Comfort for the Broken

Isaiah 40:1-11

Introduction

December can be a very difficult for many people, especially in terms of dealing with grief. It feels like there a lot of deaths in December. I wondered if this was just an illusion and so I checked with StatsCan and generally, December is the second highest month for deaths in Canada. The highest month is actually January and I wonder if this is because people hang on until Christmas is over. But even if deaths were spread completely evenly over the months, we still feel it most keenly in December. We still see that missing spot at the dinner table. My father has been gone for about twenty years and my mother for about fifteen and I still think about them a lot at Christmas. While the pain may get less intense over the years, it never completely goes away. This is true even if you had a strained relationship with that person. In fact it can make it more difficult because there is the added grief of the difficult relationship.

The Christmas marketing that bombards us might suggest that these feelings have no place at Christmas. Put away the grief and embrace the joy. But is that really what we should do?

Those who believe that Christians should always be happy don’t seem to read the Bible. I have heard some Christians suggest that we have to at least pretend we are happy or else it is a bad witness. As someone who can remember what it was like to be outside the faith, I can say with confidence that fake happiness is not a good witness. I was looking more for integrity, an integrity that was honest about pain. The Bible itself speaks much about suffering. It not only describes many deaths, it also describes the grief of those who are left behind. The Bible is a mirror that reflects reality back to us, hopefully with some better perspective. The Bible is not a book of simple answers to complex problems but a companion for the journey.

In this second Sunday of Advent, we are looking at peace. By peace we do not mean just a cessation of hostilities. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom and it speaks of wholeness. In our grief we seek peace, but the peace of quietness. Rather we seek a healing to the turmoil that is within us. We want to be whole but we do not know how to do that without that certain person. That’s what we are going to look at as we continue to look at Isaiah.

Comfort, Comfort

As mentioned in our previous message, Isaiah is a book that assumes that life is difficult, both on a personal and a national scale. This particular passage looks at the suffering of Jerusalem and it uses the imagery of a funeral. In fact the biblical book of Lamentations is actually written as a funeral lament and the event it is lamenting is the destruction of Jerusalem. You might think the destruction of the city is a poor comparison to the death of a loved one but in the Jewish consciousness this is a very clear connection. For example, the only part of the Jerusalem temple that still exists is the western wall. Christians in the 19th century, observing the way Jews grieved the destruction of the temple, referred to it as the wailing wall. The Jews also have a special holy day in which they fast in remembrance of a number of tragedies, including the destruction of the first and second temples. 

Jerusalem was not just another city, it was the one place where the temple could stand and where sacrifices could be offered to God. The destruction of Jerusalem was a national tragedy in a way that we cannot imagine.

The way this passage starts is with traditional language by which someone would comfort a mourner. Comfort, comfort. Picture those moments when people were most effective in comforting you in your grief. Perhaps it was a hug, a hand on a shoulder, a kind word, or silent presence. The promise here is comfort. The promise here is peace. Not a cessation of hostilities. The battle has ended with Jerusalem’s defeat. This is shalom peace, an inner healing.

How will this comfort come? The prophet speaks of a desert highway being prepared. Have you ever been in a hurry but the road is so rough that you cannot get any speed without destroying your vehicle? If only someone would pave the road so you can get where you are going with decent speed. That’s the image here.

The question is: who is the highway for? We might assume that it is a highway for God’s people to go somewhere, perhaps a place of safety. But actually, the highway is for God. Instead of God taking the people away from their grief, God is coming to them to be with them in their grief. That will be the source of their comfort.

The Comforter Comes

You might recognize a part of the Isaiah passage. The Gospel writers quote it in the context of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The voice crying out to prepare the way of the Lord is identified as John the Baptist. There is something here that we need to notice very carefully. In the Isaiah passage, the one that the voice is preparing for is the Lord. When Lord is spelled that way, it means that it is not the Hebrew word for lord but is YHWH, the personal name of God, sometimes given as Jehovah. But who is that John the Baptist is preparing for? In the context, it seems clear that John is preparing the way for Jesus. In fact, most often in the New Testament, the title of Lord is used for Jesus. So the Gospel writers understood both that Jesus was the fulfilment of the Isaiah passage and that Jesus was in some way the presence of God for them.

That’s important but looking back to Isaiah and looking at the promise there may help us to see the ministry of Jesus in a fresh way. Very often Christian summarize the ministry of Jesus being about dying on the cross so we can go to heaven. The only goal of Jesus being to get us a change of destination on our afterlife tickets. That is too small of a gospel.

Yes the gospel does include forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But those things are part of a bigger story. In many ways, the Christmas story is about the building a highway from heaven to earth. On that highway, God in the flesh comes to us to meet us in our suffering.

Grief over loss is not something we hide from Jesus, as if it was a sign of unbelief. Grief is something we bring to Jesus as a sign of faith. Jesus comes to us in the midst of our pain and suffering. Jesus comes to us in the midst of our grief and mourning. Jesus comes to us with the words “Comfort, comfort.” Jesus comes to us as the Prince of Peace, bringing us shalom in the midst of our brokenness. 

Conclusion

Each one of us is in a different place emotionally. One thing that we have in common is that we have all experienced loss. It may have been a recent loss or it may be from decades ago. The emotional pain might be as sharp as a knife or may be a dull ache. Perhaps you wonder where God is in all of this. Has God abandoned you in your grief? Or do you feel that what you have is too much for God? Isaiah spoke of a voice calling out, a highway being made level in the wilderness. It was being paved so as to quicken the speed of the traveller. That traveller is God and the highway takes God from heaven to earth. God comes to us in Jesus, having his way prepared by John the Baptist. Jesus comes to us looking not for perfect people but for broken people like the people Isaiah prophesied to. We are that people and Jesus comes to us. Jesus comes to comfort us in exactly the way we need. This is the peace that we have always been looking for. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)