It is hard to speak of joy two days after the shooting at the school in Connecticut, but that is usually the theme of the third Sunday of Advent. This morning the sermon was based primarily on Isaiah 35. The passage tells us that on the day of the Lord, the desert and the wasteland will be glad. It will bloom and burst forth into joy. What could be more of a wilderness and a wasteland right now than the hearts and souls of the parents of those children who were killed on Friday? I can not imagine how those hearts could ever burst forth into joy again. However, God promises, and He is faithful to keep His promises, that there will be singing and joy.
     The prophet tells us to strengthen those who have tired hands, to encourage those whose knees have gone weak. We are to tell those whose hearts are fearful to be strong and not fear. For God is coming, our God and your God. He is coming with divine retribution. He is coming to save us, coming to save those whose hands are tired, whose knees have grown weak, whose hearts are fearful. And when He comes He will open the eyes of the blind and give hearing to the deaf. He will make the lame to walk and those who cannot speak will not only talk, they will sing. When John the Baptist was in prison and starting to feel depressed because things were not turning out as he had expected, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the One. Jesus answered them by saying “the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” He was telling John that this passage from Isaiah was being fulfilled. Well if the passage from Isaiah was being fulfilled when Jesus was here, why don’t we see more of those things in the Church today? Let us get down and our knees and pray for forgiveness because we have failed to bring the joy of the Lord to our society. There are many reasons why Friday’s shooting took place, but one of them is because I do not spend enough time praying for the souls of those around me. That I do not spend enough time telling them about the joy of the Lord.
     The prophet finishes this passage by telling us of a highway that will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean and the wicked will not travel on it. Predators (human and otherwise) will not prey on those who walk on it. There will be no dangers on that highway (no drunk drivers, no people speeding beyond their ability to control their cars, no trucks careening out of control, no dangers). Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will travel this road as they return to the Heavenly Kingdom. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, even for those who have been victimized by a tragedy like the one on Friday. They will be filled with joy and gladness. I don’t know how, but this is a promise from God. Whatever the source of our pain and anguish, if we turn to the one whose coming the Advent Season is announcing, it will be washed away. Think about the suffering that Jesus experienced, is your pain greater than that? He understands.