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Advent 2, Year B
December 8, 2002
Christ Church, Covington
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the
desert a highway for our God” (Is. 40:3).
Our prophecy from Isaiah this morning is set within a context: the hoped
for return of the People from exile in Babylon. The prophet conjures up
the image of a quick return by direct route; a “King’s Highway” through
the desert, with no tolls or detours or stops along the way. Cyrus, King
of Persia, is the one who will let the People return (Is. 44:28), to
rebuild the shattered nation and a ruined Jerusalem. Exiled by the
Babylonians, the People will come home to the promised Land, to inhabit
once again the cities they had left before.
That’s the context for our prophecy, over five centuries before the birth
of Jesus Christ. Yet it’s in the nature of prophecy to transcend its
context, and to speak an effective word to God’s People in every time and
place. In this prophecy, the words of hope are quite intentionally
abstracted from their context so that they can become something more.
In fact, the word of the Prophet is spoken not only to exiled Israel, but
to exiled humanity. The metaphor of exile itself goes back all the way to
the story of Paradise, and to the first sin of humanity; when Adam and Eve
were driven from the Garden, the whole human race was exiled. Since then,
we’ve been refugees, displaced persons in the universe, citizens of
Paradise with confiscated passports; no longer at home in the world we
were created for and longing for a return and restoration. It’s not just
the earthly Jerusalem of the prophecy that we long for, but the heavenly
City, the new Jerusalem; the “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Pet. 3:13)
that our second reading talks about.
This notion of exile isn’t just biblical. A good portion of classical
philosophy reflects this same feeling of displacement and exile, and it’s
fair to say that it continues to echo in contemporary disciplines from
psychoanalysis to political science to literature. Even more than this,
the notion of exile and displacement is one that we recognize ourselves in
our own experience.
We have an idea that things ought to be different than they are, a feeling
that we are miscast for the roles we are playing. At times we clutch the
metaphorical script of our interactions, with friends, colleagues, family,
and we cry, “This isn’t me!” “It’s a mistake!” “I’m not playing the role
I’m really suited for.” Yes, indeed: we’re reading a script that sin has
written. That is the feeling of displacement, of exile, the experience of
a refugee human race. We were made for something different, but we’re not
quite sure how we can get back there. We are citizens of Paradise, but we
are dwelling in the Babylon of our own disordered minds and hearts.
It’s here that the words of the Prophet ring as Good News, and point
toward the hope we have in Jesus Christ. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and
cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that
she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Is. 40:2).
If we are exiled citizens of Paradise, separated by sin from our homeland,
then the Gospel word to us is that the day of liberation and return has
come. Our exile is over; no more displacement or miscasting for us. Our
passports are being given back in Jesus Christ, new words are being
written for the script, as we take on a new identity in him, and a new
role as his brothers and sisters.
The way back is impossible for us to negotiate on our own, and so it is
that the prophecy of Isaiah gives us a vision of the One who will lead us
back. “See, the Lord God comes with might… He will feed his flock like a
shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his
bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep” (Is. 40:11). God is the shepherd
who stands at the head of the column, leading the scattered exiles home;
it is Jesus Christ himself who is our shepherd, who is coming into the
world to lead us back to the new Jerusalem.
It is through his death and resurrection that the way is bought; it is
through his action for us that we are redeemed from our exile and set on
the King’s Highway that leads us home. In Advent, we wait for his coming,
so that he can take his place at the head of the column and bring us to
the City that has been waiting for our return. We are exiles, redeemed by
the death of the King, who now takes us home in triumphal procession, to a
Paradise restored. “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.
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