Comfort my people

Second Sunday of Advent ● December 10, 2023

Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11 (Inclusive Bible)

Rev. Alexis Lillie © 2023

You can view the full worship video recording at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsSy6uQUKnU

How many of us resonate with this: Thinking if I just get through this challenge, or if that thing works out the way I'm hoping, or if one particular conflict in my life just resolves itself, I will finally be in a place of relative ease and peace? It’s like we can't have serenity in the midst of struggles. There's something mentally, or emotionally – at least for me – that leads me to this all or nothing mentality.

That's not really the way life works, though is it? It's not all or nothing. It's a lot of everything all mixed together!

Case in point: the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures and this passage in particular. There are a lot of highs and lows woven throughout, it doesn't really take the narrative arc you would expect. To give a little background, we talked recently about the big-picture history of some of the people in the ancient biblical texts. How in the time of the prophets, the tribes of Israel couldn't seem to get their act together, communally! This led to their community being divided into two physically separate geographical areas 

These "kingdoms" – we don't know how sweeping they were and it seems unlikely that these areas were solely or even primarily inhabited by the tribes of Israel – but the Hebrew scriptures refer to these two divided territories as kingdoms. Israel in the north and Judah in the south. 

So they've gone on this way for quite some time. In fact, up until this chapter in Isaiah – in what is sometimes called "First Isaiah" – that whole section of warnings and prophecy is dealing with what will happen to the divided kingdoms if they don't renounce some of their negative behavior. 

Where we pick things up today – in Isaiah 40, at the beginning of what comes to be known as "Second Isaiah" –  some members are living the reality of exile. The temple has been destroyed by invading forces (this is an actual event that happened, which we can learn about from other historical texts as well). The prophets of ancient Israel explain it as punishment for not living out God's calling. Many in the Israelite community are taken captive, to live in exile with the forces and nations that have conquered them. That is the reality that is taken for granted when we jump into the 40th chapter of Isaiah. 

So, the stage is set. And when we do jump in to this passage we find ... "Comfort."

A call for the people to be comforted basically right after they've done all the stuff the prophets have warned them against, and after what the prophets said was going to happen, happens. They're experiencing consequences, cause and effect. 

And yet, the prophet moves forward with calls for comfort, for the people to be spoken to tenderly, to hear words of peace and comfort. There's no vindication here, on the prophet's behalf, that what they've warned about has come to pass. The prophet's job is to speak from the community to the community. So they're probably not taking much pleasure in being right about the consequences of Israel's bad behavior!

Our passage today is full of these sorts of nuances and contradictions like this, layered right on top of each other. 

There's this consequence the people are facing, and "comfort" immediately following it. 

There's a promise of the glory of God being revealed, and an admission that people are like grass. 

Mountains are flattened, while valleys are raised up. 

God is coming with might, and people are being cared for with mercy. 

I experience this kind of like literary whiplash!! Which is it?! Are the people facing consequences? Are they being shown mercy? Is God revealing herself or are the people fading away? Are mountains flat or are valleys high??!

YES. 

The seeming chaos in this chapter reflects reality. Sure, some parts of our lives are more shadowed or more well-lit than others. But rarely, if ever, do we have a linear path that is laid out succinctly: smooth sailing - difficulty - smooth sailing – difficulty. 

Like the people the prophet speaks to, we may be facing impermanence, we may be experiencing God's might, we may feel the mountain we are on just got flattened. And we are reminded of comfort. Of peace. That what has become a valley may soon be raised back up.  

This also speaks to the time in the church calendar we're observing. That's what Advent does and is. A special four-week time period we set aside to kind of give us an experiential reminder of Isaiah 40. Like I alluded to at the beginning, many of us are waiting for a "big" light to break through in this season. As we await the light of Christ we perhaps await big breakthroughs in our personal lives. 

For this particular challenge to end, or for that thing over there can work out the way we're hoping, or for a specific conflict to resolve itself. That's the Christ candle in our Advent wreath. And it arrives!! That's what Advent reminds us. There is a bright light the breaks through the shadows. 

And as we clearly see, there is also light now. There is hope and peace and comfort now. It's not all or nothing. It's a bit like the chaos of Isaiah, all there together. 

This passage has another layer to it, during this season. The reasons it's an Advent text is that the gospel writers use it to illustrate their own experience of interweaving highs and lows, shadows and light as they tell the story of Jesus. While many centuries have passed between the fall of Jerusalem, the captivity of the tribes, between then and Jesus' day, in many ways circumstances have not improved for the community into which Jesus is born. 

And yet ... Hope. And yet ... Comfort, peace. 

In trying to describe something ineffable, the gospel writers turn to this text from Isaiah. Scripture is repurposed for an entirely new, and yet not-so-different, context. It's an invitation to us, today – in circumstances the ancient communities could not have even fathomed – and yet, not so shockingly different in many ways. An invitation to ultimately remember that the unexpected can happen. Comfort can still arise – and break through – the challenges, the shadows, the Advent of our lives.

Copyright (c) 2023 - Rev. Alexis Lillie
All rights reserved.