Rochester, MN UCC - " An Everlasting Joy" - Isaiah 35:1-10
“And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing;” This opening half verse from Isaiah 35:10 is a promise of God to the people of Jerusalem living in exile amongst their Babylonian conquerors. The promise concerns a concrete, historical event: their eventual return to home to Jerusalem. But the second half of the verse goes much further, “everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Somewhat miraculously, the people of God did return to Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon. And it was almost certainly a joyous occasion. But why call the joy everlasting? Why claim that sorrow and suffering would forever vanish? Yet Isaiah goes even further, he says that the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap like deer. Even the desert will rejoice and bloom with the crocus!
There is a truth to be found in Isaiah’s connecting of the seemingly impossible with the concrete and historical. There are moments in human history which burst forth with the revelation of God’s glory and salvation. The return of the exiled people of God to Jerusalem after 75 years of exile in Babylon was one such moment. The joy that the people felt and experienced in this glorious return was nothing short of the joy of salvation, the very same heavenly joy that awaits us in God’s eternal presence. It was the eternal and everlasting joy breaking into time and showering people with their eternal destiny in the present moment. Yes, the people of God would know sorrow and sighing again. But they would also know that the God who promised them everlasting joy was the same God who delivered on his promise to free them from their exile.
In Advent, we anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ in power at the end of this age. We look forward to this event because we have experienced the joy at the heart of it in concrete historical experiences. The joy of the returned exiles. The joy of those touched and healed by Jesus Christ in Galilee and Judah. The joy of loving and serving your neighbor, and being loved and served by them. The joy in every one of our experiences of God’s grace. These are moments when the everlasting joy of God’s salvation reaches us in time. They are to be cherished and treasured. And they are to strengthen our faith in that everlasting joy that God has promised awaits us all. Let us relish God’s gift of joy this Sunday and let us anticipate with gladness the coming of Jesus Christ.
Rev. Andrew Greenhaw