The Cry of the Lord

Isaiah 40: 1-11 Marianne Niesen December 4, 2011

Have you ever heard the expression ‘good news doesn’t sell’? It’s a bit of wisdom that is quite common these days and we see evidence of it everywhere. Very seldom do we have ‘good news’ reports on TV. Don’t get me wrong. We need to know about the serious and often tragic stuff that happens in the world. Still, sometimes it is nice to have a report about something good, something unexpectedly positive, some behavior that moves us forward on the road to peace and stability. I had to laugh – on the day I began writing this sermon, the news came out that the unemployment rate had gone down. And, on the very program where this was reported, pundit after pundit made it a point to note that this was good, yes, but we ought to be wary nevertheless. Maybe it really wasn’t quite that good. Maybe people had stopped looking for work and so weren’t counted. Maybe holiday hiring was up more than expected and so inflated the figure. Maybe this. Maybe that. Finally one analyst said something like . . . “but the bottom line is this is really good news.” But, even that was followed by more caveats about how we shouldn’t really be too happy.

I am not absolutely sure of the reason but perhaps it is just that we are so accustomed to bad news that we have trouble absorbing good news. We have trouble believing it. Church people aren’t much different from others on this. Many, many, preachers seem to have decided that the gospel (which, by the way, means good news) is really bad news for most of us – because we are sinners – fundamentally bad, flawed, failing. So they preach sermons on what God is going to do to us if we don’t improve. And, sin, hell and damnation still make for colorful sermons. In the last couple of weeks I’ve even received emails from people I don’t know warning me that our stand as a church to be welcoming of all people is not Christian. I should remember that the judgment of God will be harsh on us – and on me in particular. They basically told me that I, as a Christian pastor, should be preaching something akin to the famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards. Titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards crafted a terrifying image of human souls poised on the brink of hell. As one preaching commentary described the sermon: “God looks on us, he said, with a mixture of contempt and disgust. We are like spiders clinging to a rock, which God holds over the fire, and it’s only God’s mercy that keeps all the terrors of the world and the underworld from collapsing upon us. People fainted when they heard Edwards preach.” [1] It is a strategy that has worked for many years of Christian theology – shaming and scaring people into submission by threatening them with infinite punishment for finite sins. And it is Biblical. Edwards borrowed his images from Isaiah and Jeremiah. The only problem is that, though images of death and destruction and threats of future disaster are in the Bible, those are not the only things we find there. During Advent, we are also invited to hear the other side of things and so we find today’s text is from Isaiah 40: 1-11.

Interesting, isn’t it? Isaiah takes Jonathan Edwards and raises him one! The fact is that bad news abounds. Hard things are out there. Difficult choices face us all. We experience health issues, financial challenges, family squabbles. We do things we don’t want to do. We make mistakes. We fall short. That is the human condition and it always has been. The people of Israel had experienced slavery and exile and death. They were treated badly and, at times, they treated others badly in turn. And it is to that human reality that Isaiah proclaimed God’s double imperative. Comfort, oh, comfort my people and say to them that their punishment is over. Did you hear that? There is no promise here of pending doom. Rather there is a call for comfort. Relief. Even though people are fickle – like grass – and somewhat undependable and will continue to ‘fade’ and be ‘blown away,’ God promises eternal presence. Not eternal protection but eternal presence. That is in the Bible also and it reflects a strong river of mercy and grace that runs counter to the promises of death and destruction. The question is – to which voice do we listen? Which stream do we follow? The answer is important because, while bad news sells, good news redeems and makes whole.

It is no accident that, as the Jewish followers of Jesus looked in their Scriptures – the Old Testament – for words that helped them understand their experience of Jesus, they found them in texts like this one. Jesus embodied this image of God as a shepherd who held them and led them. In his living and his example, Jesus brought good tidings of grace and peace. His cousin, John – the one we call ‘the Baptist,’ had been the voice crying in the wilderness, pointing toward Jesus, who leveled mountains of anger and raised up valleys of despair. The early church believed that Jesus reflected the good news of God’s love and grace. Even more, Jesus brought good news and challenged his followers to be God’s partners in making the world a better place, a more peaceful place, a more just place. Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom of God – where all God’s people would have enough and would know God’s love. It doesn’t take a lot of Bible study to know that Jesus’ harshest words were not threats of death and destruction for individual sinners. His harshest words were aimed at religious hypocrites who followed the rules but showed no concern for the poor and suffering. But for those trying their best to make it in the world, to get by, to live and grow, Jesus had good news. To the overwhelmed he said, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened. To those plagued with anxiety, he said …do not worry. If God cares for the birds and the flowers, of course, God cares for you. To those concerned about life – even eternal life – he said, do not be afraid, I am with you. I will always be with you. His words, his life, reflected the promise of Isaiah. Comfort! Oh, comfort my people!

But good news is a hard sell these days. Always has been. We think there’s a catch, an eternal ‘but.’ Is it possible for us on this second Sunday of Advent, to trust good news when we hear it?

When I was working on my sermon for Christmas in July, I came across a poem that I didn’t use then but it seems to fit today. It is by Mary Elizabeth Counselman and it is a reflection on the modern technology that created shrink wrap, which, in many cases, defies all attempts to tear it. Here is the poem:

Hats off to you makers of gadgets galore.
Hooray for your shipping and stackage.
But why do you make it so hard, more and more,
to take all your wares from the package?

Your cartons and bags, I can't cut with a knife.
The strength of your cardboard - fantastic!
I'm sure I've spent easily half of my life,
just fighting my way into plastic.

Your labels resist any solvent on earth.
Your tape is as tough as an ox.
I've paid for my purchase - but what is it worth,
if I can't get it out of the box? [2]

In a sense, I think we have shrink-wrapped the good news of Christianity. It has been covered over with gloom and doom and death and hell and guilt and sin. I am not at all sure how we got this so wrong but I do believe that every Advent season, we are invited to set things right again. We’re invited to remember the words of Isaiah and the good news of Jesus. Comfort, oh, comfort! We long for good news. We need good news and, if we’re honest, we even know it is more effective than endless threats of gloom, doom and death.

Do you remember the story of a little drug store in Wall, South Dakota that was about to go under during the depression years? They turned their prospects around by putting signs up on the highway offering free ice water to anyone who stopped by. It was ‘off the road’ – like good news often is – but that good news changed life for weary travelers and the merchants of Wall Drug alike. This is the season to refocus on good news again. The eternal cry of the Lord is not Watch out ‘cause God’s gonna get you but rather look closely, God comes among us. In a star, a pregnant teen, angel voices, a baby’s cry. Things will still happen in our lives. We will face hard choices and challenges. We will make mistakes. But, through it all, the Advent season reminds us each and every day that God is with us. And that’s good news indeed. Dare we choose to get off the well traveled road and hear it? Believe it? Trust it? Drink from its life-giving promise? Dare we allow ourselves, and others, to be redeemed and inspired by the hope that the birth of divine life always brings?

[2] Mary Elizabeth Counselman, The Mission House as quoted in a sermon by Billy Strayhorn, ‘Unwrapping Christmas,’ at www.esermons.com.