Isaiah is my favourite prophet, maybe because in the midst of his grim message of judgment he also abounds with positivity; his vision sparkles of a renewed Zion; one day the sun will shine again on God’s people – and when it does what a glorious day it will be. And here, in the midst of Isaiah, so full of mysteries, I find another mystery. It is the word about eunuchs (just bear in mind that any priest with impaired sexual organs was not allowed to serve in the temple in the days of Isaiah.)
“And let no eunuch complain,
“I am only a dry tree.”
“I am only a dry tree.”
For this is what the LORD says:
To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant —
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant —
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that will endure forever.
Isaiah 56:3, 4, 5
A memorial – a sort of plaque or memorial stone placed on the wall so people can be remembered and honoured forever? I think of my trips around Westminster Abbey in past years where the names and deeds of the most highly acclaimed and notable of the land are enshrined for ensuing generations to remember. And a place ‘better than sons and daughters – what on earth does that mean? The only thing closer than sons and daughters is a lover or partner. Maybe that’s it. I really don’t know. Celibates will have a place of great everlasting honour, a relationship with God that is very, very intimate – where? In the very temple of God, the heart of the heart of the place where God dwells – his church and highest heaven. O to be a faith-filled, uncomplaining ‘eunuch!’
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