Second Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

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Context

We like to start our look at any passage by trying to understand the context.

There is a shift that happens here in chapter 40 of Isaiah

Chapters 1-39 speak largely of God’s judgment upon a rebellious people

And 39 ends with Israel’s King Hezekiah cozying up with Babylon, which leads Isaiah to prophesy that Israel will be decimated and taken into exile by Babylon.

That did indeed happen.

And then chapter 40 on speaks largely of God consoling a discouraged people in exile, an emphasis on grace and promise

One commentator likened the situation of Israel to that of Native Americans, who have had their land taken, livelihoods destroyed, and culture nearly wiped out.

And so these opening words come like a lifeline of hope

The song we sang earlier frames it well.

Comfort comfort now my people

Tell of peace so says our God

Comfort those who sit in darkness

Mourning under sorrow's load

To God's people now proclaim

That God's pardon waits for them

Tell them that their war is over

God will reign in peace forever

Your war is over. The Lord is coming. And he will reign in peace forever.

Understanding this context is important because it roots the word of God in reality.

I am very good at turning scripture into ideas that float in the realm of abstract concepts.

But the word of God has power when it touches down in our lived experience.

And the word of God hits differently based on the reality the our lived experience.

This is a word for people in exile who know they are in exile.

A word of comfort is powerful because their discomfort is profound.

One commentator noted that for comfortable and happy inhabitants of Babylon, "comfort, comfort” becomes nothing more than a warm sentiment.

For comfortable happy inhabitants of our American Empire getting ready for the holiday it’s the same danger.

Put it on a Christmas card.

But for those “beneath life’s crushing load” as another of our hymns says, for those under the weight of an oppressor, for those wondering if there is any hope of a future worth living, for those who have experienced God’s judgment and wondered if he is done with them, a message of comfort from God is … truly a light in the darkness.

This is a word for people in exile who know they are in exile.

People who are not at home in the empire

People who are wrestling with God’s silence

Similarly, the phrase “all men are like grass who with and fall” might not sound like a good thing to those comfortable in the empire.

If life is great and you’re always on the right side of power you might want it to last forever.

If you’re pretty happy with your plans and the spoils you’ve accumulated you might not want anything or anyone to disrupt your status quo.

But if you are oppressed, or even simply disillusioned, there is great comfort in hearing that human beings and their schemes and power structures will wither and fade.

All this nonsense,

This violence

This exploitation

This lying and scheming

This exhausting, endless jockeying for power

It’s all temporary like grass in a field.

As fragile as dried leaves or a dandelion in comparison to the Lord.

And all the destructive ways of this broken world will fade, but the word and work of God will not

So to those buckling under the weight of it all, those at the end of themselves in the desert, here is a word of encouragement that there is something more true, more foundational, more eternal than the hardships we endure in the present.

The pain of the human experience is not imaginary. But it is not the end.

“He’s coming,” says the prophet, “and he will lead us home.”

Like a shepherd who gathers his lost sheep in his arms.

There’s that shepherding imagery again.

This prophecy was, of course, looking ahead to a movement of God that would culminate in the coming of the Jesus.

The first advent.

In which the Lord comes to his people, God with us, opening his kingdom of peace.

But for us it also helps us look ahead to the RETURN of Jesus.

The second advent.

In which the King will bring his kingdom to its completion.

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God … proclaim that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for … See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and … his reward is with him.”

And what are God’s people to do?

Two things.

One, go tell it on the mountain. Shout it. Tell everyone the good news.

Two, prepare the way.

Prepare the way in the desert, to be more specific.

The people of God are well aware that the way to the promised land goes through the desert places.

In fact, this idea of a road that leads through the desert and into the kingdom is seen elsewhere, even in Isaiah

Back in 35 amidst discussion of God’s judgment there is a glimmer of hope presented in a passage we know well, the passage that speaks of a time when the desert will burst forth with streams and blossoms. In that passage God says

Isaiah 35:8-10 - “A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

So what does that mean to, “prepare the way”?

At first it almost sounds like its our responsibility to get things ready and in alignment so that God CAN come.

But if we read on it becomes clear that it is God who holds the power to raise up valleys, bring down mountains, and make rough ground level

So what are we supposed to do?

In the simplest terms, be ready and receptive to God’s work in us and around us

And once again, if we don’t want our comfortable lives disrupted, we’re not going to love it when God starts digging.

Priest and author Fleming Rutledge put it this way

Preparing the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is not going to be so easy for you and me. It means laying ourselves open to God’s great leveling operation. It means relinquishing our most cherished strategies and defenses. It means living every day in anticipation of God’s work of cutting and filling. It means being ready at all times to relinquish one’s own special privileges in the world on behalf of those who might be very different from oneself. I don’t need to tell you how hard this is for us. We don’t like admitting that we need radical surgery. The New Testament word for this is repentance. It doesn’t just mean being sorry. It means a change of life. It means reorientation toward a different goal—the kingdom of God. It means a whole different way of being.

It maybe shouldn’t be a surprise then that in order to describe John the Baptist, the gospel writers pulled this phrasing from Isaiah.

John is "the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

What was John telling people?

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

In a very real sense we prepare the way for him through repentance, through turning, through seeking the kingdom first.

This is right in line with the passages we studied in recent weeks about being ready

We’re ready for his second advent by being purposeful and, as Rutledge puts is, “laying ourselves open to God’s leveling operation”

So when we sing, “let every heart prepare him room” we might see that it has more bite to it than “receive the warmth of Christmas”

It means dislodge and discard idols, turn from all other allegiances and trust in God alone

Clear the altar of your heart for him alone.

Comfort, comfort.

He’s coming to make all things new.

He’s coming to meet us in the desert places and guide us into the kingdom.

Take courage.

Then go shout it from the mountains and be ready meet him and follow him home.