2025-12-14 Advent 3

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!

From forests and trees last Sunday to deserts and sand this Sunday, we’ve had a real botanical cornucopia during this Advent season! When we hear the world “wilderness” in our culture we tend to think about the forests of northern Saskatchewan or maybe the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps the Yukon or Alaska for some unspoiled, pristine wilderness that isn’t touched by humanity. It’s still wild and untamed. It’s unforgiving and unrelenting. A beautiful spot to visit, but depending on your preferences, you may not want to live there. You may prefer to live a little closer to the Walmart on a paved road! In the pages of the Bible though, the concept of wilderness is desert. It’s sand and scrub brush. It’s scorpions and lizards. It’s a hyper-arid, harsh climate with very little rain and ridiculously hot temperatures, pushing up to 48°C or 118° in Freedom Units. Then you add to that a 50km per hour wind and you have a recipe for an overall nasty time! Why would anyone want to live there?! Cactus and snakes and sweltering heat. Everything wants to kill you in the desert! Ah, but Pastor, at least they don’t have -40°C prairie winter! I guess there is always an upside. No shovelling snow or scraping ice off the windshield in the desert.

The Prophet Isaiah frames it thusly: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing … They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.” (35:1-2). Well that sounds a little more, shall we say, exciting! That arid wilderness wasteland is going to have a very dramatic climate change, and they didn’t even have to pay a carbon tax! Isaiah is talking about the Lord doing something truly amazing. The wilderness, usually a juggernaut of despair, is going to spring forth into new life. He uses the image of a crocus, or a beautiful flower, blooming in splendour. This is not something you typically see a lot of in a harsh desert climate. But there will be abundant blossoms, rejoicing with great joy and singing. Why? Because something even more glorious than a crocus will be seen. The very glory and majesty of God will be on display for everyone to see where there was once only bareness and exile.

This is why the Third Sunday in Advent centers on the theme of joy, or the good ol’ Latin term for today, Gaudete. There is going to be rejoicing and gladness in a hostile environment. Think about your life and the times you were the absolute happiest and joyful. Perhaps it was High school or University graduation, completing a huge academic accomplishment. Maybe it was landing your first job after a successful interview. What about the day she said ‘yes’ and you bamboozled your wife into marrying you! The birth of your children. The 2025 Grey Cup. Your rich uncle left you his entire estate. There’s lots of incredibly joyful things in life. Even smaller scale things like when you flip your pillow over and you get to enjoy the fluffy fresh cold side for a few moments! It seems like joy is contingent on our circumstances and earthly events around us.

But this Advent joy that Isaiah is getting at - and really, that all of our readings this morning are driving home, is that the joy of God’s Kingdom is centered on heavenly things. And as such, it cannot be removed from us and it doesn’t depend on earthly circumstances. It surpasses them all. Isaiah says your joy exists because “He will come and save you” (35:4). The Messiah is coming for this purpose. And this amazing work of God is going to create all joy and gladness. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes” (35:5-7). The tell-tale signs of the promised Messiah, you are going to behold them for yourself. Restoration. Healing. Redemption. Forgiveness. All of these things are going to transfigure the world just like water rushing forth in the arid wilderness. The entire world will be changed when He arrives.

Isaiah continues with this description, saying that instead of the scorching hot sand of the desert, it will be exchanged for a highway. A well worn road that is well marked and easy to follow. There will be no scary beasts of the desert there along that highway where the redeemed will walk. No lions, no tigers, no bears. Only the joy of the Lord. “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (35:10). This is the Good News that the Messiah brings for all who trust and believe His message. This present and eternal joy that transfigures the world - this is the joy that He gives us as His people.

This is why the birth of our Messiah is so joyful. This is what makes the Advent and Christmas seasons the most wonderful time of the year. We prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate and treasure the birth of Jesus our Lord. His blessed incarnation, life, death and resurrection, His teachings and miracles, this is what gives us true heavenly joy that surpasses and transcends all earthly circumstances. Even when we face the hard times of life, having to walk through the joyless desert valleys of health problems, pains and suffering. Even in the darkest and bleakest times of the winter of life, there still always remains the pink candle of joy, shining brightly. Because this kind of joy does not depend on earthly things. It depends completely on our Messiah and His promises to us of forgiveness, life and salvation.

His promise He gives to us individually in the water and word of our Baptism. No matter when this happens, as an infant or as an adult, the joyful promise of God is still the same. Sins washed away. Welcomed into the family of God. Becoming a new creation and blooming forth like a flower in the desert. This is truly a very joyful thing that we can - and should - remember every single day and a gift of God that the world can never take away. And of course, the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, where our Messiah invites us to His table to taste and see that the Lord is good. Joy and healing in the very body and blood of Christ our Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. No wonder this is described as a grand, eternal wedding banquet in the Scriptures. The feast of joy and victory that our Lord welcomes us to right now and forever more.

When we behold all this heavenly joy that the Lord blesses us with, we wish that it would come in it’s fullness. That all the heartache and problems of this world would finally be over and done with. But St. James tells us “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (5:7-8). The Messiah who has come as a baby is certainly going to return in glory. This will bring about the biggest amount of joy the world has ever seen! But we must be patient. We must wait with expectation. We must prepare and establish our hearts, knowing that the Great Day of the Lord is coming soon. So don’t get distracted by worldly stuff. Don’t give in to the devil’s temptations to seek earthly joys instead of heavenly joys while we wait for our Messiah to come again. For behold, He is coming soon. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!