Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. Thank you for being with
me today.
I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in
Hudson, OH. Yesterday we read for Mark 1 and heard about John the Baptist who was
called to prepare the way for Jesus. In a sense, the beginning of the Gospel of
Jesus is the message, “He is coming!” God has not abandoned his people, nor
does he leave it up to us to figure out how to get back to him. He prepares the
way through his servants. Today, another of God’s servants, Isaiah, serves to
prepare the way of the Lord long before Jesus was born.
The Old Testament reading for the 2nd Sunday of
Advent is ….
The Reading
Isaiah
40:1-11 (ESV)
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak
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.
3 A voice
cries:
"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 And the
glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it
together,
for the mouth of
the LORD has spoken."
6 A 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.
7 The
grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The
grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand
forever.
9 Go on up
to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength, O
Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear
not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
10 Behold,
the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will
tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his
arms;
he will carry them
in his bosom,
and gently lead
those that are with young.
Comments
This is one of those passages that is so rich
and dense with grace and hope that it’s hard to speak of it concisely! Obviously,
Mark quoted this passage in our Gospel lesson yesterday – although he puts it
slightly differently; and that is probably because he used the Greek
translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. The core of it is still
there – in the wilderness, prepare the way, make straight the way for the LORD.
In the Advent season, it is easy to
get wrapped up in the message of repentance and preparation and to lose the
first message of this reading: comfort! Our repentance and our preparation are
centered in God’s comfort. He commanded comfort for His people. It is comfort
rooted in the end of warfare – the end of our conflict and rebellion against
God. It is comfort rooted in pardon – our iniquity, our sins, are forgiven. In
fact they are doubly paid for. And it is with this message of comfort that the
command comes to prepare the way of the Lord.
When we think of a king coming to
visit his people that event might trigger two opposite reactions. One reaction
might be fear and dread. The other might be joy and relief. The same is true of
God coming to us. He knows that, in comparison to Him, we are frail like
flowers that wither and fall. So He gives us something strong and permanent – He
gives us His word, and that Word begins with, “Comfort!”
Our repentance and preparation are not
in fear and dread that God will come and destroy us for our sin. Our repentance
and preparation are done in joy and relief because God has comforted us and announced
His coming and His might are focused on shepherding His people, gathering His
lambs into His arms, carrying His people in His bosom, and gently leading us.
His coming is for our salvation, and not to destroy us.
As we go through Advent preparing and
repenting, we do so remembering the comforting Word of our God which stands
forever. Our God comes to us in mercy and love. This is good news to share with
the whole world! And since we have this comforting Word in our lives we can
comfort others – pointing them to our God and Savior who fulfilled His promise
by giving Jesus to be born among us, to die for our sins, and to rise to
eternal life to secure our comfort.
Prayers
O Lord, You comfort us with Your Word. You are powerful and
eternal while we, by comparison, are weak and short-lived, but You have chosen
to use Your mighty power to save and preserve us. Thank You for comforting us
in our weakness and for paying for our sin. Please forgive us for Jesus’ sake
for all the worry and doubt we carry in our lives, not recognizing Your loving
care. And please forgive us for not extending your comfort to others. Comfort
us anew as we celebrate Jesus’ birth and await His return, and help us to
comfort others with Your love and compassion as You have made it known to us in
Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Memory Verse
2
Peter 3:13 - But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a
new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Pet. 3:13 ESV)
In this devotion I really focused on the spiritual comfort
that God gives us in the forgiveness of sins. However, God does more than
comfort us physically. The way He talks about shepherding His people shows that
His care and comfort extend to our physical needs as well. One of the ways that
we can be God’s instruments of comfort in this world is through the devotional
habit of giving of alms. I encourage you to be part of God’s comfort as you
give to help people in need.
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
Comments