A reflection on Isaiah 40:1-11 & Psalm 85:1-2 & 8-13 for the Second Sunday in Advent, December 6, 2020.
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 for ever.
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.
Isaiah 40:1-11 (NRSVA)
Lord, you were favourable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned all their sin.
Selah…
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.
Psalm 85:1-2 & 8-13 (NRSVA)\
Our first reading is something of a hinge chapter in the magnificent prophecy of Isaiah. It is here that the tone changes – from warnings of revenge to words of ‘comfort‘ and ‘promise’.
The change is so stark that many scholars have speculated that there are two different prophets writing.
Whether there is one or two Isaiahs, there is here a marked change:
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.
There is almost a palpable relief – a notable change to grace.
Not that grace is absent in the first part of Isaiah. There, however, judgment dominates. Now a newly promised path is being forged. A path along which the ‘Lord’ will come to save and restore.
Importantly, this vision – unlike the lives of people – will not wither and fade. It is a sure promise – a ‘word that will stand forever’. Perhaps there is an indication here that the fulfilment of this promise is assured – and its timing less than immediate. After all, Isaiah is writes centuries before the incarnation.
As such, Israel is urged to declare, ‘Here is your God’, with boldness and courage. To be sure, this coming is no threat. Rather it is a message of great hope comfort, and – ultimately – peace.
Peace between God and all people.
For God will come not as a warrior – but as – of all things – a shepherd. A Gatherer. A carrier. A leader.
How appropriate, after hearing this breathtaking promise, that we turn to Psalm 85. There we sing of a ‘favourable’, ‘restoring’, forgiving’, and ‘pardoning’ God. Here there is a desire to hear the peace offering words of YHWH.
It is a poem – a song – celebrating that the promised ‘salvation’ of God is coming!
And in this one – only in this one – does ‘love and faithfulness’ truly come together. In YHWH ‘righteousness and peace’ meet. Perhaps the contrast is more obvious if translated ‘justice and peace will kiss each other’. Here two realities – that so often stand as polar opposites – are coming together in the never-failing word of God.
Perhaps the two Isaiahs theory is ultimately unnecessary. In YHWH – and his coming Lord – all things can be put right and peace can reign.
Conversation Starters:
Where have you witnessed the coming together of ‘justice and peace’? Where do you see this reality as needed most?
In what ways do you recognise Jesus in this passage from Isaiah?