Sermon for December 6, 2015

The reading

 

Isaiah 40:1-11 

Comfort, O comfort my people,  says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her

that she has served her term,  that her penalty is paid,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All people are grass,  their constancy is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades;

but the word of our God will stand forever.

 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings;

lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,

lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah,  “Here is your God!”

See, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him;

his reward is with him,  and his recompense before him.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

The message

 

Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God:  This is a promise that God will intervene in the world and bring comfort and relief. This is also work, it’s a job description for prophets and for all people of God. I am going to talk a little about both of these messages found in this scripture.

First, let’s look at the promise.  Before looking at what it means, we need to look at something very important.  Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God, does not refer to just one particular event.  We often get stuck trying to figure out how and when this prophesy was or will be fulfilled. God’s word is bigger and more powerful than that. As the scripture tells us the word of our God will stand forever. God’s promises can be fulfilled many times at different parts of history in different ways.  One example we have of something like this in our world today is the promises we make in marriage, For a young couple, these vows can often mean to help one another get through school, figure out what they want to do with their life, help each other find and forward careers, save resources and raise a family. For a middle aged couple these promises often mean enduring life passages together, comforting each other during the loss of parents and loved ones, facing regrets, and going through changes.   For an older couple, together for decades, those same vows can often mean to endure aging together, to care for a sick spouse, to sit with them in suffering, ensure they receive the best care and try to relieve their pain.  The promise Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God, can mean different things at different times too.  It is not fulfilled in one event, it is a word that lasts forever.    

To the first hearers of Comfort, O Comfort my people, to the community of Israel about 5 or 6 hundred years before Jesus birth, God’s promise of comfort meant the return to Jerusalem.  After yet another cycle where the people of Israel break the coveant and sin against God and each other, there is punishment. In the year 586, God does not intervene as the Babylonians arrive in Israel for war.  The Babylonians conquered Israel, destroy the great temple and sent the people into exile far away from the promised land.  During 70 years of exile, the Babylonians are defeated by the Persians. After that, the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great allows the people of Israel to return home and rebuild their temple, community and faith. (a story we will hear next week as we learn about the faith, political intelligence and work of Ezra and Nehemiah). Here the people saw the promise Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God fulfilled. 

For John the Baptist this promise that God would intervene in the world and bring comfort was not only fulfilled by the end of exile, it was also fulfilled through the birth of a child on Christmas, Jesus the long awaited Messiah. This promise was a central part of John’s ministry. When John’s word is challenged and his authority questioned, John identities himself with a verse from our reading, as the voice crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  For John, Christmas fulfills God’s promise of intervention and comfort, that night is where the glory of the Lord is revealed, when all people shall see it together.   All of the things that Jesus did during this ministry were all understood as part of God fulfilling this promise. Healing the sick and the very sick, welcoming the outsider, outcast and ignored into God’s kingdom,  restoring the possessed and anxious,  announcing God’s grace for all people and the forgiveness of all sins, demanding equality,  teaching the correction of faith as a gift that brings joy, announcing hope to the hopeless and direction to the lost, dying and rising again, all of these things were part of God’s intervention and gift of comfort. 

Jesus own ministry is strengthened by his understanding that this promise is good, nothing, not even death, will stop God’s word from being fulfilled. Jesus work, to fed his flock like a shepherd, to gather the lambs in his arms, carry them close and safe and bring them to grace is all done knowing God will let nothing stop this promise from being fulfilled.   

For us, the promise that God will intervene in the world and bring comfort and relief, is something we wait for to be complete, the end times, the promised return of Jesus to make all things new.  For us, this is an event, often surrounded by frightening images and great destruction. There are nasty and violent images from the book of revelation, Daniel and others that speak of terrible days. Judgment day is a big seller, a whole industry has sprung up around the end times, movies, books, tv shows, predictions, even churches built on the end of the world. The violence reminds us that evil does not go quietly, that sin is a tough enemy and will not leave the world gently. What it is really about is God keeping the promise, Comfort, O Comfort my people. The end times are not about God killing all our enemies and punishing the unfaithful, it is about the completion of this promise, the creation of some sort of world where there is real, God centered, comfort for all.  

The other side of comfort, O Comfort my people says your God is the work we are called to do while we wait. Just because this promise points us to future times, does not mean we are okay doing nothing here and now. We have no shortage of need for God’s intervention now and nothing stops us from being the messengers and catalyst for that work. There are incredible separations between the rich and poor impacting everyone from the people who live across the street from us to unknown villages a world away. All of God’s people do not have a share in God’s creation. There is uncontrollable violence, abuse and anger, again on our street and a world away.  All of God’s people are not living in peace. God’s promise can also be seen as a job description. Like any good job description there are clear instructions about who you are working for (God and God’s people), what the job entails (sharing our faith and hope), what the expectations are (we respond to God’s gifts with action) and what skills are required (everyone and everything has a role and can work for good).     

This week, there was a lot of focus online over something that has been cleverly named “prayer shaming”. It started as a reaction to and attack on elected officials that went to social media posting “praying for the victims and families” in the aftermath of the shootings at the center for the disabled in California.  They are the same officials who spend their days voting against efforts to control who has access to guns, cutting funding to help treat mental illness, and avoiding any difficult conversations or necessary changes. The same thing tends to happen when people post “praying for those in need” around thanksgiving but do nothing at all to help. It seems like prayer is all some people think is necessary.

The work of sharing God’s word, Comfort, O comfort my people, means to do both.  We are a Praying people.  It matters.  Prayer reminds us of God’s promises, God’s presence in the world and God’s promise to walk with us as we work to make awful, unjust and impossible to solve problems better.  True prayer is accompanied by action though, to communicate with God should do nothing except drive us to help.  Prayer is one of the ways we let ourselves be changed by God’s word and strengthen ourselves for service. Of course, prayer is just one part of our relationship with God.  We are called to pray for the hungry and help them get something to eat.  We are called to pray for an end to violence and to do something for peace. We have God’s promise of Comfort, lets make sure we do something with it.