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Our hopeful expectation of the coming of God’s reign is nowhere more compelling than in the lives of the three biblical figures, Isaiah, Mary and John the Baptist, who incarnate the meaning of Advent. These three clearly exemplify Advent vigilance. Awake in God, they recognize God’s arrival. In their acceptance of God’s Advent, God comes for all of us: their vigilance facilitates God’s Incarnation. The longing of Isaiah for the Messiah, the expectation of Mary, mother of God, and the recognition of the Christ by John the Baptist illuminate a threefold theology of Advent. (Note: Isaiah and John the Baptist do not have assigned dates during Advent. Honor them on an open date on your calendar. Mary is remembered on December 8.)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

—Isaiah 6:8

Longing: Isaiah

Eight centuries before the birth of Christ, when Israelite society was crumbling, Isaiah warned the people to repent and trust God to avoid impending destruction. After their ruin and exile, when life became extremely cruel and bleak, Isaiah comforted the Jews with assurances of God’s love and promise. The prophetic voice of Isaiah proclaims the glory of the Most Holy God, the persistence of human sin, and God’s immutable love.

Isaiah is the Advent prophet who warns, consoles, and bears hope. He refines the Old Testament longing for God into a hope for a messianic king who will usher in a new age when all creation will see God’s glory: God will come to save us. Our eyes will be opened, our hearing unstopped, our speech filled with songs of joy (35:1–10). Prepare and watch for God-with-us, he cries. Traditionally, Isaiah is depicted holding a scroll foretelling the Incarnation: Ecce virgo concepiet et parium filium. The Latin phrase is the text:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel (7:14).

In his ninth chapter, Isaiah expresses longing for the ideal king who will restore the ravaged land to its former glory, who embodies the best qualities of Israel’s heroes: the leadership of Moses⁸, the courage of David, the wisdom of Solomon. The passage, commonly read on Christmas Day (since it is one of the clearest messianic passages in the Old Testament), promises that the Savior will be more than a human summation of Israel’s great leaders, but will be a divine agent who incarnates God. In Jesus of Nazareth we recognize the Messiah who comes humbly in the flesh, who comes to overthrow evil and restore justice to all nations, who is active in our lives.

The latter sections of Isaiah, chapters 40–66 (Deutero-Isaiah or Second and Third Isaiah), are prophecies written some 150 years after Isaiah during the Babylonian exile (c. 539 B.C.E). Within this corpus are four suffering servant songs,⁹ incredibly incisive prophecies of Jesus’ ministry. In these songs, we are given the character of the One to come, the One for whom we are to watch. The servant remains perfectly aligned with God even in the midst of overwhelming suffering. With gentle strength and patience, the servant brings God’s word, the source of justice and loving compassion, to all nations. Yet the path of salvation is costly: it is paved with the suffering of the innocent servant. The servant, one with the people, intercedes through suffering to God for others, for us. The servant, one with God, remains uniquely innocent of sin so that to know the servant is to know God.

The suffering servant songs signal hope in spite of appearances. Rather than beholding the darkness that covers the land, we watch for the dawning of the everlasting light that reveals God’s glory (60:1–3). Vigilant, we recognize the Messiah’s coming. Courageous, we live as the servant community, identified with the anawim, the least of humanity, acknowledging the Messiah’s daily advent. Expectant, we hope for Christ’s return. Waiting with Isaiah, we sing the “Surge, illuminare”:¹⁰

Arise, shine for your light has come, and the glory of God has dawned upon you. For behold, darkness covers the land; deep gloom enshrouds the peoples. But over you our God will rise, and the glory of the Most High will appear upon you. Nations will stream to your light, and rulers to the brightness of your dawning. Your gates will always be open; by day or night they will never be shut. They will call you, the City of God, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Violence will no more he heard in your land, ruin or destruction within your borders. You will call your walls, Salvation, and all your portals, Praise. The sun will no more be your light by day; by night you will not need the brightness of the moon. God will be your everlasting light and your glory.

—Isaiah 60:1–3, 11, 14, 18–19

Symbol 17. The six-pointed star, made from two interwoven equilateral triangles, represents the six days of creation, the shield of David and the seal of Solomon. The two triangles symbolize the meeting of God and humanity that was fulfilled in the Messiah. The vision of the redeeming light of the Messiah propels Isaiah’s insistence that we prepare our soil to welcome the Messiah’s coming. Therefore, this symbol for Isaiah is a tractor driven by the six-pointed star of David.

Symbol 17

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word!”

—Luke 1:38

Symbol 18

Incarnating: Mary, the mother of God

Mary is the blossom of the shoot from the root of Jesse, the rose whose center is the site where God and humanity meet. A rose with its myriad petals emanating from a hidden center reminds us that all creation is connected to one center. The story of the Fall describes our wandering away from the center and our ensuing loss of life. Mary reverses the “sin of Eve” by calling us back to God.

A number of flowers represent Mary; the rose, symbol of manifestation and completion, is the Advent flower. Although a traditional title for Mary is Rosa mystica, the “mystical rose,” the principal flower of Mary is the lily, symbolizing her purity and chastity. Legend has it that the lily sprouted from the tears Eve shed when she was evicted from the Garden of Eden. The lily is often shown in a vase, signifying that Mary is the vase, or vessel, of the Incarnation, the Vas spiritualis. When Song of Solomon 2:1 (“I am the rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys”) is attributed to Mary, the song bespeaks devotion to God; God, in turn, bestows upon her the grace to become the mother of God.

After Gabriel announces to Mary that she is favored by God and is to bear a son, who is Emmanuel (Luke 1:26 f., Matthew 1:18 f), all creation awaits her response—the very Advent of Christ hangs on her willingness to accept the angelic message. All through the ages Mary’s response echoes, “Here am I,” your servant. And this is precisely the response Isaiah asked for from his people! And this is precisely the response God asks for from us daily.