Advent 2B
Texts: Isaiah 40:1-5; Mark 1:1-8
Sermon by Rev. Robert Klonowski
Faith Lutheran Church, Homewood, IL
December 6, 2020
Comfort, Comfort
Most of the book of the prophet Isaiah is written to a nation that has been conquered by the Babylonians, laid waste, most of its leadership hauled off into the Babylonian exile. Those left behind perhaps considered themselves the lucky ones, until they realized they were stuck in the ruins of the post-apocalyptic Kingdom of Judah.
The northern Kingdom, Israel, was long gone. Now the Southern Kingdom, Judah, was gone as well. The king was gone. The Temple was gone. Their vineyards, fields, city walls, livelihoods; everything they once knew was gone. The exiles off in Babylon and the folks left behind in Judah must have been wondering the same thing: Would it ever come back to what it was? Is this *ever* going to be over? How long, O Lord, until the time, when we can live freely, and we can live well again?
In other words, the book of the prophet Isaiah is written, to us.
And what does it have to say to us? Yeah, it’s true that most of the book is a grim facing of the hard realities before us. There is no sugar-coating it: the prophet insists on a tough, relentlessly honest look at the brokenness, the desolation, and yes, the dead bodies around us. I record this on Thursday; yesterday, Wednesday, December 2, 2,885 Americans died of Covid, the highest single-day death toll yet.
And even more than that: the prophet insists we look hard at the responsibility we bear, for how things have come to this. The arrogance and intellectual dishonesty that have contributed to the depth of the pandemic. The greed and the historical amnesia and the racism that builds a landscape in which the rich get richer while the poor, get pushed poorer. Look at your sin, says the prophet to ancient Israel, and to us. Look at your sin! For there is no way to return to the Lord your God, as John the Baptist so clearly reminds us, without knowing your need for God, without knowing your sin.
But in the lesson we get this morning from the prophet Isaiah, we are reminded that the prophecy does not end there. Look hard at the situation, yes; look hard at your sin; and then what?
Comfort, oh comfort, my people, says your God. Say unto the cities of Judah: behold, your God comes. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and tell her, that she has served her term. Around you right now is desolation and wilderness, yes. But in that wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord. Every low valley shall be lifted up, and the rough places you know right now shall be made plain. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.
At first, from where we are right now, it’s hard to trust that prophecy, isn’t it? If you spend enough time with the first parts of the prophecy, with the hard look at the present reality and the honest ownership of our failure and our sin, then this last part may strike us as inauthentic, kind of cheap, and maybe less than trustworthy. “Prepare the way of the Lord,” in this environment, may come across to you the same way as that uncle of yours who tells you that none of this would be happening to you if you really had Jesus in your heart.
So what might it be that would make us think that, even in this environment, the promise of Isaiah chapter 40 just might be real?
The key is to remember from whom the promise comes. The first two parts of Isaiah’s prophecy – the sorry state of the world, and the sinful responsibility we bear for it – those come about because of our unfaithfulness. But in this third part that promise?, that promise is not up to us, doesn’t come from us. We? We have been unfaithful; but this promise? This promise comes from God, and God is faithful.
Can you depend on that Word, even in this environment? You know, you always have depended on it. For crying out loud, you have depended on it since the day you were born, for your very life itself is gift to you from God. And what blessing have you ever known, that did not come from way beyond yourself? The people you love in your life; your ability to earn a living; the giftedness one way or another that you may have known. You think these things came to you because you deserved them?, you earned them somehow?, because you’re just that good? I got news for you: you’re just not that good. But God is. God is just that good, to you. Even in the lowest valley and in the roughest place – I’m going to say *especially* in the lowest valley and the roughest place that you have ever known – did not God find a way to bless you there? Isn’t it true, then: you have *always* depended on the promise of God!
Well here then, in the middle of pandemic, let it be no different. Here in the dark days of the Advent season of watching and waiting, let us one more time – this year no different from any other year of your Christian life – one more time let us watch and wait, secure in the promise of a Savior who will come to us. He always has; every time you’ve ever needed Him. He always will. This year, too, as Isaiah promised, unto us a Child will be born, unto us a Son will be given.
We’re gonna sing a hymn now: “Comfort, Comfort Now My People.” All it is, is Isaiah’s promise set to music. Sing it, and listen carefully one more time:
“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.