B: 2nd Sun Adv (6 Dec 2020) - TAKE ACTION (Isa 40:1-5, 9-11)

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God” (Isa 40:1).

This is the popular English rendition of this quote from Isaiah. Most English Bibles, if not all, use the verb “comfort” to relay the message of optimism amidst troubles. Another translation to this phrase is “Be consoled, my people” that has gained prominence as one of the hymns in the Advent season—hymn no. 57 in the Liturgy of the Hours, written by Tom Parker in 1968.

The problem with this translation, though, is not its unfaithfulness to the original text, but the way we come to understand today the verb “comfort.” Indeed, we are so accustomed to equating this term to the condition of being relaxed, at home, care-free, and settled. Thus, we have expressions like “comfort zone,” “comfort food,” “comfort room,” “comforter,” and even the World War II terminology for prostitutes in “comfort women.” All these expressions denote a certain degree of physical satisfaction and relief from pain.

The term “console,” while it speaks not of physical gratification but of psycho-emotional tranquility, is usually correlated today with the activity of encouraging someone to accept a tragic lost or an unfavorable situation. Accordingly, consoling someone means cheering him/her up by sympathizing or extending greetings of condolences. In a similar vein, the phrase “consolation prize” connotes that as one just failed to bag the top prize, he/she is being given a decent recognition for the efforts rendered in a competition.

In sum, we notice that both the words “comfort” and “console” signify that all kinds of agony (physical and psycho-emotional) can be overcome by accepting suffering as part of life and by displaying a change of perspective. While such a disposition is truly commendable, I speculate that the prophet Isaiah in the first reading does not merely intend to comfort or console God’s people in their dire situation. Instead, he is asking them to move on and be active participants of establishing the reign of God. In fact, the whole prophecy (Isa 40:1-11) all contains imperative verbs of deliberate action—“speak” (vv. 2, 9), “proclaim” (vv. 2, 6), “make straight” (v. 3), “go up” (v. 9), “cry out” (v. 9)—hinting at a willful decision to witness to God’s glory.

The original Hebrew word used in Isaiah is naham. Truly, in this verb’s piel form it means to comfort. However, the root of the verb, i.e., n-h-m, is associable to the Syriac term for resuscitating and raising to life (cf. HALOT). More revelatory in meaning is its counterpart in the Greek Septuagint with the word parakaleo. This verb does not only mean to comfort, but to exhort and to urge as well. In the New Testament, parakaleo is widely used to make a strong appeal to somebody to take action or even to follow (in the sense of discipleship) (cf. BDAG).

If merit is given to the Hebrew and the Greek, we surmise that Isaiah in his prophecy is not only comforting and consoling God’s people by being optimistic in life; rather, he is inviting them to move on and be active in the ministry of evangelizing others. In this season of Advent, we are, hence, not only asked to carry a positive disposition in life. Instead, we are enjoined by our liturgy today to be active participants of proclaiming God’s goodness to the whole world.

“Take action, take action, my people, says your God.”

- Rex Fortes, CM