Isaiah 35:1-10
The desert blooms
35:1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
35:2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and shouting. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.]]
35:3 Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.
35:4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you."
35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened;
35:6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert;
35:7 the burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp; the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
35:8 A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
35:9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.
35:10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
This is Gaudete, the third week of Advent, and the week of joy. This week is why the Advent wreath has a pink candle. It is also the week when “Fuck this shit” becomes an exultant cry of victory.
35:1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
35:2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and shouting. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.]]
35:3 Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.
There’s your “joy and shouting.” Notice how “glory” passes around, and how God’s glory (doxa) will make the wilderness and dry land glad, and cause the desert to rejoice and bloom. And then Isaiah’s audience is a part of the reversal, the apocalypse, the revelation. We, they, are to strengthen weak hands and make feeble knees firm. Not ours, necessarily. But the vision is meant to instill hope, and what is hope if not strengthening?
When God comes, the revelation will reverse the world into a hospitable place and bring the exiled back home.
We won't overlook the thorny bit: Isaiah says the unclean will not travel the “Holy Way.” Does he mean they will be excluded, denied access to the justice of God that is coming?
It’s always a tricky thing, this notion of “unclean” and holiness. My NT professor posed a thought experiment to us wannabe pastors, so sure we should welcome everyone. What if, he said, a stranger came for communion, a person unfamiliar with the practice and the “holiness” of the ritual. And he had a piece of bread he chewed ostentatiously, and wine he slurped and smacked his lips over. Hard to do, if you know the usual portions of a communion service. But he said, when you invite guests to your table, you expect them to show the courtesy of manners. At your table, you can handle the “unseemly” guest as you please. But whose communion table is it? Yours (the pastor)? The congregations (assuming a congregational polity)? The Lord’s? You expect people to “behave’ and, if they don’t, do you treat them as acceptable? Or as “unclean”? Do you allow them to “defile” the holiness of the ritual? Why? Or why not? Who’s table is it? Whose Holy Way is it?
Are the unclean made clean in the Holy Way? Are they made clean by acceptance at the Lord’s Table?
Do we need to be exclusive? Or do we allow people to do whatever they want? Paul wrestled constantly with this question, and we don’t always like his answers. But we can look at it this way: the “unclean” have to be prepared. It’s part of preparing the way. Like teaching a guest how to behave at the table. And what makes us think we aren’t among the unclean? That we don’t need to be prepared?
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