December 9, 2020
For the coming weeks we will explore the Advent Old Testament Lesson!
Isaiah 40:1-11
40 Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6 A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand forever.
9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;[a]
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,[b]
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead the mother sheep.
It’s no accident that the writer of Mark’s Gospel begins his account of Jesus with an excerpt from this passage in Isaiah. It’s one of the most important passages in Isaiah, which in case you didn’t know is a really long book. In the Isaiah story we are just a few chapters after the point when King Hezekiah meets with a bunch of important people from the faraway land of Babylon, making way for a critical part of Israel’s history, the babylonian exile. This chapter begins what Bible scholars call “second isaiah” the period of time when the writer of Isaiah is writing in exile.
This is really important to understand because the Babylonian exile was not a happy time people were literally deported from their homeland, the promised land, Israel and held in captivity in Babylon. Jerusalem their beloved city their place of worship had been utterly destroyed. It was not a peaceful time for the israelites.
God’s people are grieving the loss of homes, loved ones, tradition, routine, everything the thought they knew. They are upset because they know they are God’s chosen people and cannot believe that God would allow this to happen to them. So Isaiah their prophet called by God to share God’s word with these beloved children of God begins this new season by offering them words of comfort telling them of a savior that is yet to come.
So we haven’t exactly had it anywhere near as bad as those israelites in Babylon, but maybe this year has felt a little bit like captivity to you. Maybe you miss everything you knew before? Maybe you are grieving? Maybe you are yearning for peace?
May you hear the words from God to you from the prophet Isaiah today and may they bring you peace in this time of restlessness and uncertainty.
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