Isaiah 40:1-5; Matthew 3:1-7 Scripture Study
By Pastor Chris Simmons – Trinity Lutheran Church, Paso Robles CA
A reinforcement/supplement study to our Sunday service meant for “Building up the body of Christ… the manifold Wisdom of God made known” (Ephesians 4+3)
For Sunday, January 11, 2026
Coming Home For Christmas - A Home Prepared
Greetings Family of Trinity,
The Christmas season has been such a blessing: The annual reminder of God fulfilling His promise to send a Savior, the special music through which we can draw close to Him and closer to each other in mutual praise and joy, the gifts we give and receive and the love which those gifts imply. Christmas is also a season of visiting family and friends, of being received into a home as a guest, or receiving others as a host. In either case, preparing a home is usually a prerequisite for receiving guests, and during a busy season, or perhaps even a difficult season, those preparations may present challenges, strife, and added stress. From God’s perspective, preparation for His Son’s arrival, work, sacrifice, and resurrection was perfectly planned and completed, but it was not easy. The story is not over, however, as Jesus is not done working: He is preparing a new home, that is, a new heaven and earth, and a house that is perfect for His whole family, the church. I pray that this study and worship this week blesses you.
~ Bryan Widstrand, Co-Director of Worship
Discuss: In regards to hospitality this year, did anything stand out from this Christmas season? What were the things to rejoice about? What challenges did you face? Any new challenges this year? Are some the same every year?
Isaiah 40:3-4
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
If you have ever been out in the wilderness, especially pristine wilderness untouched by civilization, there is not much to do except observe its beauty. If, however, you need to “fix up” or build in the wilderness, the amount of work becomes immense. Walking through a desert may be hard enough, but building a highway? And how about lifting up valleys, and lowering mountains?
Preparations for someone’s arrival, especially someone important, can be daunting. Preparing the house for a shared meal can involve decluttering, organizing, cleaning, shopping, cooking, baking, babyproofing, putting the pets away, and finishing everything on time. As we read through this passage from Isaiah and connect the concepts with preparing our homes for guests, we can see past some of the practical and even mundane elements.
Messy rooms are cleanable, but what if the mess is in our hearts? How does our own and each other’s messiness make visiting welcoming? We can have the cleanest house in the neighborhood or in the family, but a clean room can still be a place of anxiety. Conversely, you may be as welcoming in your heart as you can feel, but if there is nowhere to stand or sit because of untidiness, or if there’s nothing to eat or drink because of a lack of preparedness, that environment is unwelcoming as well.
Discuss: What is of higher priority to you, a clean place or a welcoming attitude? Does your priority change if you are the host or the guest? How do you balance both of these priorities, regardless of which one is more important to you?
Isaiah 40:1-2a
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended.
The first element seen in this chapter of Isaiah is that of “Comfort.” Not just comfort, but comfort from God, and not just comfort from God, but God speaks to “[His] people.” In terms of hospitality, it is difficult to feel welcomed and comfortable if there is something wrong with the relationships involved in the situation. Perhaps heightened tensions, old wounds, unresolved conflicts, even unrepented sins can all make hospitality difficult or nonfunctional from either side as the host or the guest. You would (should) not invite someone into a conflict unless they are part of the solution, but it is unavoidable that we invite or are invited to at least be around conflict. The degree in which the messiness of our hearts and sins is on our minds, or the minds of others, can color the way we host or are hosted. God, as usual, has a solution for this specific problem,
Isaiah 40:2b
…that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
You can see that in verses 1-2, before talk of preparation for the coming of Jesus, God already is promising the reconciliation of relationship through the free forgiveness of sin. “Her warfare has ended…” is such a beautiful phrase. Consider this statement from the New Testament:
Colossians 1:21-22
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation…
Just before this verse, Paul writes that Jesus made peace through His blood, ending our “warfare” with God. Affirming good and restored relationship reinforces the reason and intention of preparation for being received or receiving someone, as we see in Isaiah. Now that the relationship is right, God then declares the preparation which will happen for the wonder of His marvelous plan in Jesus.
Meditation/Discussion Questions: Have you experienced or offered hospitality in which there was a sense of discomfort because of problems in the relationships? If so, what do you do to “work around” such discomfort? Boundaries? Hope for improvement? Talk about it together? Prayer?
What about feeling like your house is not available to be hospitable for various reasons: mess, clutter, disrepair, an aggressive pet, “way out” in the country? Is it better not to try? What are some solutions that we can apply from God’s word in our lives and our homes? Remember… the way of the LORD was “way out” in the wilderness.
And so, God declares that the world is to “prepare the way of the LORD,” and He even declares that He himself will do the work in a later chapter,
Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
All for the world to receive its King, Jesus, born of the line of King David. And how did the world rank in regard to hospitality? Well… they certainly did not give him chocolate. Jesus was meant to be the honored guest but instead received the judgement for the sins of the world which rebelled against Him. Keep in mind that the relationship with the world was God’s stated purpose for Jesus’ coming (John 3:16).
We live in a reality after Jesus has come, not an echo of Isaiah 40:1-2, but the actual truth of it. Our warfare has ended, the relationship with God is made right, He dwells in and among us! How then can we transfer this wonderful truth in our relationships with each other? See some possible answers as you see this symbol ~ further in the study.
In our Gospel reading, the harbinger of this powerful prophecy from Isaiah is John the Baptist. When we talk about hospitality in regard to tidiness, shopping for groceries and drinks, cooking, and having a warm and welcoming space to host someone, John the Baptist does not fit the mold.
Matthew 3:1, 4
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea… John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Imagine calling to your family “who wants to go to John’s place tomorrow?” The places and ways in which God’s message and relationship is communicated can be unorthodox according to our understanding. The purpose of traveling to see John was not one of convenience or physical comfort, it was the purpose of restored relationship with God.
Matthew 3:5-6
People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
~ Your situation does not need to be what people expect or totally comfortable in order for you to extend hospitality, but the purpose of being together is the key that builds, maintains, or even restores relationships.
If Jesus came to restore our relationship with God, how does He reach into our interactions with each other? Consider these excerpts from the Gospel of John,
John 13:34-35, 15:5,12-13
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
~ Apart from our connection with Jesus, we are unable to truly grasp the depth of relationship God intends for us to have with each other as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, but in connection with Him, we are enabled to love one another even as He loves.
Discuss: Have you ever been a part of a family or group gathering, or perhaps heard of one, where someone in the family or group would prefer that God not be part of conversation? What are some ways that you do, or would, respond to this? What are some ways to pursue good relationships in that situation? What responses honor God and are connected to Jesus?
Jesus’ coming did not just fulfill the prophecy from Isaiah, it created a whole new preparation for His believers. The work that Jesus is accomplishing now is not just in Heaven as we await His return, it is in the sustaining of our relationship with Him as God hears our prayers through the lens of Jesus’ perfection (See John 15:16), through the sacrament of Communion where we receive His very body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins, through the continuous mediation on our behalf to God our Father. But there is another facet of Jesus’ connection to our hospitality. We read from the Gospel of Luke,
Luke 24:13-16, 28-32
Now that same day (as Jesus’ resurrection) two of [His disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him….
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
If you are familiar with this story, you may notice some large sections missing, but the selection of verses highlights a few things. These are Jesus’ disciples, and show hospitality even to a stranger, opening their home to Him. As they walked, Jesus “opened the Scriptures to them,” the message was one they shared, and shared passionately. These disciples were not in the best emotional state, and yet they still offered their home to this man.
The most poignant conclusion, however, is one that is hidden in the details. Notice that the home is that of Cleopas and likely his wife, but it is Jesus who takes the bread and gives thanks. This is the role of the host, not the guest. Jesus assumes the role as the head of that house.
~God’s intention with us, through Jesus, restores our relationship with Him. Our connection to Jesus allows us to love as He loves, empowering us to build, maintain, and restore relationships with each other. The final piece in preparing our home to truly be hospitable is Jesus becoming its head.
As Jesus is Lord of our homes, he is certainly also the Lord of the church. Our church meetings and spaces should reflect Jesus’ Lordship and leadership just as much as our homes.
Discuss: Is there anything that prevents you from inviting people to worship with you? How can our relationships with God, connection to Jesus, and Jesus’ authority at Trinity break down barriers that would keep people from being welcomed and cared for?
Once the relationships are in place, loving one another as Christ loves us, the preparations for hospitality have far fewer barriers present. Preparing a house for a loved one without any strife becomes a joy, even if it means hard work.
Preparing for something important, such as the coming of the savior, or perhaps something more mundane, like dinner on Friday, requires work. God prepared the world for the coming of His Son, to restore us to Himself, even though we were His enemies. Jesus shows us how to love and empowers us to do so in our connection to Him and obedience to His perfect commandments. Jesus also becomes the head of every household in which he is welcome.
In every circumstance where we are in fellowship with each other, be it by hosting someone or being hosted by someone else: in our homes, in our worship services, in our workplaces, God has made preparations for us to flourish and grow like plants in the wilderness, and to grow together. In fact, when we host or are hosted, and we gather in connection to Jesus, in the name of Jesus, and under the perfect authority of Jesus, He promises to be there with us, even where conflict is present.
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, you have prepared a world for us, and though mankind has disregarded your gift, you have restored us to yourself through your Son, Jesus, who himself is preparing an eternal home for us to be with you and with each other in perfection. Thank you for these great gifts! Amen!