Isaiah 40:1-11
Mark 1:1-8
Communion Sunday.
Let us pray:
may the words of my mouth
and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable
in your sight,
O God our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
By now you
will have worked out
from our
service,
that today is
the second Sunday
of this
season of Advent:
our season of
waiting and watching for the Lord to come.
It’s a time
of anticipation
of preparation
-
of putting
out the welcome mat:
getting our
church,
our homes,
...
our hearts
in order...
all better to
welcome into the world
God’s love
revealed:
the child in
the manger;
Emmanuel,
Prince of
Peace,
the King of
kings
...the Son of
God.
Our two
readings this morning reflect that theme
of anticipation
and preparation.
We hear the
plan of God revealed through the voices of his prophets -
Isaiah and
John the Baptist.
Two prophets,
separated by
many centuries
but both
proclaiming good news
to the people
of God.
We talked a
wee bit about the background to the book of Isaiah last week:
of the
kingdom of Israel being overwhelmed
by the might of the Babylonian Empire,
and of the
exile of the Jewish people
to the heart
of that empire:
to the great
city of Babylon itself.
Isaiah’s good news to these captives?
That the time
is at hand -
freedom is
coming
the return to
the Promised Land is imminent -
God has
heard their cry
and offers
words of comfort to his people:
Isaiah is
bidden to ‘cry out’ as God’s messenger...
and the
message?
‘all people
are like grass...
all their
glory is like the flowers of the field...
the grass
withers, the flowers fall:
for the
breath of the Lord blows upon them...’
and while the
grass may wither and flowers fall,
Isaiah
reminds his listeners that the one thing that does remain,
that endures
for all time...
is the word
of the Lord:
‘the word of
our God stands for ever’
An oppressed,
defeated, people are reminded
of their
mortality by God:
they, like
the grass will wither...
How, exactly,
is this
good news?
Implicit in
the reminder is that what they face
is common to all
humanity -
from the
least to the mightiest:
yes, they’ll eventually wither and fall,
but, so will
the great and powerful Babylonians:
their empire
will also fall like the
flowers
and disappear
in the dust of the desert.
But there’s
more:
whether
Israelite, or Babylonian,
the breath of
the Lord blows upon them all -
the real power here is not Babylon,
it’s God -
the God who
comes with power -
and there’s a
military allusion here -
God is strong
and powerful - his arm rules for him -
an arm that is weapon-bearing:
this is an image of warrior-God.
this is an image of warrior-God.
But it’s followed
almost immediately with a different
kind of power -
a different
image:
the power of
God is seen in both might
and in
tenderness:
the arm that
carries the sword, or the spear,
is also the
arm that will gather his
his people -
his flock -
like lambs
and that
beautiful phrase:
‘he carries
them close to his heart’.
Good news
indeed:
the path will be made straight -
there will be no obstacles,
no stumbling
stones:
less of a
path - rather, a wide and open highway -
where God’s
glory will be revealed
God’s love,
will be made known
to the whole
of humanity...
not just the
Israelites:
all will see and marvel
at the God who loves his people so.
It’s this
message of Isaiah -
written to
the people of God under
the yoke of a
powerful empire -
that the
writer of the gospel chooses as his
starting point to tell
‘the
beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God’.
To the people
of God, now living under the yoke of the Roman
Empire -
dispossessed
in their own land -
the words of
the prophet Isaiah are intended to remind them
that God has not abandoned them:
that God will rescue them,
that God is still speaking.
And so,
within a breathtaking two verses,
we are
suddenly confronted -
introduced -
to John the
Baptist,
the last and
greatest of all the prophets of God.
John of the
wilderness:
wild and
strange.
His costume
and countenance intended
to reflect
the prophets of old -
dressed in
camel hair, and leather belt;
existing on
locusts and wild honey.
His message:
one of repentance - no light and fluffy stuff for John.
The message
of repentance is tied into the bigger theme
of anticipation and preparation -
repentance, and the
washing away of obstacles
that get in the way of a relationship with God,
is part of
getting ready to meet the one more powerful than even John:
the One who
comes to rescue his people once more.
God, in love,
made human;
modelling a
life lived in love;
demonstrating
that
love in his death;
and, in and
through the power of love -
overcoming
death for us all.
Love - in
life, in death, in resurrection...
but love that
starts simply, humbly,
and overturns
our understanding of power -
power shown
in the utter vulnerability and helplessness of
a baby, in a
manger.
God’s mighty
and powerful love shown
in frail flesh
and blood and bone.
‘Prepare the
way of the Lord!’ the prophets cry.
And here, and
now, that is our task to do -
today, and
every day.
As Christ’s
body here on earth -
we are called
to tell of that
'love divine,
all loves
excelling -
joy of heav’n
to earth come down.'
Called to
proclaim the good news:
that God is
still speaking
that we are
loved.
And that,
whatever those who have power over others may think -
the grass
withers, the flowers fall...
their power,
their empires
will diminish -
for it is not
they who get to have the last word -
it’s God - in Jesus - the Word made flesh...
the
embodiment of love:
through Him,
all things were made,
in Him was
life,
and that life
was the light of all humanity -
the light
setting us free.
That is who
we prepare for
that is who
we proclaim
until He
comes again to fulfil all things.
That is who
we remember in the meal
that we share
in this morning.
In this
season of Advent
as we prepare
and anticipate
God’s coming
among us as one of us,
let’s pause,
and close our eyes just for a moment and as we do,
let’s make
our own paths straight -
let’s lay
aside those things in our own lives that get in the way of
loving God...
... ... ...
...
In bread,
in wine,
love is made
known;
we are
restored, renewed,
refreshed by
His love -
a love that
never fails.
for the Word
of God stands for ever:
And so, as
God’s beloved people,
let us
rejoice in the good news
that frees us
to proclaim
His love
and to
prepare for his coming again this Advent and at the
end of all things. Amen.
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