Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8

“It’s Now and Forever”

When the season of Advent arrives, we are thrust deeply into preparing for the Christmas holiday. We may think of baby Jesus along with the presents, the tree, the children and the dinners and parties, but Advent prepares us for more than the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

In the words of the prophet Isaiah, we hear,
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.’[1]
We prepare the way for God’s own self in our lives, in our communities, in the lives we lead and the decisions we make. We open the way for God, leveling our objections to participation in God’s way. We lift up the potholes that we have allowed to form and smooth out our fear, trusting that God will not lead us wrongly. We may have to risk something, but we can believe in God’s desire for us and for all of creation.

The words of the prophet that we read in Isaiah 40 were written as the people of Judah were returning from exile—their long day and night, 60 years of it, were coming to an end. God was coming to lead them home.

The words of the prophet show us that despite the despair that the people of Israel felt as they entered exile—even as they began to return—God accompanied them like a nurturing shepherd. That God was leading them back, carrying the vulnerable and carefully leading them all. That God’s glory would be revealing in their return and that God’s promise is that “all people will see it together.”

The promise of God was extended to the people of that time and place as they returned home. They were led back safely as if in the arms of God through the actions and leadership of that time and place. They also were led into an unknown future as their newly returning nation met the obstacles that faced them: a ruin of a city and temple, the remnants of a population left behind by those taken into exile and forgotten religious traditions and stories.

The nation had been set back several generations by their experiences and they would continue to be oppressed again and again for several generations. The promise was fulfilled and would continue to be over and over again and in many places and ways.

You see, the promise of God isn’t limited by geography or time. The promise of God happens over and over again. When people gain and lose themselves through their own choices or by the choice of others and are renewed, the promise of God is made manifest.

The New Testament describes how God’s action in the life and actions of humanity were renewed yet again through the life of Jesus Christ.

As Advent began last—beginning the Christian year, we began reading the gospel of Mark. It’s the beginning of year B and today we hear the first words of the second gospel. Mark doesn’t describe Jesus’ birth, but starts with Jesus’ ministry, “The beginning of the good news* of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.* As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,*‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,* who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” ’[2]

The gospel was written to communicate how God worked through and in Jesus to lead God’s people once again. And as we read this gospel through the next year, we’ll hear stories of how the way of God was made clear in the life of Jesus, son of Man and Son of God. Through the reading of this gospel and other scriptures, we also have the chance to renew and rededicate ourselves.

The gospel of Jesus Christ as it revealed God’s action in and through the actions of humanity was fulfilled in Jesus himself and continues to be fulfilled as we live out the ministry of the gospel in our time and place.

The good news continues each day and place where righteousness and justice are lived out in the lives of those who need it. The good news is now and forever, yesterday, today and for always—we are simply called to step into the story and live the gospel now and forever.

To the glory of God; comforter, savior, and peace. Amen.

[1] Isaiah 40:3-5
[2] Mark 1:1-3