Last week's readings on the first Sunday of Advent were filled with despair. We heard from people who were desperately calling on God to come and save them, and we heard of the end of the age from Jesus in MarkÍs gospel. All in all, it was a Sunday about the hope that is born out of disillusionment, uncertainty and fear. Hope was a strong presence, but only because there was such pain.
This week we hear words of immeasurable hope, words that are so filled with hope and joy and peace that they are hard to picture or imagine. Comfort is the gift that is given in Second Isaiah. Tenderness reigns, the penalty is paid, you will be imprisoned no more. You are free. God's way will come to pass. From the wilderness will emerge the glory of the Lord. As difficult as it might be, try to imagine it, to picture it in your head.
The valleys are lifted and the mountains are made low so that the earth is level. The ground that is rough will be made smooth, the crooked straight. This is the pathway for the Lord. When the physical earth has changed its form, when that pathway is made, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed. God will be seen in all glory and splendor, walking the path in triumph, leading the way to salvation.
All the people shall gather, because God has spoken. Just as the earth has been obedient to God's Word, so shall God's children. They will lift their voices and proclaim God's coming with all their might. "Here is your God!" they will cry.
And, God will take them unto Himself, gathering them, feeding them, carrying them in those Divine arms. It is almost as if the words of psalm 85 have come to life, "Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky." The basics of who God is are present. The essential nature, the true reality of God has come into being. There is restoration. All things are as they should be.
What a different picture than last week's! In one week we have moved from desperation to glory, from hope born of despair to God's promise of peace. What has changed in just one week? What has caused the message to be so different?
The people of Second Isaiah (explanation??) are a desperate people, just like last week. They were a community of faith that had lost all the symbols that gave them their identity as a people of God. Their buildings were gone, their land was gone, their freedom was gone. They were Jewish exiles in Babylon. There was no one more desperate than they were. And yet, the words of the prophet are filled with comfort. Why? How did they move from desperation to hope and peace?
The created earth in Second Isaiah has listened to the voice of God. The earth has changed who it is to make the way for the path of God. The way of the Lord has been prepared. God said to change, and the earth did. The earth obeyed. I believe that the people of Second Isaiah have done the same. They have listened to God's voice and they have changed their ways. They have repented.
Now, repentance is not an easy word or concept to define. Often, we think that repentance means to say that you are sorry or to feel badly about your behavior or your choices. But when John is baptizing in the River Jordan and speaking of repentance, he is speaking of change. Repentance in Mark's gospel means to turn around, to change your viewpoint, your motivation, to move from your way of seeing things to God's way. It means to smooth out the rough places, to lower what is high and to raise what is low. It means to make the way for the path of God, to prepare the way of the Lord.
In Isaiah 40, the people of God can finally hear what they couldn't hear before. They can hear God's words of comfort and deliverance, of hope and peace, as spoken through the prophet. They can hear because their hearts have changed, because they have repented.
Repentance is a tall order. But, it is a call from God, a command. God called us to repentance through the words of John the Baptist. In that call, we are reminded of the connection between repentance and making the way for the Lord to come, making the path straight, preparing the way from the wilderness that is life.
Turning away from worldly or human things is not that easy. Our lives are filled with the hear and now, the pulls of culture and society, the demands of family and work. And yet, we are called to focus on God and God's ways. We are called to turn our attention from our needs and wants to God's needs and wants. We are called to change the motivation for our actions, to turn our lives around and point them toward God.
The good news of today's Advent readings does not end with the repentance of all creation that results in the restoration of a right relationship between God and creation. We have more good news from 2 Peter. God knows that repentance is difficult. God knows what a challenge and a struggle it is, and so God is patient. God does not want any of us to perish. God waits patiently for us to come to repentance.
According to Peter, we are to strive to be found by God at peace. We are to wait for the day that Isaiah speaks of when there will be new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home, where all is as it should be, where God is revealed in glory. And, we are to regard God's patience as salvation, for it is by the grace of God that this beautiful day will come to pass. Amen.
Peace,
Rev. Cynthia Bacon
Minister
You may email at:
cbacon@heritagemadison.org
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This page was last updated on December 11, 2002.