What does Advent waiting look like?

2nd Sunday of  Advent          December 7, 2025

The scripture texts for this sermon are: Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13 and Luke 4:16-19

There are few passages in scripture that warm our hearts the way this one does:

The wolf shall lie down with the lamb
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, 
the calf and the lion and the fatling together.
the cow and the bear shall grace
the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Whenever I read or hear this passage, I feel a pleasing calmness come over me
and whatever tension I’m holding releases.

It’s a lovely picture. It’s one we all long for: to come to a time when aggression of any sort ceases; when no one being claims the life of another.

This bucolic, Eden-like scene is preceded by Isaiah’s description of One who would come whose delight will be in reverence of God.

Isaiah’s announcement folds together two distinct images. What is the correlation between them?

Isaiah begins with an amazing claim in verse 1 when he says that this One will arise out of nowhere in the sense that He will come from something that appears dead: He will come like a shoot from a dead tree stump—the stump of Jesse Isaiah calls it, referring to the now long gone, dead legacy of King David. What appears dead not only reveals new life but a life like no other. 

Isaiah says this Righteous One will be graced with the Spirit of the Lord: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the awe of the Lord. 

And what does this Righteous One do? This blessed and endowed One will execute justice, not by what he sees or hears but from a place of righteous integrity. He will bring equity for the poor and the meek. He will defy and unseat the wicked. He will be defined by righteousness and known for His faithfulness.

In other words, this One will execute righteous justice.

Now Isaiah moves on to describe what will emerge from this righteous justice.

Nothing short of a Garden of Eden-like peace; a peace wherein the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (v9) Waters covering the sea? Is anything more unified and encompassing as waters covering the sea? This justice will bring a peace that touches all creation, every being, and all manner of human affairs. The nations will seek Him. 

But let’s take a close look at how this peace emerges. The wolf will lie down with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. You’ve seen works of art that depict this scene of the wolf with the lamb and the leopard with the goat, the lion with the calf. If it includes a human being, it’s that of a child next to a snake. All nature will be at peace. 

But let’s consider who the wolves and the lions are in this text. They aren’t just wolves and lions.

The predators are those with the power to incite or wage war, are corrupt and hurt others for their own gain, who think some people of lesser value and warranted of ill treatment, those who carry grudges or withheld forgiveness. Whenever I’ve read and heard this text I’ve not identified with the predators, rather I’ve thought of myself more in the lamb and calf category.

But as I’ve pondered this text this week, something occurred to me, something quite unsettling. Note that the wolf and leopard, the bear and lion forego their power–they are the ones that make it possible for the kid to lie next to the leopard and the cow to graze beside the bear. It’s not like the lamb and kid and cow rise up and overpower the wolf, the leopard and the bear. No, the ones with strength and power abandoned their strength and power for the sake of the weak and powerless. 

I have come to see that this text judges me as more aligned with the lion than the lamb. The first thing that comes to my mind is that as a white person, I benefit from privileges my society doesn’t extend to people of color (generally speaking). I have to ask myself to what extent and in what ways have I benefited from my power at the expense of another and just how much have I done to address the power that’s linked to that privilege?

But privilege and power cuts in all kinds of direction, doesn’t it? There are power equations within families, within church communities, certainly in businesses and corporations and without a doubt in government. We confer power on people with money, especially those with a lot of it. And we do know even if we don’t want to say it out loud that there are individuals within each of these settings who use their power that diminishes others. 

What does this text ask of us? When we read it out of context it’s easy to think nothing. We can read it and think just the appearance of this Righteous One will immediately bring justice and peace. But that’s not what Isaiah is saying nor does Paul or Jesus let us get by with that kind of idea. In Romans Paul tells us that we are to live in harmony with one another so that we are able to glorify God. (vs 5,6) This harmony, this peace, comes about when we yield ourselves to God. (v5) 

And Jesus doesn’t allow us to read Isaiah that way either. In Luke, after quoting Isaiah 61 to announce his Calling to preach good news, to attend to the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed, He then proceeds to call disciples to partner with Him. And that call for disciples is an eternal call, moving forward in time to include us all. 

So, how do we go about living in such a way that we live into God’s righteous justice and Eden-like peace?

We start with ourselves my friends.

If we assume we might in some way and in some circumstances and with some individuals behave more like a lion than a lamb, then we position ourselves to invite God to help us re-order the situation so that we introduce peace and harmony into the equation. 

It might help us to remember that Advent calls us to live as though that which we anticipate is already with us. It isn’t a waiting that only looks forward to Christmas Day. No, our waiting is active anticipation of that which Christ’s coming has made possible: the Advent of the new heaven and the new earth and God’s righteous justice and Eden-like peace.  And that active Advent anticipation is defined by a humble disposition (ever ready to lie down in peace) paired with whole-hearted commitment to God’s glorious agenda.

Linda Quanstrom, Pastor

Cornelius UMC

Cornelius OR