“This is your God.”
Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
2 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.
3 A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 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.
5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
6 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.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever.
9 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!’
10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 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.
Vs. 10 and 11 present a contrast – vs. 10 with God’s judgment (like yesterday’s reading) and vs. 11 with comfort and care (similar to the words that open today’s passage). How then do we put these together? It has been said that the preacher’s job is to Comfort the afflicted and to Afflict the comfortable. The challenge is that most of the time we think we are the afflicted and we look for comfort, rather than recognizing that we may be the comfortable who need to be afflicted (challenged, called to account).
Those who have been afflicted, those for whom this world has not worked, who have been pushed down and despised – to them God promises comfort and care. Yes, they, like all humans, are as fragile and fleeting as day lilies; yes, human beings are here today and gone tomorrow – but God is not like that, God’s word of promise will last forever and the promise will be fulfilled. With hope and courage, the pushed down, the despised, the overlooked, proclaim for the highest points in town – “Here is your God.”
We should not miss this truth – they do not point to themselves. This is not about the pushed down and the overlooked. They are not where hope resides. Yes, God raises up the lowly, but the lowly who are raised up do not make the transformation about themselves. It is always about God, who alone brings justice, who alone acts to bring hope and comfort. God acts in God’s way and on God’s timetable.
The judgement (recompense) of vs. 10 is succeeded by the beautiful picture of care and compassion in vs.11. Where the God of care and compassion does not worry about the smell and mess of the sheep getting all over him. God is fully engaged in caring. We are invited to ask ourselves honestly where are we – are we among the afflicted or are we among the comfortable?
PRAYER:
O Lord, as we examine ourselves show us your comfort in those parts of our lives where we are afflicted; and challenge us, afflict us, in those parts of our lives where we have become distant from you in our comfort. Challenge us and comfort us, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.