HOME FOR CHRISTMAS - PART 2
ROAD TRIP
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-4
Something deep within us knows that we are far from home. We long to get back to Eden but sometimes it feels more like a foolish dream rather than a hopeful reality. This is what Israel felt in exile. They were so far from Jerusalem and there seemed to be no way home. God had left them to face the consequences of their rebellion and now, like the prodigal son, they found themselves eating with the pigs, desperate to return home as slaves in their father’s household.
Yet here in Isaiah 40, God speaks into the silence of their exile… “Comfort, O Comfort my people…” God’s voice speaks into the chaos of life and declares a new hope, a new reality, a new creation. He calls the people to prepare a way in the wilderness, but it is not the way we might expect.
This “highway in the desert” is not a highway for the people to travel to get home. We cannot make our own path to God. Rather, they are to build the highway so that God can come to them. In the wilderness God met Moses on the mountain, but now God wants to come down from the mountain and dwell among the people. “Comfort, O Comfort,” the Lord declares. “I am coming to you. I will meet you in your exile. I will be your shepherd. Prepare the way!”
The road is long and we often wonder if this highway “from heaven” will ever be complete. It’s like going on a trip to a place we’ve never been. The road always feels longer than it really is because it is unfamiliar. Returning by the same route, on the other hand, seems to fly by because the landmarks are familiar and we know exactly how far we are from home.
Perhaps that’s why we seem to keep returning to the way we’ve always done things. It’s familiar. We may be wandering in circles, but at least we know where we are. The deeper we move into the wilderness, the more uncertain and fearful we become, and so like Israel, we form our “Back to Egypt” committees and complain that we ever allowed someone to convince us that we needed to change in the first place.
God declares comfort, but the highway in the wilderness is not a comfortable place. When we think of a comfortable trip, we imagine lounging back in a luxury RV or enjoying the buffet on a cruise ship. That’s not the kind of comfort God promises. Rather, God will comfort us in the wilderness not by making life easier, but by being with us. Even when the road gets tough, we know we are not alone. If we are to prepare the way of the Lord, we must begin by recognizing that there is a huge difference between being comforted and being comfortable.
We must continue the hard work of preparing the way and making straight the highway for the Lord in the wilderness. The wilderness will not be easy or comfortable, and yet we take comfort because God is with us.
As the prophet writes:
“They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:31
So can we.