Our readings this week are: Isaiah 35.1–10 and Matthew 11.2–11.

If you're thinking, 'hang on, that's the same as last week', then congratulations for being super attentive - you are absolutely right.  That's on me, I was ahead of myself last week!

But it's a mistake I'm pleased to have made - since writing last week, I noticed a tiny little detail in my bible that I thought really interesting, so not having to wait for the same reading to come up in the lectionary again is a real blessing.

This section of Isaiah's is sharing his vision of the future that is in store for God's creation - a future of reconciliation, restoration, and renewal; a future which abounds in healing.  As part of this glorious vision, in verse 8 we read:

'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 traveller, not even fools, shall go astray.'

It is, perhaps, a great reassurance to us of our role in this future as God's people - but for me it also strikes a worrying note of exclusion.  Having anyone prohibited from travelling on this highway into a glorious, reconciled future, edges close to the sort of exclusivity Christianity gets twisted into in the hands of those who, like Tommy Robinson, would rather keep what is 'ours' ours.  Such readings completely miss the entire narrative arc throughout scripture of welcome and inclusion for the outsider, oppressed, and needy.

And this is where that striking detail comes in.  If you turn to this passage in your bible, or follow the link above, you will likely find a couple of footnotes.  The first, immediately after 'travel on it', notes that an alternative translation might be 'pass it by'; and the second after 'God's people', notes another alternative: 'them'.

Re-read the verse with those in mind, and we discover this: 

'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 them;

   no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray.'

That's vibin' with crazy different feels, right?  It's pretty much the complete opposite. If nothing else, this is a rather pointed reminder that all translation is a choice, and there is a lot of merit in having more than one translation to hand.  The King James Version, for instance, splits the difference here:

"And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein."

I can completely understand why the first translation might be offered - it sits solidly in the Old Testament tradition of a 'judgment day', which indeed carries over into the New, and even Jesus' teaching at times - I'm looking at you sheep and goats... and therefore is well within the longstanding 'accepted' Christian understanding of separation of the good from the evil.

In this context, though I can't help but prefer the second, the more inclusive reading.  I am fully open to the accusation that is my own personal bias showing through more generally - all translation is, after all, a choice - but hear me out.   The whole context of this moment is the restoration of things to how they were meant to be - a finding a way back, if you will.  And who is more in need of that 'highway', that route to return, than those who are considered 'unclean'?  Jesus himself points out that it's not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick; Isaiah, to my mind, is telling us it's not the found that need a route home, but the lost.

This week we're meant to be thinking about John the Baptist.  If I'd got the readings right last week we would have been reminded that he was called to be the one crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”  His vocation was to start building this highway - and those he was calling to walk on it - to not pass it by, but to accept its invitation of a way back home to belonging, and being loved and restored - those were most certainly the lost, the unclean, the 'sinners' in his language, in need of a baptism of repentance.  And remember repentance means not just saying sorry, but setting off in a new direction, walking a new path - or highway...

So, in the shadow of John and not Tommy, let's make sure the invitation we offer this Christmas is to walk the way back towards the God who comes to meet us all, no matter who we are, where we've been, or where we're coming from.