Isaiah 35:1-10
Head out on the Highway
Visualize a road leading out into the distance and wonder where it may lead.
Think of those whom you would like to include on God’s highway.
Think of blossoms in a desert and crocus breaking through snow.
Think of children in joyous celebration.
There is something strange about celebrating Christmas in California, Florida and other southern States or even in Australia while Bing Crosby has invited us for decades to dream of a white Christmas. The majority of Christians spend Advent in weather that is far from wintry. Therefore, I think it is fitting to read this passage that speaks of water breaking forth in dry, parched land and crocus blossoms.
The land will rejoice with joy and singing, we are told. The wilderness and dry land shall be glad. But wait a minute. How does land rejoice? It is an amazing image, a powerful image for people who lived in a land that often gasped in thirst. And a nation that often thirsted for justice.
When will the land rejoice? When the people return. Literally, when the people in Isaiah’s time return from exile, but figuratively when they return from wandering away from God’s paths. And I think that is where we come into the story.
We are not literally a part of the exiled nation whom the prophet Isaiah is addressing specifically in this text. But the prophet is also speaking metaphorically, challenging us to wake up and smell the prophetic coffee of God’s call to righteousness living.
Indeed, this entire chapter is laden with metaphor; thus, as with any good metaphor there are many ways to understand it. Something amazing happens if we do two things: first, if we take the whole text as metaphor, rather than picking and choosing parts of it, and second, if we consider the alternative reading of verse 8.
Let us look at this second piece first. The NRSV renders verse 8 this way: “A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.” It reads about the same in the NIV.
In both, the NRSV and the NIV there is a footnote for an optional reading that goes like this in the NRSV: “A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass it by, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.” It is similar in the NIV: the simple will not pass it by.
In reading the verse in this second way, a passage that previously implied that God’s highway was only for “the good guys” (which we would, of course, understand as meaning “us”) is instead intended for all people. Those who might have been seen as unclean would notice God’s way; and begin to travel upon it. Then the last part of the verse would make more sense; no one, not even the “travelers and fools” – traditionally outcasts – will go astray. Everyone is included.
Now let’s step back a few verses. Why is this happening? I believe it is: Because the land is rejoicing; because God has come; because the weak and the feeble are being strengthened. Now, seeing the passage as metaphor, I do not believe that this is talking about handing out knee braces. I think it may be suggesting that we support one another on our faith journeys. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped” (v. 5). Several scholars suggest that, rather than taking this literally, we do well again to see here a wonderful metaphor inviting us to use all of the senses available to us to understand God.
“The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy” (v. 6). When we open ourselves to God’s Spirit, we can be freed from all sorts of things that hinder us, even finding the strength and power to speak out.
Now I would caution that this is one interpretation. Not the definitive one and not the only one, but I believe, a perfectly legitimate one, given the metaphoric nature of the text and the ambiguity of the Hebrew text.
God’s nature is invitation, rather that exclusion. God’s nature is to attract, rather than push away.
If you read Advent 1 (Isaiah 2) – the invitation to go up to God’s mountain and find ways to transform weapons of war into tools for peace; and Advent 2 (Isaiah 11) – the vision of amazing harmony to which we are invited; now we hear a proclamation of the earth rejoicing and blossoming in celebration that all people have finally discovered God’s Holy Highway. Not even the foolish have missed out this time. The result? Everlasting Joy! We had better believe it!
We could, of course, read the text the other way, and understand it to mean that only some get included. I don’t think that fits the overall image of Advent!
Several centuries later, the prophet Mary picks up similar imagery in the proclamation we have come to call the Magnificat, which we studied in Sabbath School last Sabbath. While one could again see here a passage that separates people – the poor being rewarded and the rich being sent away empty-handed, for example – I believe it really speaks more of balance. God intervenes in human history clearly on behalf of the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed, as we see in the exodus and in the life of Jesus Christ. But it is not at the exclusion of everyone else. There is always invitation to everyone to come to the table, to join in the journey.
This is the source of the joy – the real joy of Advent, of Christmas, and beyond. There is room on the highway for everyone. The road to the realm of God may seem a long one sometimes, but it is a wide one.
PRAYER: Lead us, loving God on your holy way. In the busyness of our lives, help us to discern your path through the desert places of our lives that we might travel in the ways you would have us go. Help us to welcome the stranger, the outsider, the one who is different from us, and embrace them as our traveling companions on this highway of life. May our righteous living cause the earth to rejoice and be glad! May our travels lead us ever closer to you and to one another! We pray in Christ’s name.
