WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? – ISRAEL Isaiah 40:1-11 A sermon preached at First Presbyterian Church by Carter Lester on December 9, 2012, Advent II

Introduction: Today, we continue our Advent series, “What Are You Afraid Of?, “ which considers a number of the Advent texts where prophets or angels say to the people: “Be not afraid.” What are we afraid of – and how can these texts shed light on some of our fears – and

God’s antidotes for those fears? Today’s text arises from one of the pivotal events in Israel’s history – the defeat at the hands of the Babylonians, which resulted in the destruction of the

Temple and the palace and the deportation and exile of Israel’s leaders. Hear then Isaiah 40:1-

11

Read Isaiah 40:1-11

“Comfort, O Comfort my people…” And, “do not fear.” I cannot forget when I heard the prophet utter those words to us living in Babylon. Not that the words made much difference at first. After all, they were just words and promises. And although the prophet claimed to be speaking for God, we had heard enough false prophets in the day, prophets who “proclaim

‘Peace,’ ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace.”

You see I am old enough that I can remember what it was like before – before the

Babylonians invaded Judah, laid siege to Jerusalem, and conquered our nation. I can remember what it was like before the palace was ransacked, the king deposed, and even…the

Temple destroyed.

We thought that that day, that day of infamy, would never come. To be sure, the northern kingdom, had fallen to the Assyrians – but that had been a century before. But unlike them, we had a king from the line of the Son of David on our throne, and we had the dwelling place of

God on earth, the Temple, in Jerusalem. Didn’t God make a covenant with David and say that his heirs would remain on the throne? And wasn’t the Temple to be the place where we made 2 sacrifices to God, wasn’t it to be the symbol of the never-ending covenant God had made with us as a people?

Oh, there had been prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah who had warned our rulers about making alliances with outside kings and relying on them rather than God. But who were the leaders going to count on – armies and chariots…or God? The prophets also warned those in power about the need to do right by us – the poor, widows and orphans, outsiders and aliens from other places. But who could really expect anything different? Hadn’t people like me been trampled upon for years? Hadn’t we seen the rich add to their houses and take away our property?

Still, no matter whether you were a ruler or a peasant, no matter whether you were rich or poor, no matter what the prophets might say, we believed that Jerusalem would stand forever.

We believed that because we believed that our God was more powerful than the Babylonians’ gods, and we trusted that God had made a covenant with us, the Israelites, God’s people, and

God would never break that covenant.

But Jerusalem did fall. Jerusalem was ransacked, and all was torn down and destroyed by our enemy. And even worse, they sent all who had any power in Judah, all who had any money, into exile. The Babylonians did not want to have anyone around who might lead an uprising, so they were all banished from Jerusalem and sent to Babylon. And though my family has no power and no money, we too made the long journey from Jerusalem to Babylon. As my uncle once said, when the rich sneeze, we catch a cold. As servants of a member of the royal family, we were sent into exile too.

I am old now, but I can remember that long journey when we were led by our captors to this strange and foreign place, where we are not wanted, where the people worship other gods, where there is little for us to eat or do. As bad as that walk was, living here for the past 45 years has been worst. Our captors would tease us and ask us for songs of Zion. But how could we 3 sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? We hung up our harps on the willows and sang very few songs. More often, we lay down and wept.

If despair was our companion at first in this strange land, fear soon took over. Everything was strange and our day-to-day life was subject to every whim and cruelty of the Babylonians.

Do you know what it is like to live with fear? Let me tell you. You never sleep or eat well.

You rarely smile or laugh or have fun. You never take a deep breath. You walk around with a clenched gut, “the grip that never lets go,” my uncle called it.

And no one was immune from the infection of fear. Not me I am afraid. I was not the father or grandfather or neighbor I would want to be. I did things I am not proud or, or rather, failed to do the things I should have done.

Have you ever seen what fear can do to a family? To a community? To a nation? Fear makes you so selfish, so untrusting, so unloving. Fear tears up a community – and even a family when it lasts too long.

What were we afraid of? Our captors and this strange land to be sure. Day-to-day survival. We were afraid of what tomorrow might bring. Have you ever felt that way?

And we were afraid of God. That was the fear that lay beneath all of our other fears: that

God would not deliver us. – either because God could not do it, or because God would not do it.

We felt abandoned by God either way. It felt like you had built your house on a rock – only to find out when the rain comes that the rock has disintegrated into sand. Or it was like you were walking along solid rock on a path skirting a cliff, only to find that the rock is not solid, but is giving way, sending you falling over the cliff. We felt like we no longer could count on God.

Some said God was helpless, not as strong as the Babylonian gods. Not me, I just thought God was angry and had given up on us. And that more than anything else terrified me.

How could any of us stand before such an angry judge? Who could face death and not be scared? 4 Then the prophet spoke: “’Comfort, O comfort my people,’ says your God.” Can you imagine how those words sounded to our souls? Then the prophet spoke tenderly, gently: “Your time of punishment is over, your penalty is paid.” These were words we had been waiting so long to hear. And yet, when they came we couldn’t believe them. They didn’t seem to match the reality all around us.

The prophet spoke about a road being made across the desert that would speed our way home – like the roads built by the Babylonians for the festive processions of their gods.

Could it be that the Lord’s anger had abated? That our sins and disobedience no longer would count against us? Could it be…even…that we might go home?

The prophet’s words seemed too good to be true, especially after we had been so long living in Babylon. Fewer and fewer people could even remember Jerusalem. When you have been as full of despair and fear as we have been for so long, it is hard to hear good news or have hope.

But the prophet did not end there. He went on to say, that the “glory of the Lord shall be revealed,” and that although all human life is as temporary and quick to go as the fading flowers and the grass, “the word of our God will stand forever.” Do you think that the prophet meant the

Babylonian rulers as well – that “their constancy is like grass” and “the flower of the field?” He sure did, because they have now been defeated. Those who lived by the sword have now died by the sword.

I guess this is what the prophet meant when he got all excited and said: “Get you up to a high mountain!” The Lord God “comes with might, and his arm rules for him.” What are the

Babylonian generals and warriors when confronted by the mighty power of God?

This was all good news – but there was still a question left unanswered. Even if all the words of the prophet should prove to be true, even if the Babylonians would be defeated, what good would it do us? How would we get home? We had traveled a long road, prodded by 5 spear and sword, and that had been a long time ago. We were older and weaker: how could we get back home even if going home was possible?

Then the prophet assured us: The Lord “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.” It would not be up to us. The Lord, the good shepherd, would do the lifting and carrying.

What a comfort that was – a bright light in our darkness. Some believed and trusted in the words of the prophet right away. They began looking for signs that the words were taking place. They started walking straighter. They got more generous. They smiled more, shared more, reached out to others more.

But I could not do that. After so long, I found it hard to believe that God was no longer silent, that God was no longer angry, that God was going to do something to make it possible for us to go home. So I am afraid, that I did not change much either.

Until I saw the fulfillment of the prophet’s words, evidence that our God has not abandoned us, that our God is more powerful than the forces we fear. Funny thing, however, the proof for the prophet’s words did not come in the way I thought it would. It was not an uprising of the people back in Judah who threw out the Babylonians. It was another foreign power, the Persians, who defeated the Babylonians and then issued an edict that all exiles can return home and Jerusalem can be rebuilt. The prophet says that God was working through that

Persian leader, Cyrus.

You can never tell how God keeps his promises, but he keeps them. Sometimes, he uses people you never expected him to use and he shows up in unexpected places and at unexpected times, but he shows up. Just like the prophets said.

Tomorrow, we leave for Jerusalem, for home. My wife and I may be old, but there is nothing that could stop us from trying to get home. We trust that we can lean on God to get us home. My wife says I haven’t stopped smiling since the edict was issued by King Cyrus. And 6 that I am a lot easier to get along with. I know I don’t feel nearly as angry and tied up in knots.

And the “grip that never lets go,” has let go.

But the prophets have not finished talking for God. Now they have a new promise – that this homecoming is just a preview of what is yet to come. More threats will come, they say, more conquerors, more reasons for fear. But this time, God will not just send another foreign army. God will send “a child to be born for us, a son to be given to us.” This child will be the

Messiah, and he will be called, “Emmanuel,” that is, “God with us.”

Can you believe what good news that would be? If the Messiah were to come to us, if

God would be with us in that way, then we would really have a good shepherd who could deliver us from every enemy and pestilence and bring us home. If God actually lives among us, if God is with us, no matter how bad or scary things might become, why would we have reason to truly fear anything – in this life of when we die?

I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime, or if this Messiah will come to the palace in

Jerusalem or some other place, but this I have learned: God does keep His promises and though the powers and forces of this world rise and fall, God’s Word stands forever.

I am willing to wait with hope for this Messiah, confident that God will deliver what he promises. And I will not live with fear again - because if God is really with us what or who could ever stand for long against us?