The Highway of the Lord (Isaiah 35: 1-10, Matthew 2: 9, 10) 12/11/11

It’s sixty six miles from my living room to this sanctuary here at Rocky Creek. Not too bad. On a normal Sunday morning, it’s about an hour and a half, give or take ten minutes. If I were to go on down to Hartsville, it would be about 80 miles and would take about two hours.  That’s about the same distance that Mary and Joseph traveled from their home town of Nazareth to Bethlehem.  It took them a little longer than two hours. Nazareth lay in the region of Galilee, and Samaria lay in between there and little Bethlehem down south in Judea. To have traveled through Samaria would have been unsafe and unfriendly. Chances are pretty good that Joseph chose a route along the eastern side of the Jordan River until they could cross back into Judea. It has been speculated that a fit man walking with a donkey could make about twenty miles a day. But Joseph was older and Mary was near term with her pregnancy. So an educated guess is that Joseph and Mary, traveling on one donkeypower, probably took about a week to get to Bethlehem. They didn’t have a choice. A government census was being taken and families had to go to their cities of origin.   I travel here in the comfort of an old Chevy truck. Mary got a donkey and Joseph walked. Their highway was basically a cartpath. But it will not always be that way. Today’s passage in Isaiah points to a heavenly interstate, the Highway of the Lord. This is the time of expectation. This is the third Sunday of Advent, usually identified with the theme of Joy. Such is the highway that Isaiah prophesies for God’s people.

What a character is Isaiah! Sometimes referred to as the Prince of the Prophets, he preceded the birth of Christ by about 700 years and is thought to have prophesied the Messiah in a number of passages. The dominant themes in the book are judgment and salvation. Amidst a long condemnation of nation after nation and city after city, Isaiah takes time to prophesy a royal son from the house of David:

For unto us a son is born,

to us a child is given,

And the government will be

on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace.  (Is. 9: 6, 7)

In the passage for today, Isaiah talks about joy, specifically the joy of those who will be redeemed. Isaiah says that nature itself will burst open in bloom and shout for joy; that the glory and splendor of the trees of Lebanon and the fertile valleys of Carmel and Sharon will be given to the desert. He says that the weak will be strengthened, that the faint of heart will take courage. He says that God will come to save you. He says that blind eyes will see, deaf ears will hear, cripples will run and the mute shall shout for joy. That’s twice. First nature itself and then the most helpless among us will be shouting for joy.  

          Isaiah goes on. The desert becomes a beautiful lush oasis where everything grows. And in the midst of it all, a highway will spring up. Isaiah calls it the Way of Holiness. It’s like a reverse toll road.  You have to prepay to get on with your behavior, and uncleanliness, wickedness, violence and other such vices will keep you off this road. The Way is for the ransomed and redeemed. It is the high road of complete safety, complete peace. Isaiah says that those who traffic this highway will be crowned with everlasting joy, that gladness and joy will overtake them.

          Joy. I think it is an underused word. I’m glad for that. We Americans hear a word and if we like it, we tend to overuse it and sort of cheapen it in the bargain. How many of you are impressed with a star these days? The word wore out and had to be upgraded to superstar. Sort of like percentages. It doesn’t seem to matter anymore that 100% is all there is. We still want to give 110% to everything. Not the case with joy. It still flies under the radar most of the time. People want to be happy. They don’t go for joy very often.

          I was tempted to look up joy in the dictionary, but then I thought: Wait a minute. I know what joy is. At least I know when I have felt it. I bet you do too. Joy is different from happiness. Joy is different from relief. Joy is both personal and generic. Joy is small enough to get right in your heart but big enough to make you want to shout, just like the desert and the people in Isaiah 35. Joy is hearing her say Yes when you propose. Joy is seeing a newborn son or daughter or grandchild for the first time. Joy is watching that child say mama for the first time. Joy is doing something for a stranger and seeing a tear of acknowledgment form in their eye. Joy is a shoebox offering on its way to Uganda. Joy is realizing that you are loved, that you are not alone, that you are forgiven. I think joy is something you feel when you look at someone or something way bigger than you that touches you in a personal way.

The passage from Isaiah talks about the joy that will come from that Highway of the Lord being carved out by the Holy One of Israel. In the exile, it is God himself. In the prophecy of what is to come 700 years later, it is a manger and a baby and a promise fulfilled. In both instances, Isaiah has spelled out joy for those who believe. Through Isaiah, God reveals his divine purpose so many generations before the event itself. The ransomed and redeemed will abandon their sighs and sorrow and be overtaken with gladness and joy.  

The Gospels echo the theme of promised redemption. When they were fit to travel, Mary and Joseph went to nearby Jerusalem to dedicate the child in the temple. The prophetess Anna was there. She was eighty four years old and full of decades of living at the temple fasting and praying, She came up to Mary and Joseph and gazed at the newly named Jesus. The Gospel of Luke tells us that she gave thanks to God and spoke of the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem (Lk. 2: 38). 

In Isaiah, the prophet says: “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come” (Is 35: 4).  In the Gospel of Luke, an angel of the Lord says to shepherds: “Do not be afraid…Today a Savior has been born” (Lk. 2:9-11).  In Isaiah, He says: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer” (Is. 35: 5). In the Gospel of Luke, in response to a question about his identity, Jesus says to a follower of John the Baptist: “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Lk. 7: 22).

Look at the correspondence between the prophet of old and the Gospel writer. It is not just coincidence and good research that these passages have so much kinship. God moves across the pages of history, forging his identity into the minds and hearts of believers and equipping us with all that we will need to come to that Highway of Holiness promised so long ago.

          It is Advent. It comes faster and louder now. Tonight, eleven choirs will gather at a local church to praise God in much the same way that the very angels of God once did on a hill near Bethlehem. Our own church will be there to take part.  The heavenly choir is in convocation as well. For He is coming.  And He is almost here. And the earthly chorus begins with a familiar hymn.     

              Joy to the world! The Lord is come: Let earth

              Receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room,
              And heaven and nature sing. 

              He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the

              Nations prove,  The glories of His righteousness,
                 And wonder of His love.

The hymn says Joy to the world. Not just believers, not just men and women, not just the Church. The hymn says Joy to the world. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Magi are being guided along by the star, until it comes to rest above the place where the child is. When they see the star do this, they are overjoyed. Another translation says that they were thrilled beyond measure. The Greek for that phrase translates literally that they rejoiced a great joy, exceedingly. * I like that. That’s the feeling I was trying to describe earlier when I talked about joy being something very personal and yet bigger than life. That’s the miracle of the Christ child. It makes us want to rejoice a great joy…exceedingly! He’s coming! God is on his way!

*With thanks to Joel Harlow, Professor of Greek and Hebrew studies, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Charlotte, NC