The wolf shall live with the lamb.
The leopard shall lie down with the kid.
The lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Your basic predators and prey chilling together.
For fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the line "and a little child shall lead them" should some familiar. Except in that one it was a child-turned-vampire who was called the Chosen One. He looked all sweet and lovable, but he was a bringer of destruction. Which was a great crescendo as part of the end of that first season, but theologically pretty much the opposite of Isaiah's vision.
The popular culture thing that best fits Isaiah's vision is the movie, Zootopia. In the beginning the children act out a history play of how it was and how it now is.
Like the best of children's movies, it's enjoyable for little ones while providing adults with a story that works on multiple levels. The animals claim that they all live in harmony, but under the surface (and not very far under), there's prejudice about what skills predators have (and don't have) and what skills prey have (and don't have). Questions about who is safe and who is unsafe. Making sweeping statements like, "All predators are untrustworthy," realize you're talking to a predator and follow it up with, "But you're not like other predators." Maybe things aren't the utopia they appear to be. Maybe the idea that "anyone can be anything' is said to placate but isn't really meant.
But Judy Hops won't give up on either her big picture ideal of justice for all or the specific idea that she as a rabbit and Nick as a fox can be true friends without caveats. When she realizes she's been wrong, she apologizes.
The Isaiah of chapter 11 was prophesying at a time when Israel had split into Israel and Judah. When there was constant conflict. Battles to reunite, battles to stay separate. Isaiah imagined a time of unity, not through force and conquest, but through righteousness and faithfulness. Not a peace reached by papering over problems but by seeking and working for a peace as deep and wide as God's seas.
The visions of Isaiah and of Zootopia remind us where we are and where we want to be. As for me, I'm going to channel my inner Judy Hops this Advent.
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