The Rev. Paul J Cain
Isaiah 40:1-5 (+6-8)
Comfort, Comfort My
People
The Nativity of St. John the Baptist, 24 June 2012
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
People are used to hearing about “Christmas in July” sales.
After the temperatures we’ve been having, cooler weather would have been a
welcome sight. And snow would be too, at least on top of the mountains (, if it
weren’t for the crops and farm families that have already had enough to deal
with). Christmas in July, sure. But Advent in June? Advent means coming,
specifically, the first coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. That is what we
prepare for in the Advent Season each December and late November. And all
Advent long we hear a lot about one who prepares the way for Jesus, John the
Baptist. June 24th is the Church’s celebration of the birthday, the
nativity of St. John the Baptist, son of Elizabeth and Zechariah and cousin to
Jesus. He’s six months older than Jesus, so if we use December 25th
as Jesus’ birthday, June 24th is just about right for John.
What is John’s role to be as the forerunner of Christ? We
often think of him as a fire and brimstone preacher, but Isaiah 40 helps
correct our assumptions.
Comfort, comfort. Not once, but twice—double! God reveals
the kind of God He is. He is gracious and merciful, the God of love and
comfort. Having those attributes does not deny other attributes of the Lord: He
is also holy and just. Sin and unfaithfulness must be dealt with. In Jesus, our
gracious and loving God does just that, to give you temporal and eternal
comfort, beyond anything else you can find in this world.
The Prophet Isaiah’s book can be roughly divided into two
parts: The Book of Judgment and Promise (chapters 1-39) and The Book of Comfort
(chapters 40-66). In the first part, the Lord describes Israel as a vineyard
that will be trampled, a nation blind and deaf, and a people devoid of justice
or righteousness. In this context, the Lord gives Isaiah to make precious
promises about Immanuel, the great light for those in darkness, He who is
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
The Kingdom of Messiah is coming.
Meanwhile, the Lord pronounces judgment upon the nations and
promises a day of reckoning, the Day of the Lord, the Last Day. The people get
a preview during Isaiah’s lifetime when the northern kingdom, Israel, falls.
One hundred thirty-six years later, Judah and the city of Jerusalem will fall in
the south.
John the Baptist will preach hundreds of years later, during
a time when the Jewish people are under the thumb of the Romans. The people need
comfort, just as we need it today.
1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly
to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is
pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
By one name or another, we all seek comfort. In this life,
most comfort we find evaporates. One comfort remains for you: your God. Your
God remains no matter what changes around you, no matter what things stay the
same. Your iniquity, your sin, is pardoned. We deserve punishment, both
temporal and eternal, but the Lord gives you His gifts instead, double what you
would have received in punishment. That is true comfort for now and forever. So
begins the second half of Isaiah. Isaiah prophesies about the deliverance of
Israel from the bondage of sin, the work of the suffering servant, and not only
everlasting judgment on the Day of the Lord, but also everlasting deliverance.
The message of the Advent season and the Birthday of St.
John the Baptist is that Comfort has come in Christ.
3A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the
Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every 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. 5And the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken.”
All four Gospel accounts quote from this portion of Isaiah
40. They clearly reveal the forerunner as John the Baptizer, who prepared the
way of the Lord in the wilderness. John came. John came to announce the coming
of another, Jesus.
Are you prepared for Jesus’ coming? The best preparation is
repentant faith. Fill up every pit of sin and temptation to sin. Flee immorality
of every kind. Remain on the highway of your God. His way will get you to the
right destination. The best worship of the Lord is to believe in Jesus, the one
He has sent and to receive His gifts at His invitation.
Some say things are different now. Yes, we have cars, TV,
professional sports, many high tech gadgets and conveniences and live in a
democratic republic. And no, we don’t live in the Middle East some 700 years
before Christ, but people—people aren’t that different. The people in Isaiah’s day
thought they had more important things to think about than God and their
eternal future. Did they really? Do we?
Some may say or think, “Great. My sins are forgiven. So
what? I’ve got real problems. Family. Money. Health. Work. Relationships.
School. I’ll get by. There will be plenty of time to focus on God—later. Right
now, my weekends are really important to me. There’s a lot of work that needs
done around the house. There are all of those games to watch or go to, and the
lake is calling me!”
The country song tells of “looking for love in all the wrong
places.” That’s not too far removed from what we see going on: people looking
for comfort in all the wrong places. Many will, no doubt, find a temporary
benefit. They may even realize that what they’ve found didn’t last. And then
they’re on to the next thing. One thing or many, no matter how long any of them
lasts, they won’t satisfy. Substitutes for God and His Word don’t give comfort
for the eternal long-term. Such substitutes may debut with fanfare and a flash,
but soon wind down, wither and fade.
We need to hear just a little more of Isaiah 40 to complete
the picture: 6A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is
grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the
flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are
grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word
of our God will stand forever.
Only the Word of our God will stand forever. All of us face
the reality of death. No idol, false-god, or man-made religious system will
stand up to the test of time or Judgment Day. Pick your poison! Pick your
pleasure! It / won’t / last. Only the Lord’s comfort will. Only His peace will.
Only His forgiveness will. Only His gifts will. That’s what you find here at
this pulpit, font, and altar: The Word, the Whole Word, and nothing but the
Word. Comfort has come in Christ!
The Lord offers much divine wisdom in His Word about
relationships, money, the importance of hearing and doing His Word, and
countless other topics. Your loving, gracious God cares about your problems. He
cares so much that He even cares about the problems some people don’t even know
they have. He cares about humanity’s most serious problem, sin, and deals with
it. We can then be comforted by the Gospel and be assured that He cares about
and can handle all our smaller problems that still eat up so much of our time
and emotional energy.
For example, forgiveness is a great comfort. If we take sin
seriously, we soon realize why God has such a big problem when people act
contrary to His will. Sin always leads away from God, away from Christ, away
from Church, away from eternal life in heaven. People don’t want to hear that
God’s Word is important. People don’t want to hear that rejecting the Lord, His
Word, and His Gifts is sin. His Word and Sacraments deliver the forgiveness of
sin. When sin is forgiven, a great burden is lifted. You may well have to face
the temporal consequences of your sins, yet your Lord is with you every step of
the way.
Forgiveness is incredible medicine for relationships. As I
have told many couples, Lutherans don’t consider marriage a sacrament because
it doesn’t deliver the forgiveness of sins like Baptism, Absolution, and
Communion, but a marriage simply cannot survive without the forgiveness of
sins. No enduring relationship can, because each person in the relationship is
a sinner. Sinners sin. In Christ, sinners are forgiven. We forgive as we have
already been forgiven.
I’m not saying that forgiving others is easy, but it is necessary.
Holding onto a grudge is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to
drop dead. It doesn’t work. Our own forgiveness is in jeopardy if we refuse to
forgive. Remember the prayer? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us. As Jesus Himself explains in Matthew 6, “If you forgive
others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you
do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.”
We are recipients of
truly good news of comfort. It has comforted us. This world is tough enough.
Some get mad at God and deprive themselves of Him and His gifts, a recipe for
disaster! We share good news of comfort in Christ. Invite those you know who
need comfort to Divine Service. We share beyond these walls what we sing in the
baptismal hymn, “All who believe and are baptized Shall see the Lord’s
salvation; Baptized into the death of Christ, They are a new creation. Through
Christ’s redemption they shall stand among the glorious heav’nly band Of every
tribe and nation.” Amen.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
