Isaiah 35: 1-10; James 5: 7-10 by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
December 11, 2015
Third Sunday of Advent
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.
Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveller, 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.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. - Isaiah 35: 1-10
Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. - James 5: 7-10
This season of Advent we have been singing the hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” each Sunday. The first stanza is so very poignant to Isaiah’s poetic words we hear today:
O Come, O Come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel, Shall come to you, O Israel.
As we sing these words we remember God’s people were held captive by Assyria and they were mourning in exile. Judah had a deep longing to return home to Mount Zion where the capital city of Jerusalem was. Exile caused the people to walk through another wilderness experience like their ancestors who were exiled in Egypt.
God allowed Assyria to capture Judah because the people of God had forgotten God’s ways. As a result the people of Judah were physically, emotionally, and spiritually parched like a desert. Life felt empty and barren for miles and miles. If you have traveled to a desert, then you know this arid climate goes for long stretches of time without water.
And suddenly Isaiah’s words reveal God’s timing will provide what the people need when they need it the most. Isaiah’s words come as a divine interruption. Isaiah prophesies of the day when the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom because God will bring life giving water in abundance (Isaiah 35:1-2, 6). Not only would the desert’s thirst be quenched, but also the weakness and fragileness of humanity would be strengthened and renewed (Isaiah 35:3-6). Out of the wilderness God would fashion a highway to lead the ransomed people of God home (Isaiah 35:8, 10).
Can you imagine the sense of renewed hope the people heard in this good news? It not only strengthened the people’s hearts but it renewed their confidence in God. A blooming desert is quite a visual image to connote the ways God’s grace provides for our souls to flourish.
This text from Isaiah always reminds me of a dear friend and former mentor, The Rev. Dr. Richard Cromie.
Dr. C., as I affectionately called him, was a retired Presbyterian pastor with over 40 years of ordained ministry. When my daughters were in preschool I had the privilege of working part-time with him as an Administrative Assistant for his faith-based non-profit ministry called Desert Ministries. Dr. C. and many other pastoral contributors wrote pastoral care literature for individuals enduring the desert times of life. While Dr. C. entered the Church Triumphant three years ago, his story of founding Desert Ministries remains with me.
Dr. C. was on a trip in Carefree, Arizona. He was with a group of friends playing golf. And the golf course was situated in the Sonoran desert. As the group reached the eighth tee it began to rain. Now this was not a drizzle but a heavy downpour. They waited more than an hour to pick up the clubs when they witnessed the most amazing sight before their eyes. The desert burst into bloom.
“Seeds that had been waiting beneath the surface, waiting for water, began to sprout and blossom. It was a miracle. Within minutes the flowers were there. That is what Isaiah must have seen when he wrote our little verse, twenty-eight hundred years ago.”
Dr. C. went on to say, “In the matters of the spirit, in friendship, love and relationships and healing, the same miracle can return again and again and again. From the dry, worrisome, worn-out little deserts of our lives, the miracle will come when the living water of our Lord comes down. Believe it. The desert shall rejoice and blossom…when the living waters come.”[1]
Consider where you are standing along the path of faith in this particular season of your life. Close your eyes just for a moment and look back through the days, months, and years. Allow God’s Spirit to give you the courage to revisit those little deserts you have experienced or may be experiencing today. Places of spiritual dryness; stretches of wilderness where you felt lost or lonely; seasons when weak hands and feeble knees disoriented life.
Now consider the moment your spirit tasted God’s abundant life-giving water in that time. Or maybe you’re waiting patiently for it today. For you and I all have a story where we have glimpsed the miracle of our little deserts blooming with new life. God’s grace interrupts our lives with hope filled words, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God! He will come and save!” (Isaiah 35:4).
Today, in our modern times, we do not know why God allows us to experience the wilderness and desert places of life. They do point to the brokenness of life which God is working to redeem. Maybe God uses the wilderness and desert to cause us to lean into a deeper trust of God.
For out of our desert experiences God not only provides sustenance, but God also provides a path for our feet and faith to follow. “In God, wilderness becomes not a journey of struggle but of hope, and the Advent season rekindles this hope for a way through the wilderness anew each year .”[2]
The season of Advent actually becomes a highway to God. It is a time to walk this path more slowly even through the wilderness. It is a time to walk with intentional focus lest we miss the landscape of God’s grace being revealed before us. Both Isaiah and John the Baptist reassured God’s people to trust this highway:
“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 – every low place covered with darkness and shadows– shall be lifted up [into the light].
Every mountain and hill – those obstacles of life – will be made low.
The uneven ground – the spaces which cause us to lose our footing – shall become level.
The rough spaces – the areas of life which cause us pain – shall be made smooth.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all the people shall see it together’” (Isaiah 40: 3-5; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23).
This highway to God is leading us to the fulfillment of God’s promises. And that fulfillment is found in Bethlehem as we remember the birth of the coming Christ Child. With each step we take on this Advent journey the joy of the Lord is being rekindled within us.
We are singing, O come, O come Emmanuel and redeem all that holds us captive. O Come, O come Emmanuel and return to us the joy of your salvation. O Come, O come Emmanuel and turn our mourning into dancing for we have something to rejoice about!
As we strive to focus our eyes a little further down the highway of God, across the crest of the Advent’s hill towards Christmas, we can trust Isaiah’s words of hope-filled joy:
“Be strong and do not fear! Here comes your God! He will come and save again, and again, and again!” That is good news to be joyful about.
In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1]Richard M. Cromie, “Christ Will See You Through” (Palm Beach: Desert Ministries, Inc., 1999), p. 31.
[2]Bruce Birch (Exegetical Perspective), “Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 4” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), p. 53.
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