God is on the Move

Rev. Brian Weinberger

NL Year 2 • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

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A lot has happened between last week and this week for the people of Judah. Last week I mentioned that they were about a year out before the seige of Jerusalem and now this week the people are in exile in Babylon and not only was Jerusalem conquered but the temple itself was completely destroyed. Essentially everything they had known was now gone and as far as they knew they were now going to live out their lives and probably the lives of their children in exile away from the land they grew up in.

I honestly cannot imagine what it must have been like or felt like to have my entire life uprooted let alone uprooted in such a way. Your country no longer exists, your hometown is either in ruin or is now being lived in by foreigners who settled there after the conquest. The symbol of God and your faith completely reduced to rubble. Unfortunately that is something that people can relate to in our world today. We are quickly approaching two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and the pictures that you see when you read the articles are unfortunately the same photos we’ve seen for over a year now of entire town, villages and cities reduced to rubble as the majority of people have fled to try to find a safe place to live.

Then there is the war between Israel and Hamas that has resumed after a temporary cease-fire. Now that negotiations have broken down the fighting has resumed and people from Gaza are continuing to flee as their towns are being reduced to nothing. The civilians are being forced to flee to towns on the border of Egypt and many of them are even crossing the border to try to live in safety. All of whom have no idea what their world is going to look like or be like, let alone if they are going to ever see their homes again, and if they do if there will be anything left to return to. There is also the Armenian exodus from Azerbaijan that happened two months ago where over 100,000 Armenians left a land that they had always known as their home. While Armenia is their home country they knew nothing other than the area that they had been living in.

Unfortunately these are just a few examples of probably many more events in our world that are happening every day. And even though we are not directly affected by any of these events I do believe they give us some context to at least understand in some small way what the people of Israel are going through and feeling right now. So if this is the state that the people of Israel are in then what exactly do these words from God by Isaiah mean for them? If these words were from a regular person I would probably shrug them off as someone trying to comfort me when I am at my lowest point. Trying to make me feel better when there is no reason to feel better.

Yet this is not just anyone trying to make someone feel better this is God offering comfort and more importantly hope to the people of Israel who are literally at their lowest point in their lives. God is offering comfort and compassion for all the people who are mourning. How? God is on the move! When a highway is erected by making the things level by raising valleys and lowering mountains then everyone knows it is for a king. No country would put that much time, effort and resources into creating a highway for regular traffic. This kind of highway is for royalty. The royalty that is coming isn’t just another king that may or may not execute justice and righteousness, but it is God’s own self. God is on the way and we are to make the path for God’s coming.

Then there seems to be a conversation between two people. I don’t believe this is God’s voice calling us grass but either Isaiah or another voice who calls us grass and flowers. Now we can see this conversation in one of two ways: 1. We can see it as a comment that we are here for a short time and that nothing matters because of that. Kind of like in the vein of the opening of Ecclesiastes where the author calls everything vanity or pointless. Or 2. We can see this as yes we are only here for a short amount of time and the word of God endures through it all. Because God’s word endures through it all we know that no matter what happens God is with us. Not only that but that God cares for us even if we are here for just a short time, because if God didn’t then why is God proclaiming God’s coming to restore them? So while we are only fleeting in the grand scheme in all of it we still bloom and grow and God sees is and wants us to remember that God is with us even in the darkest and most difficult moments of our lives.

Now we might not be enduring the hardships of war and displacement, but that doesn’t discount the hardships that we are going through. Perhaps there is difficulty in what is supposed to be the joy of the holiday season. Perhaps it is financial hardship. Maybe you are struggling with physical or mental health issues. Perhaps you don’t know a place where you are accepted because of your race or gender, or whatever it is that this world deems different about you. That is a form of exile and God wants that for nobody.

But if you are able or if you are someone that has hope then listen to verse 9 and get up on a high place and shout from the rooftop that God is here. Your God. Do you know how intimate and comforting it is to hear that it isn’t just a god or one of many, but this is your God Israel. This is your God people of Bethlehem. God is coming down that highway with strength and a triumphant arm. So God brings power and might as God travels the highway sharing the Word of the Lord that endures forever with you. A word that offers hope, a word that offers peace, a word that offers love and forgiveness. Even though sorrow may last for the night joy comes in the morning, o people.

While the arm may be strong and triumphant it is also the arm of a shepherd who tenderly cares for his flock lifting them up to his lap or his bosom, ensuring their safety and that they are cared for. Not only is this the voice we hear in Isaiah but it is also the voice that John became at the opening of Mark’s gospel. John becomes the voice of the one proclaiming from the wilderness and from the mountaintop that God is bringing that good shepherd into the world.

So as we journey through Advent the season we anticipate the light of the world we also approach the darkest and longest nights in this part of the world. It is in that tension of light and dark, of hope and despair that we hold onto the love, grace, forgiveness and promise of God that God is on the move in our world bringing light to the darkest places and bringing us and others from those dark places. Ultimately as we will see soon enough, God will put God’s eternal light into this world so that we all will see and know that God’s word truly is eternal and because of that we will proclaim with shouts of joy that God is here and that God’s word is on the move. Amen.