Tidings of Comfort and Joy: Readings from Isaiah

Advent greetings!

If you’re anything like me, the last couple of weeks have been a mad rush of carol services, mince pies, and school nativities - leaving little room for pondering the mysteries of the book of Isaiah and how to preach on them!

We’re going to have a quick look at the three lectionary readings from Isaiah which you might choose to preach on during Christmas eve and Christmas day services, with a particular focus on the context, and the bits of the text which might be less familar.

The three texts from Isaiah are each taken from a different portion of the book, when we look at it through the lens of the ‘three Isaiahs’ (see last year’s newsletter, linked below, for more on that…). It is unlikely that the compilers of the lectionary did that on purpose, but it provides a good cross-section of the book.

'tis the season for Isaiah

These texts not only speak wonderfully of the messianic hope that was fulfilled in the birth of Christ, but also reflect significant periods of social and political upheaval which have something powerful to say to our world today.

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo - The Prophet Isaiah, between 1726 and 1729

Isaiah 9.2–7: To us a child is born

This text is probably one of the best-known from Isaiah and is always read around this time of the year.

The focus is usually on v2 which describes how ‘the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light’ and the child in v 6 who will grow up to be ‘Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’.

These verses are beautiful and speak powerfully of the birth and life of Jesus. But what is the context of this passage and what else is going on in it?

This passage comes from the first portion of the book of Isaiah which is likely to be the earlier part. The book is a product the southern kingdom of Judah, and during the period in which chapters 1-39 was written the south was looking on as the North was decimated by the Assyrians.

Assyrians didn’t stop there - shortly after, they also attempted to take the Southern kingdom, levelling at attack on Jerusalem ( read all about it in 2 Kings 18…). Against this background, the ‘tramping warriors’ and ‘garments rolled in blood’ make a bit more sense!

So, there is a contrast here between the decimation of the northern kingdom and the apparent salvation in the south. This passage, then, reflects messianic hope against a background of what the text presents as God’s protection of the southern kingdom against the Assyrians - too bad for the north!

Isaiah 52.7–10: The Messenger who announces peace

Next, we have a text from Deutero-Isaiah (40-55) usually dated to the exilic or post-exilic period. Like in the case of the first text, this makes some difference to how we should understand the imagery at work here.

In the context of the Babylonian exile, peace for the Israelites was nowhere to be found. They were living in captivity having witnessed the destruction of their homeland and temple, with little hope of rescue.

In this context, then, they were eager for the arrival of ‘the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news’ and ‘announces salvation’ (v 7).

What kind of messenger should we imagine here?

If we read the beginning of the book of Ezra we find an account of Cyrus king of Persia’s restoration of the people of Israel to their land after the exile. The Persians defeat the Babylonians and the Israelites are allowed to return home from exile.

Cyrus appears just shortly before the text at hand in Isa 44-45, where he is called the ‘servant of the Lord’. Isaiah acknowledges the importance of political leaders like Cyrus who, despite not being Israelite, act for the wellbeing of the people of God.

So as well as the messianic messenger who will eventually proclaim peace to all people, when reading this passage it is also helpful to think of the powerful historical figures that existed at the time.

Isaiah 62.6–12: The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord

The third text is slightly less well-known and is taken from the collection of oracles which make up the end of the book (chapters 56-66).

Likely post-exilic, these chapters are interested in themes of restoration and peace, emerging out of a time when the Israelites had been free from exile and were reinstated in the land.

The passage describes sentinels - watchmen - who are stationed on the walls and give God ‘no rest…until he establishes Jerusalem’ (v 6) which makes more sense when we consider that the city was essentially being rebuilt from the ground up.

Similarly, in v 10 we find ‘prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway’. The imagery here is very concrete and for good reason, because it came out of a context where the sign of God’s salvation was the physical restoration of Jerusalem.

---

I will be preaching at an all age eucharist on Christmas morning which is likely to involve a game a pass the parcel rather than a long excursus on the theology of Isaiah - but I will draw a message of hope from the Old Testament reading that will be more fully developed because of an awareness of the background of these texts.

The themes of peace, salvation and anticipation chime so well with advent and Christmas - so may these texts be a blessing to you and those with whom you share the good news in this festive season.