Dec 5, 2022 3 min read Isaiah 35:1-10

Third Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 35 is bookended with the theme of joy: the earth and nature will rejoice in the opening verses; God’s redeemed people will rejoice in the closing verses. So, it is only appropriate that this passage is read on the Advent Sunday when we light the Joy candle.

Photo by Annie Spratt / Unsplash

Joy! This week we discuss Isaiah 35:1-10 and Matthew 11 in anticipation of lighting the Candle of Joy this Sunday.

Strengthen all the weary hands, steady all the trembling knees,
and say to all the faint hearts: “Courage, courage, do not be afraid.
Look, your God is coming. God comes, comes to save you.
Courage, courage, do not be afraid.”
(© 1991 Martha McMane “Strengthen All the Weary Hands,” (No. 612) in The New Century Hymnal (Cleveland: Pilgrim, 1995). Text by Martie McMane.)

Advent Candle Lighting Prayer

Your gifts, O God, make insignificant our efforts at peace and harmony for you are a God who gives not lightly but in full measure. Position your people then to receive your most bountiful gift of all: an infant of salvation. Enable us to straighten our ways so that we might surrender to you. We do not want to miss the call of John the Baptizer. We are here preparing a way for you to dwell among us. So, come, O Saving One. Deliver your love. Amen.

The Joy Candle of Advent

Isaiah 35 is bookended with the theme of joy: the earth and nature will rejoice in the opening verses; God’s redeemed people will rejoice in the closing verses. So, it is only appropriate (and joyful!) that this passage is read on the Advent Sunday when we light the Joy candle. This reading could even accompany the lighting ritual.

Joy is the purview of both human and humus in the future. It is not a present joy, but a joy to be anticipated; in this sense, it is an Advent joy indeed. A promise of joy. So, how do we prepare for this type of deliverance into joy? First, strengthen our weak hands and knees. Second, announce to those around us that fear is not necessary.

What would our poem of joy sound like today? How might we rewrite Isaiah 35 for our contemporary context? Anticipate joy.

Reading with the Revised Common Lectionary: Matthew 11:2–11

Matthew 11 and Isaiah 35 are brought together as Scripture lessons on this Third Sunday of Advent because of their intertextual link. On the third Sunday of Advent the Gospel readings focus on John the Baptist and his ministry. Matthew 11 begins a new section within the Gospel and focuses initially on John the Baptist who is imprisoned. From prison, he sends his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3, New Revised Standard Version). The question concerns Jesus’s identity as the Messiah. Jesus’s answer to the question points to the miracles occurring all around him. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, etc. This is the vision first shared by Isaiah – in Isaiah 35 but also throughout the book of Isaiah. These miracles of liberation are recalled again and again in Isaiah (27:19, 29:18–19, 35:5–6, 42:7, and 61:1). Jesus connects his ministry to Isaiah’s vision.

There will be a temptation to read Isaiah 35 and Matthew 11 as prophecy and fulfillment. It is appealing to note that Isaiah 35 hopes for these reversals and in Matthew 11 Jesus brings them to fruition. This type of reading falters on two fronts. First, this reading depends on the problematic notion of prophecy as future-telling. It ultimately insists that Isaiah’s prophecy in some fashion had in mind Jesus’s future actions. Second, this reading results in an understanding of the Old Testament as an incomplete word from God. Isaiah 35 becomes an exercise in wishful thinking and dreaming that cannot possibly be realized until the work of Jesus.

Alternatively, one could speak of the hope and partial fulfillment found in both contexts. Or, even better, the dreams of a better world of joy and liberation found in both biblical passages. Isaiah 35 and its hopes of transformation are realized to an extent in the postexilic community as Jerusalem is rebuilt and the Temple is reconstructed. Matthew 11 and its hopes of transformation are realized to an extent during the ministry of Jesus as he heals and preaches good news. These dreams, however, remain for us today.