Listen: 3:25
Comfort ye, Comfort ye my people
saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her her warfare is accomplish'd,
that her iniquity is pardoned.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness:
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a pathway for our God.
(Isaiah 40:1-3, KJV)
Reflection:
From the minor key of the opening symphony, we now hear a gentle, flowing melody in a major key. A song of comfort. A Tenor, in gentle but firm tones, sings the first two words: "Comfort ye." Handel chooses to begin his oratorio with a word of comfort from Isaiah.
The "people" God tells the prophet to comfort are the people of Jerusalem, the people who have spent a generation exiled from home, in Babylon. By saying "her warfare is accomplished," and "her iniquity is pardoned," God is letting the people know: You are forgiven. You are coming home soon. And yet, over the centuries, Jews still felt a sense of "exile" even after returning to their homeland. Things were never quite the same. That's where the idea of a "Messiah" began: a faithful,anointed Jewish king who would properly establish God's rule. But first, a voice needed to cry out in the wilderness, "prepare ye the way of the Lord." That is a role John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus, eventually took upon himself.
Comfort looks different to different people. I myself am an introvert: I love to interact with people, but it does take energy, and as the weather gets colder, there's nothing quite like a warm house, a hot cup of tea, a good book and/or a full Netflix queue. It's ironic that this holiday season can become so frantically busy at a time when our biological instinct is to withdraw into our "hobbit holes" and hibernate. As the days get shorter, our to-do lists become longer, and it can be taxing for even the most caffeinated of go-getters. My prayer for you in this Advent season is that you find some quiet moments of comfort, and hear God's voice echo in your heart, that your warfare is accomplished, and your iniquities are pardoned. In Jesus, the Messiah, we have peace with God, and that peace can change us from within, and change the world into a more peaceful place. But first, we have to let ourselves be comforted.
Questions for discussion:
1) What does "comfort" look like to you? Physically? Mentally? Spiritually?
2) Is there a difference between being "comforted" and being "comfortable"? Are there times when God wants us to go beyond our comfort zone in order to comfort others?
3) If you were a voice "crying in the wilderness" today, what would you cry? What do people most need to hear in order to be ready for God's presence?
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