Advent 2: Prepare the Way of the Lord
Isaiah 40 v1-11; Mark 1 v1-8
The Covid pandemic goes on and on, and the world faces many crises of different kinds. As we listen to the news, and as we ourselves cope with the daily challenges of isolation, restriction and uncertainty we may feel rather discouraged. Indeed, perhaps at times, we may feel helpless and hopeless, despairing that anything is going to change, doubtful about God's presence and care, and longing for a message of comfort, hope and good news
This was how the people of Israel felt, only more so, at the time of the writing of today's Old Testament passage from Isaiah. They were in a hopeless situation. The superpower Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem and captured its inhabitants. They were now in exile in an alien land. They faced a crisis in their identity as a people and, more than that, a crisis in their faith in God. What was he doing? Why was he not listening to their cries for help? Had he abandoned them? It seemed that God was silent. All their hope for the future is cut off and their faith dried up. They have given up expecting anything from God.
Into this situation comes the dramatic message of comfort we heard earlier: 'Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.' We may perhaps tend to think of comfort in a warm blanket, cosy and sleepy kind of way, but this is comfort of a wide awake, alert and energising kind. It is a message of forgiveness and healing; an end to suffering and a new beginning.
A voice cries out: 'In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.' Highways were built in this part of the ancient world mainly for processional events when triumphant rulers would parade in victory. So this is a powerful image for God coming to his people to lead them home. God will lead the exiles in a public homecoming. In an earlier chapter of Isaiah, there is another vision of this highway, where the blind and the lame, the weak and the fearful will return to Zion with joy and gladness.
This hope certainly doesn't come from human beings. The prophet Isaiah is all too aware of the weakness of human beings: 'all people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades...but the word of our God will stand forever.' Isaiah's message of hope is not based on any achievement or qualification of the people of Israel themselves, but rather on the presence and power of God.
The heart of this message of comfort and hope is that God is coming to them. 'Get you up to a high mountain, herald of good tidings...lift up your voice with strength, O herald of good tidings...say to the cities of Judah... "here is your God"...' The herald is to announce 'good tidings', 'good news'. This is the first intentional use of the term 'gospel', 'good news', in the Old Testament. And the content of this 'good news' is: 'here is your God'. The good news for the people of Israel is that God is coming to them and he will lead them home.
This God comes both with power and with tenderness. He 'comes with might and his arm rules for him' but he also 'will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather his lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.' He is a God of both majesty and mercy, power and tender compassion. For the people of Israel, in despair and helplessness, demoralised and lacking in faith, here is a powerful word of comfort and hope.
During this season of Advent, we remember those who prepared the way for the good news of the coming of Christ into our world, and today we especially remember the prophets like Isaiah. Christ's coming into the world is not a bolt from the blue, but it fulfils the prophecies, the hopes and visions foretold in the Old Testament.
When we look at our gospel reading this morning, we can see many common themes with our reading from Isaiah. Mark chapter 1 opens with the words 'The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the Son of God.' Mark doesn't waste any time with introductions, but comes straight to the point. If Isaiah brought a message of 'good news' to the people of Israel that God was coming to them, Mark emphasises that the 'good news' focuses on Jesus Christ, who is Emmanuel, God with Us.
Mark begins with a quotation from the Old Testament; in fact it is two quotations put together; the first part is from the prophet Malachi and the second part from the passage from Isaiah which we heard earlier. Both quotations stress preparing the way of the Lord. 'The way' is a very important term for Mark throughout his gospel, as following Jesus as a disciple is described as following on the way. Here, in chapter 1, it is made clear that it is John the Baptist who is the 'voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord." Just as the herald of good tidings in Isaiah proclaimed 'here is your God', John the Baptist points ahead to Jesus, God's presence in our midst, the one 'who is more powerful than I'. The good news of the gospels is that in Jesus 'here is our God'; in him God is with us in a new way. And in him we see both the authority and the tenderness of God in his words and his actions. Jesus speaks with the authority of God but he is also like the good shepherd who tenderly calls his sheep by name, feeds them and guides them. God is coming to his people in Jesus, coming to lead them home. Jesus' ministry is presented as good news for the poor, the sick, the alienated and outcasts - that they are welcomed home as God's children.
John the Baptist brings the comfort of this good news; but it is comfort not of the sleepy kind, but of the wide awake, alert and energising kind. Indeed, receiving the comfort of the good news of Christ involves repentance. This is not about wallowing in our wretchedness and feeling miserable about ourselves, but it involves waking up, facing the truth and turning round. It means turning away from our weaknesses and failures, our self-obsession and selfishness, our lack of trust in God, our lack of kindness to others, and turning back to God. The focus of repentance is not on ourselves and what failures we are, but on the grace, love and mercy of God. We look away from ourselves to him. This is where our comfort and hope are to be found.
So what does all this have to say to us this morning? If there is good news and comfort for the people of Israel in the midst of their exile and hopelessness; if there is good news and comfort for the poor and the outcasts of Jesus' time, there is also good news and comfort for us. We celebrate at Christmas the joy of Emmanuel, God With Us in Christ. However difficult the situation facing the world at the moment, whatever challenges we or our loved ones are facing, however hopeless, demoralised, lacking in faith and hope we may sometimes feel, God has not abandoned us. There is a word of comfort and hope repeated throughout the Old Testament and embodied in the person of Christ, that God is in our midst.
We might wonder: what difference does that make? A huge difference. Think of the forgiveness, the healing, the hope, the change of life which Jesus brought to the people around him. And I know that many of us here can testify to the difference it makes to know God's presence in Christ with us especially at painful and difficult times. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been privileged and humbled to hear the powerful testimony of various people in the congregation to the reality of God's presence in their lives.
He is with us in power and in tenderness, and he comes to bring us home, to find our place with God and his people. God is with us now in Christ and, at the same time, we continue to yearn for fulfilment of the vision we find in the book of Revelation that one day 'the home of God will be among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God: they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them: he will wipe away every tear from their eyes' (Revelation 21. 3-4)
During this Advent, let us wake up, turn away from our preoccupations with ourselves and turn afresh to God and hear his word of comfort and good news. God is with us and his presence changes things. This is a message of 'good news' for us, but not only for us. Just as Jesus spent most of his ministry with the poor and the outcast, the burdened and the sick, so we need to remember that the good news of God's love in Christ is for everyone. I'm sure we all know many people today who desperately need to hear a message of comfort and hope, forgiveness, welcome and love.
So let us turn to God afresh and hear his word of comfort and good news for ourselves, but let us also pray for our friends and neighbours, and try to communicate that good news, in word and deed, to them.
'Comfort, O comfort my people...for here is your God.' Let us prepare to meet our God in Jesus and follow him along the way.
Revd Helen Marshall