We often think of Zechariah’s silence as a punishment or consequence of his doubt. In Luke 1:20, we read: “because you didn’t believe, you will remain silent, unable to speak until the day when these things happen.”

Yes, the silence is a result of Zechariah’s unbelief, but nowhere does it say he is being punished. What if in fact the silence was a gift, a difficult gift to be sure, but a gift nonetheless. For it is in this silence that Zechariah’s faith grows beyond measure. When he is again able to speak, he can only speak the prophetic words of the Lord which the Holy Spirit had written on his heart all those months. Silence clears out the rambling chaos of our minds and fills the emptiness with the Word which speaks all of Creation into being.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “It is silence in which God in known and through the silence of His mysteries that God declares Himself to us…”

The temple has been rebuilt. The city walls are under construction. Jerusalem is being restored. God’s people have come home.

And yet as they gather to dedicate the temple we read that the older priests and heads of the families who had seen the first temple wept aloud. No matter how much they tried to make it look like home, it would never be quite the same again. Their weeping reminds us that we are not home yet…

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!”…