The prophet announces the expiation of sins and the coming of the God who will comfort his people (Is 40:1-11). The comfort that this God offers does not come in the form of those realities that we normally cling to, which “wilt and wither.” Rather, it will come through the Word, which will stand forever (Is 40:8).
God’s Word is faithful, even when we are not (2 Tim 2:13). It is not Christian to affirm that our own actions stand at the heart of our relationship with God; such an affirmation is an expression of a pelagian egocentrism. Rather, it is the Lord himself who provides the foundation for God’s relationship with us, and who provides all that is essential to it. Our role is important if it is to be a true relationship, a genuine communion. But where we have not been faithful, and when others have not either, we should have the humility to let ourselves be consoled anyway by the Word made flesh, who proclaims, “it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost” (Mt 18:12-14). Should we not hope, this Advent, that the will of our heavenly Father might be done?