading from Isaiah, God makes this beautiful, astonishing announcement: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19) Many in our world long for “a new thing”— especially those forced from their homes by war in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, and beyond. Millions have been displaced, seeking refuge in unfamiliar lands.
Every day, people are forced to leave behind all that is familiar to save themselves and their families. The lives of these exiles have been forever changed. They join the nearly 107 million other refugees and internally displaced persons in the world today, according to an estimate by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
The prophet was speaking to people who, like today’s refugees, were forced from their homeland by a war of conquest—in this case, by the Babylonians. Although they were captives rather than refugees, their community experienced the pain of displacement as they found themselves in a foreign land against their will.
The passage we hear today conveys a message of hope as God declares to the exiles many years into their captivity, “I am about to do a new thing” (Is 43:19). Along with this divine invitation to take heart is the call to let go of the past: “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old” (Is 43:18).
At first hearing, this sounds amazing—the prospect of returning to Judea and of rebuilding Jerusalem and its Temple. Consider, however, that the people who are being addressed here aren’t the same ones who had been led away in the first place. These words are directed to a new generation of Jews who had never even visited their homeland. For those who had known nothing else, this “new thing” may have felt more unsettling than hopeful. Yes, they were being asked to let go of bad memories, shame, and resentment yet they would need to leave behind the familiarity of this foreign land and a way of life that they had come to know.
This call to let go of the old and embrace the new is also at the heart of Paul’s message in Philippians. Paul holds himself up as an example: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8).
For Paul, this “new thing”—knowing Christ—is well worth the price. To know Christ in this way is to be transformed, allowing his presence to take root in every part of our being. It requires us to put aside our fear, our pettiness, our self-absorption, and our sin, to embrace fully the way of Christ and his cross.
Today’s Scriptures call us to step out of our own places of exile—to release what holds us back and embrace the new thing God is doing in us and in the world. At the same time, they remind us of the world’s responsibility to work for “a new thing”—for peace, security, and a place to call home for those who need it most. We are invited to step into the hope and challenge set before us today: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19)
A Hymn for Today: “When God restored our common life”
Today’s Lectionary Psalm is a song of celebration by exiles who have returned to their homeland and their common life. This paraphrase by Ruth Duck, FHS, makes that song our own, and in the last stanza includes a prayer for those who still suffer injustice in the world today. Listen here.
When God restored our common life,
our hope, our liberty,
at first it seemed a passing dream,
a waking fantasy;
a shock of joy swept over us,
for we had wept so long;
the seed we watered once with tears
sprang up into a song.
We went forth weeping, sowing seeds
in hard, unyielding soil;
with laughing hearts we carry home
the fruit of all our toil.
We praise the One who gave the growth,
with voices full and strong.
The seeds we watered once with tears
sprang up into a song.
Great liberating God, we pray for all
who are oppressed.
May those who long for what is right
with justice now be blest.
We pray for those who mourn this day,
and all who suffer wrong;
may seeds they water now with tears
spring up into a song.
Text: Ruth Duck, 1947-2024, © GIA Publications, Inc. Used by permission under OneLicense #A-729857
Tunes: RESIGNATION, SALVATION, KINGSFOLD
Image Credit: Palestinian refugees, 1948, Wikimedia Commons
“Word and Song: A Lectionary Reflection” is written by the Executive Director of The Hymn Society, Rev. Dr. Mike McMahon. For his full bio, click here and scroll down to the “staff” section.
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