The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

the majesty of our God. (Isaiah 35:1-2)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

The promises made in Isaiah had been partially fulfilled. The exiles did return to Jerusalem (or at least their descendants did). They made that procession into the Holy City. They rebuilt. And they sinned again. They were conquered again.

As Christians, we hear the prophet Isaiah with a two-fold promise. We hear the original promise to those exiles. We also hear the promise to us in Christ Jesus. We hear the promise to all those who are living ‘in exile’ in lives plagued by sin, death, and evil. A time is coming, realized in its fullness in Christ, when suffering and sorrow of this ‘exile’ world ends. We hear the promise of an end to our ‘exile’ from God.

The coming of Christ alters reality. The promised Messiah not only comes to save the world, but in doing so transforms it. Reality in Christ is different from earthly reality. It heals the relationship between us and God. It ends our ‘exile’ from God.

Jesus does not follow traditional human standards. He does not enter this world draped by purple robes and jewels. Jesus does not receive a royal decree accompanied by resounding trumpets – not even any blue candy cigars. There was no huge family gathering, no baby shower, no birth announcements. For a modern analogy — Jesus’ birth does not even warrant a facebook post.

No, Jesus is born in a stable reserved for the animals of travelers, in a strange town, to a teenaged, unwed (albeit engaged), peasant girl, and wrapped in whatever cloth was available. He was born in poverty, a stranger, into uncertainty. He entered into our ‘exile.’  He was born into a world plagued by sin, death, and evil.

Other than Mary and Joseph, his first entourage consisted of the barn animals whose space He had invaded. His second ‘callers’ were shepherds who had most likely been out in the wilderness with their animals for months and most likely smelled worse than the actual barn animals. Yet they were the ones chosen to visit the Son of God first. God chose to reveal His Will to them before all the ‘more socially acceptable’ people and leaders in Israel.  The magi to the East followed a star to pay homage despite their vastly different racial, cultural, and religious background. God even revealed His Coming to foreign heathens before the ‘more socially acceptable’ Israelites.

Those ‘socially acceptable’ leaders were less than pleased when they finally did hear the news. In a move reminiscent of a pharaoh long ago, King Herod ordered the death of every baby boy born in Bethlehem around the time the star appeared. Joseph, warned in a dream, escaped to Egypt with the newborn Son of God and His mother. Later, the scribes and the Pharisees again issued a death sentence on the Messiah, this time temporarily succeeding. Content in their own ‘exile’ from God, the ‘more socially acceptable’ folks did not want Jesus altering their reality. In rejecting the new reality in Christ, they rejected God Himself.

Yet we prepare. We prepare and wait for the coming of the Lord. We wait with joyful expectation to march in the procession on the royal way at the second coming.

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

 

and it shall be called the Holy Way; A highway shall be there,

the unclean shall not travel on it,

but it shall be for God’s people;

no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there,

nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

but the redeemed shall walk there. (Isaiah 35:8-9)