"Clear the Road!"

Here is the lesson from the prophets for Sunday, December 4th which is also quoted in part in the Gospel lesson. The scholarly notes I find in The New Interpreters Study Bible informs us that the prophet composing this passage is the one known to scholars as "Second Isaiah" who lived with the exiles in Babylon as they were looking forward to their return to Jerusalem. The prophet envisions a road being cleared through the deserts and mountains that lie between Babylon and Jerusalem facilitating the return to the Holy City (Jerusalem) which represents the presence of God among God's people.

God is depicted as an ideal ruler, "[God] 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." The image of the shepherd was a common image for the role of King. One challenge we face in understanding scripture in our own time is translating concepts like "king" in a world dominated by democracies. Now-a-days the people are Sovereign and act through their governments. The prophets would expect good government, either through monarchy or democracy, to behave like a good shepherd to its people, caring for "the lambs and mother sheep" especially. But Jerusalem is the ideal and Babylon is the unfortunate reality. How shall we clear the road that will bring us to Jerusalem? Pehaps we aren't up to the task. The advent season reminds us that sometimes we must wait on God to bring about the "beloved community" in God's own time.