“You’ve finally arrived!” That’s what we say to someone after waiting for them on a street corner. What makes the waiting worse is bad weather or rush-hour crowds jostling us. We check our watches and look in all directions, not sure how the one we are waiting for will arrive” On foot? From which direction? By taxi, bus or car? What’s taking them so long? The sun is going down and the thermometer is dropping. Waiting and wondering are made worse by our discomfort. What adds to the frustration and the doubts are still more questions. Did they forget the appointment? Have we gotten the time or location wrong? Should we turn up our collars and continue to wait or head for home? We try calling them and we get their voicemail! What should we do? When they finally arrive we greet them with, “You’ve finally arrived! What took you so long?”
Today’s reading from Isaiah is taken from a section of the book called “Second Isaiah” (chapters 40-55). It was written towards the end of Israel’s exile in Babylon (circa 550 B.C.E.). The first part of Isaiah (chapters 1-39) made it abundantly clear that if the people didn’t change their ways catastrophe would befall them. And so it did. The Babylonians crushed Israel and carried their prime citizens off into slavery. The people have been enslaved and, along with the misery, come doubts about their God. Had God abandoned them? When would God come to their aid? What was taking so long?
Today’s reading begins the second part of Isaiah. Was the message of hope it offered a comfort to those enslaved? It was, if they trusted the prophet’s words. Otherwise, so many years of pain might have caused them to become cynical to what Isaiah was saying or, at the least, doubtful. They might have had the kind of doubts we have as we stand in the cold waiting and wondering if we misheard the information about our appointment. “What did they tell me? How reliable are they? Suppose they forgot? And here I stand, uncomfortable and confused!” Isaiah reassures the exiles that God has not forgotten them despite their doubts. God did not turn away from them, despite their sins and apostasy.
We listen to the prophet from whatever uncomfortable “street corner” we find ourselves at this point in our lives. Isaiah’s words don’t bring about an immediate lift. But they do encourage us to have hope. God has not forgotten us after all. God knows our pain and speaks tender and assuring words to us, “Comfort, give comfort to my people….”
The first reason for the comfort is that God has forgiven the people and is coming to them. God comes swiftly to forgive and heal. A highway is prepared, the roads straightened, the valleys filled in — God is in a rush to get to us. For some reason we may have to wait longer, but we do not give up as we lean on the prophet’s words for support and cling to the hope his words offer.
Suppose we were waiting on a street corner for someone and the hour was late, the light fading and the temperature dropping. Suppose we were having those doubts about whether we had the day, time and place right. Suppose the person we were waiting for didn’t come, but someone we trust arrived and told us, “I can assure you, he is coming. Don’t give up, stay ready.” That was John the Baptist’s job. He was the forerunner of the Messiah; one with God-given authority to prepare the way.
Mark’s gospel is chronologically the first of the New Testament books. Its opening words announce a “beginning” (just as Genesis did, “In the beginning…”). Mark is signaling that God is doing something new with the coming of Christ — a new era, a new covenant and a new people are beginning. The world was stuck in its old, sinful and destructive patterns and God has decided to do something new. This new beginning will have no and. Those who accept Jesus in the new age he introduces will finally have the power to break through the dead ends in their lives. Old habits and debilitating ways don’t have to continue limiting us. Jesus Christ has begun something new for us and he will “baptize you with the Holy Spirit,” so that we will always have the new life his coming has begun.
Mark begins by announcing: Jesus Christ is the Son of God. There are no limits on the good news that Jesus comes to proclaim by his words and actions. We will continue to move through Mark’s gospel each Sunday in the new liturgical year that we have begun this Advent. We hear John, the forerunner, announce the coming of the one we have been waiting for. Since John is a most reputable witness, we respond to his announcement by preparing ourselves.
John calls for repentance; which isn’t just about this or that sin we have committed. Repentance involves total change. We must change our ways of thinking and redirect our lives. He invites us to confess our sins. But that doesn’t earn God’s coming into our lives, instead repentance heightens our awareness, and sharpens our perception of what is about to happen. John assures us that Christ is coming to begin something new in us and repentance clears the clutter so we are free to receive him when he does come.
John prepared the people for Christ by baptizing them in the Jordan. But we have already been baptized. What can we do as we prepare for a new “beginning” in Christ? We can renew our baptismal faith: we recommit ourselves during these early days of Advent to being more attentive to God’s Word and to receiving the Eucharist, which graces us and enables us to, “Prepare the way of the Lord make straight his paths.”
First Impressions 2
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.