Sermon Text: Isaiah 35:1-10
One time, after adventuring in the woods behind our house as a young boy, I ran inside terribly thirsty. Best thing to quench that mighty thirst? Not water, apple juice of course! Trouble is, full containers of apple juice are heavy, even for adventuresome boys, so I asked one of my older brothers to pour some for me. He did, but only a lil’ dribble and said to ask for more if I was still thirsty. Of course I was still thirsty! What I actually needed was a cup of water, but I had my own ideas, and apple juice, far superior to boring old water, was the only thing that would do!
Waiting for relief in a trying time is hard. At first, wanting to escape rather than accept, we hope for an almost magical reversal. When reality crushes that, we downgrade our hopes to something that seems more likely, more reasonable. Life in a broken world teaches us to compromise our expectations to not be disappointed. Isaiah takes those shrunken hopes, crumples them up, and replaces them with something enormous, something humanly impossible, yet completely certain. He shows the Messiah bringing real relief, full life, like water bursting up in a wilderness that had only known dust.
How’d these words land with those who first heard them? Likely, this chapter was written during King Hezekiah’s time. Hezekiah had led spiritual reform, but the threat of Assyria still loomed. Fear was very present during the tenuous stability of Hezekiah’s rule. Into that fear God spoke, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.” (Isaiah 35:1-2) Out of nowhere, the desert bursts into bloom, lush verdant, vibrant. God promises this transformation and calls his people to strengthen shaky arms and knocking knees by looking at what their Savior brings. God waters and rights wrongs, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)
Having trounced the oppressors of his people, because he comes to save he then pours our grace people need and can feel. Blind eyes see, deaf ears hear. People will leap like deer and shout for joy when they couldn’t before. Joy springs up like water out of nowhere turning burning sand mirage heatwaves into real pools of water. A road is built there too, the Way of Holiness. Nothing wicked travels it, nothing threatens, no dangers lurk, “But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 35:9b-10) That’s beautiful. That’s real relief in what the Messiah will do, especially the redemption!
How’d the people of Jesus’ day react when they saw these words fulfilled in him before their very eyes? Some believed, but many rejected him because they wanted a different kind of relief. They imagined not a grace-giver but a prestige-restorer, someone of power to restore Israel to former glory and new heights! So when Jesus arrived doing what God intended, not what they wanted, they were disappointed. The Messiah came lowly. The Messiah befriended the lowly. He didn’t raise an almighty arm to crush Rome. Instead, he opened his hands to crowds of the ill and hungry removing their sickness, satisfying their hunger, and feeding their souls with the bread of life: the good news that he came to save them from sin.
The Lord Jesus stooped to strengthen feeble hands and fearful hearts assuring all that the Son of Man came to serve, to seek and save, to give his life as ransom. People who couldn’t see or hear or walk suddenly could. Isaiah’s words were happening! The Messiah was bringing life to scorched ground, life that death can’t even interrupt. He brought it by laying his own life down on a cross at the hands of the Romans because came not to restore worldly power to Judea but establish his heavenly kingdom. And that was wildly disappointing for those who wanted rescue from diminished global standing rather than rescue from the guilt of their sins.
For similar reasons, many still find Jesus disappointing. His grace-filled approach, his generosity toward the downtrodden, can almost feel wrong to us. Fine for him, maybe, but not for us, especially when our fear of enabling or not having enough for ourselves outweighs God’s command to care. That can happen, of course, so we need to be wise but what can also happen is a person sees a beautiful pattern of mercy like flowers in the desert.
Some of us, like Jonah, appreciate being redeemed themselves but begrudge God for redeeming a neighbor we don’t like. Strange, right? Yet some Christians even judge fellow Christians for acting like Christ toward people they deem “undeserving.” In doing so, the example of Jesus, who spent time with outcasts, foreigners, the least and lowliest, is quietly rejected.
Why? Why does his example of love and grace go unfollowed? God said the Messiah would come with vengeance, and many of us are raw with the hurt of feeling like we’re suffering for doing good. We’d like some justice now! When God doesn’t do what we demand, we get angry, take matters into our own hands, and try to use Jesus to assert power and control. But God never called us to do that. That idea is ridiculous for people grateful that Jesus came to bring relief and redemption. After washing feet, Jesus the Lord and Master said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you,” (John 13:15) His kingdom comes through grace, unforced; it’s a gift
So how do Isaiah’s words hit you in these modern times of unrealistic expectations for constant maximum productivity and toxic individualism? Do you feel the relief? Do you sense life flourishing even though it looks impossible because the Messiah has come? Do you find reason to rejoice? Or do you have different ideas about what brings that impossible bloom? If so, and we all do in some way, how’s that pursuit going? Not well. Don’t search for real relief in places where it can’t be found. You do find it in these words. You believe, so you have confident hope in Jesus himself you’ll be in heaven. Hope in Jesus always satisfies because it always delivers. You are redeemed and nothing can change that. You are in Christ, so there’s no condemnation for you. You walk the Holy Highway under the protection of God Almighty. His name is written on you. You belong to him. That gives lasting joy, puts sincere praise on your lips.
Because you are filled with the love and life of Christ, you can pour water onto others without fear of running dry. People need the love you have, the same love you need. God uses you to strengthen feeble arms and weak knees, to build up those in dire spiritual straits by telling them about the One who restored sight, opened ears, enabled mouths to sing and legs to leap. You get tell them about their redemption, to proclaim that Jesus has brought them peace with God, saves them, and is the reason sorrow and sighing flee away.
Be the love of Christ to someone. Be their true friend. Listen to their hearts. Share Christ crucified and risen with them because that’s life giving water in wilderness. Link arms and walk toward the heavenly home together, where you’ll splash in the water of life, eat fruit from the tree of life, and live without want ever again because you’ll have it all. You’ll have life, and you’ll have relief, because you have Jesus. Amen.