At the airport recently a mother and her two-year-old were among those of us waiting to board our plane. The boy was frisky, ran from his mother’s side and tripped over a businessman’s briefcase. He banged his head on the terrazzo flooring and gave such a shriek of pain that many of us around let out a collective “Ahh!” of sympathy. But none of us were more sympathetic than his mother who scooped him up, clutched him to herself, kissed his bruised forehead and said repeatedly, “There, there, mommy’s right here.” The more he cried, the more she spoke those comforting words, “Mommy’s right here…. It’s okay.”
That young mother and injured child come to mind as I hear today’s passage from Isaiah. If you were to make a list of the most comforting Old Testament texts wouldn’t today’s be among the top 5 or 10? The passage reflects the tender love God has for the injured and defeated chosen children whom God had brought to birth and nurtured. Chapter 40 begins a section in Isaiah biblical people call “Second Isaiah” and it is addressed to the Israelites in Babylonian captivity. “First Isaiah” (chapters 1-39) was meant to warn the people in Jerusalem of what would happen if they didn’t change their ways. They didn’t, were taken into exile and now, in their place of misery, God speaks to them a word of comfort. God is like that young mother who swoops up, kisses her injured child and speaks words of comfort, “There, there, mommy is here.”
The Jewish people had been imprisoned and our God is going to set them free. They felt abandoned by God, but God has entered their place of pain. Orders are sent out: a smooth highway is to be constructed and God will come to lead the people home on it. The way will be made smooth because the travelers will be weary and frail after their long exile. Those lining the road will see the people’s return to Jerusalem and acknowledge that this is God’s work. “Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together….” Who else but God could accomplish such a marvelous, liberating task?
As we approach the end of this year many of us could use a little comfort. The hustle and bustle of the holiday season only intensifies people’s loneliness and sadness over loss, financial difficulties and discouragement. The holiday season’s superficial joviality and high expectations offer no comfort at all and only deepen the feeling of living in exile. Isaiah offers us hope this season as we hear the prophet’s promise that our God is coming to us in exile to lead us out. The journey may be long, but with God by our side we will not give up or collapse along the way.
In a recent Scripture session a man told us about his past history addicted to drugs. He lost his family, business, friends and was eventually sent to prison. When he got out he was contemplating suicide, but the words and support of an encouraging priest helped him begin to turn his life around. It was a powerful witness to us in that group and a reminder that the God who spoke through Isaiah to the people in exile continues to speak to modern-day exiles and wants to enter their lives and lead them out. “Comfort, give comfort to my people…” They are not just empty words, but are backed up by God’s powerful deeds. Again I hear that mother’s voice, “There, there, everything is going to be all right,” as she bent down to swoop up her injured child.
We hear the first words of Mark’s gospel today and he gets quickly to the point. Mark doesn’t begin with the genealogy or infancy narrative as Matthew and Luke. John the Baptist and, soon-to-arrive Jesus, are not in their mother’s womb; this gospel begins with them as grown men. At this time the Jewish people have not been taken off to a foreign country, but are under heavy Roman oppression in their own land. Some of them have adapted to the Roman ways, while others (e.g. the Zealots) are plotting a violent rebellion. As in countries, ancient and modern under oppression, most of the other citizens are doing the best they can to survive.
Out of nowhere, or so it must have seemed, a messenger reminiscent of Isaiah, enters with an encouraging word, “Prepare the way of the Lord….” John the Baptist stirred up ancient memories for the people as they recalled God’s powerful deeds on their behalf in the past. No wonder they flocked out to John in the desert. He offered them a baptism of repentance so they could prepare for God’s renewed entrance into their lives.
Don’t we Christians feel like exiles in a foreign land at times? Our sense of isolation is heightened because, while we gather to pray and reflect this day, the culture of the world beyond our church doors is hostile to the values we are trying to nurture in ourselves and want to pass on to our children. We take Isaiah’s words to heart, for we can use a bit of comforting today.
Who among us doesn’t feel the pressure the holiday season puts on us as we experience the demands and restrictions on our spirits, time and budgets? The growing winter season also reminds us of the passage of time and temporariness of everyone and everything we know and do. Sometimes our best made plans and earnest intentions never materialize. We are asked to do so much for others that we barely can tend to our own needs. We can use some comforting today.
John the Baptist’s words can be comforting for those who are willing to repent from their sin. He brings good news for those who yearn to be forgiven; but he doesn’t have good news for people who are stuck in their self-righteousness, or who are indifferent to God and God’s ways. John offers a baptism that will drown the old ways. The cleansing John offers is just the beginning. After the waters comes the fire–the new life the Holy Spirit will pour into us through Jesus and his life, death and resurrection.
Like Isaiah and John the Baptist we are called to bring comfort and good news to others. We try to stay focused as we share the true meaning of this season with those nearest to us and with others we meet on the way that God has opened for us. With John we can feel like voices crying out in the wilderness as we call our world to reform and prepare for the coming of God and God’s ways.
John the Baptist invited those who flocked to him in the desert to remember the great deeds of God. He invited them again to trust that God had not forgotten them in their distress and was coming to help them. Meanwhile to prepare themselves they were to return to their roots in their faith and in their God.
We search out ways this Advent to cry out with John, “Prepare the way of the Lord….” We hope our words and actions this season will instill hope in people, in their dying and in their pain, in their confusion and wanderings — that God has not forgotten them, but is constructing a straight path to them. God’s glory is about to be revealed to all with hearts disposed and eyes wide open. “Prepare the way of the Lord.”
The gospel of Mark has begun. It will unfold for us through this liturgical year. Sunday by Sunday we will hear about the comfort only God can offer us — the good news of Jesus Christ.