Isaiah 61:1-3 * December 14, 2008 *
Advent 3/Jubilee Sunday * Pastor Leyrer
Dear friends in Christ,
It was one of those moments
instantly recognized as so important that you probably could have heard a pin
drop; so pregnant with expectation that no one wanted to cough or clear their throat
for fear they might miss something.
The Gospel writer Luke records it for us in all of its dramatic
detail.
It happened toward the end of the
first year of His ministry. Jesus was attracting attention, drawing
praise and distinguishing Himself as something different, something
special. People had heard of His miracles and the authority with which He
taught. And they were talking, wondering, and waiting for answers. Just
exactly who is this Jesus?
As He returns to His hometown,
they were about to find out.
Luke 4:16-21: He went
to
"The Spirit
of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of
sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of
the Lord’s favor."
Then he rolled up
the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were
fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today
this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
The people who heard this knew
exactly what He meant. Jesus quoted the opening verses of what today we
refer to as Isaiah chapter 61. (Sidebar: note the reference to finding
His way around the scroll. Organizing the Bible into the chapters and verses
as we know them was done in the 13th Century.)
The passage Jesus referenced would
have been as well-known to any Old Testament believer as John 3:16 is to us
today. In majestic and poetic terms these words describe the person and
work of the Messiah – the Savior. What would the Messiah – the “Anointed
One” mentioned in this text – do?
The Messiah/Savior would preach
good news to those who were aware of their spiritual poverty… He would
provide freedom from the bondage of sin… He would open the eyes
of the spiritually blind so they could see and understand the message of
salvation.
However, Jesus did more than read
a familiar Messianic passage. He applied it to Himself. The wait is
over. That long promised Savior has arrived. And He is talking to you, said Jesus. "Today this
Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
We know from the rest of Luke’s
account that Jesus had more to say. But
it wasn’t taken very well, prompting Him to utter the well known words: "No
prophet is accepted in his hometown." Or, as the Evangelist John
puts it in chapter one of his Gospel: "He
came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive Him." And
we are struck by the sadness of their unbelief.
In contrast – and purely by God’s
grace – we are here today because we have received Him. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we
understand who Jesus is and what He has done for us. To use His own
words, we are ones who are
LIVING IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD’S FAVOR
now and forever. What we’d like to do this morning is spend the rest of our time looking at some of the marvelously descriptive ways Jesus talks about what He has done and continues to do for His people.
By His own decree Jesus is the “Messiah” or “Anointed One” of Isaiah 61. His duty and role for which He visited our planet was clearly defined. In the words of out text, He came “to preach good news to the poor.”
Who are the poor? We are speaking in spiritual terms here, so the class of people referred to here has nothing do with wealth or the size of one’s bank account. He’s talking about the spiritually poor or impoverished; meaning, those who don’t measure up to the perfection God demands of His creatures. In other words, He’s talking about all mankind. He’s talking about us.
And what is the “good news” that poor sinners need to hear and that Jesus came to deliver? It is this: the barrier of sin that stood in the way of a right relationship with God has been removed and we are restored, redeemed and forgiven. As a result, we don’t view God as an unable-to-be-pleased killjoy looking down from the clouds figuring out ways to make our lives miserable, but a loving Heavenly Father to be embraced.
The “good news” Jesus delivers means we don’t have to worry about achieving heaven, because it has been given to us as a gift.
The “good news” is that our life is not just a meaningless series of unrelated, random evolutionary acts, but a purposeful existence continually unfolding under God’s grace and guidance.
The “good news” is that the grave is not the end of the line, but rather the gate to eternity.
That kind of “good news” is sweet music to our ears. Delivering that “good news” to us is the essence of what Jesus came to do.
Jesus further illustrates the good news in this way. He tells us He has come to “bind up the brokenhearted.” He brings us healing. He delivers us from brokenness. But, we may ask, in what sense were our lives broken?
Martin Luther made an interesting observation on this passage. He commented that every human life is broken by three wounds. They are 1) the Law of God, which tells us we must be perfect and that if we are not, we will be punished; 2) our own sin, of which we are very aware and which sometimes still trouble us with a sense of guilt and regret, and 3) death, which is the wages of sin and its result.
The “good news” is that these three wounds have been healed by Jesus. How? As to the Law, He kept it perfectly in our place as our substitute before God. As to sin, He died to take it away as the disqualification for heaven. And by doing so He removed the fear of eternal death and changed earthly death into the passageway to eternal life.
There is more. Jesus
has come “to proclaim freedom for the
captives and release for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor and the day of vengeance of our God.” These words would really be appreciated by
Old Testament
The talk of freedom reminds us of the statement Jesus made in the Gospel of John: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Freedom from the damning consequences of our sin translates into many other glorious freedoms, such as… freedom from a debilitating fear of the future…freedom to correctly distinguish between right and wrong and make God pleasing choices as we are guided by the His Word… and above all the freedom to willingly live for the Lord who made our spiritual liberty possible.
And that talk about proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor would call to mind the Old Testament Year of Jubilee. Every 50 years God had decreed that all debts were forgiven and those enslaved by their debt were to live as free people. Last year we all got a little excited about receiving a stimulus check in order to jump start the economy. Can you imagine the elation felt by those who were released from all their debt?
Spiritually speaking we are living in the year of the Lord’s favor. For those in Christ every year is a Year of Jubilee. And that’s really what is behind the Synod wide initiative which we’ve been publicizing for some time now. Sure, it’s about eliminating financial debt within our church body – but the bigger picture is to free up money that can then be used for Gospel ministry and outreach. Because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that sets people free. And we’ll see a real life example of that in the video that was specially produced for this occasion.
Still more. Jesus has come to “comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve.” Jesus came to deliver us from sorrow. This needs to be understood properly. It does not mean believers will never feel sorrow over, for example, the loss of a loved one or the loss of a dream or the loss of an opportunity or a tragic turn of events.
Sorrow is an emotion placed within us by our Creator. We recall that Jesus Himself, true God and true man, wept in sorrow over the death of His friend Lazarus and over the stubbornness of those who rejected Him. From sorrow as an emotion we are not exempt.
However, as Christians we are delivered from hopeless sorrow. The comfort we have even in the midst of our personal pain and sorrow is that “all things work together for good for those who love God.” God promises that even in our darkest moments – especially in our darkest moments – He will never leave us or forsake us, but will provide us with what we need. It is from hopeless sorrow that we have been fully delivered.
What else has Christ come to do? Three more descriptive phrases follow. He has come to “bestow on them [believers] a
crown of beauty instead of ashes” (in the Old Testament sad occasions were
observed by rubbing ashes into one’s skin), “the oil of gladness instead of mourning” (happy occasions were
marked by wearing sweet smelling oils), and “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
The point is this: Jesus brings victory and joy and confidence and meaning into our lives. At the same time He delivers us from a spirit of defeat and an attitude of despair. Again this doesn’t mean difficulties won’t come into our lives. They will. We’ve all experienced them.
What it means is this: because of Christ’s work and God’s promises instilled within every Christian’s heart is the quiet confidence that even when life gets turbulent and unsettled, in the end we can count on a safe landing. Ours is a life based on “certitude” – the certainty that we are loved, and the certainty that we are saved.
The result of such certitude is that the believer can be
strong in the Lord. Isaiah concludes our
text by equating the believer to an oak tree.
As an oak is the strongest of trees, unshakeable because of its deep
roots, so is the Christian who is firmly planted in the words and promises of
Jesus. “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for
the display of his splendor.” Or, in
words we are very familiar with here at
To know what we know, to be delivered from what we have been delivered, and to understand who we are as forgiven Children of God – such is our delight.
2000 years ago God walked among us. Jesus came for a purpose and He came with an agenda. Today, through the words of the prophet Isaiah, it was once again revealed to us.
Brothers and sisters, as we ponder it all let us marvel at God’s grace. Let us rejoice in our restoration. And as our text for today reminds us, each day let us simply delight in the fact that we are living in the year of the Lord’s favor. Amen.