Isaiah 61:1-7

 

 

I.        These first verses are the well-known text Jesus used to announce his public ministry in Luke. he is in his home town of Nazareth as the guest preacher in the synagogue.

A.       After he read Isaiah 61, this home-town boy closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. All the eyes in the building were fixed on him. He said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

B.       This scripture is a wonderful announcement of salvation.

                                      1.       The historical context is completely different for those listening to the prophet who spoke after the exile, after the arrival of the first wave of exiles back in their homeland which lay in ruins, 540 years before Jesus and Christmas.

                                                          a.       It is exclusionary: it applies only to the small faithful remnant.

                                      2.       The hope of those pathetic Jews is grounded in the promise of God “that He would come to re-establish a nation living in righteousness and peace,” and it is stated here with exuberance and color.

                                      3.       This too is a prophecy that was not fulfilled, one waiting to find its fulfillment in the future.

                                      4.       All kinds of Jews have held on to this Messianic hope of the restoration of their homeland. It fueled their drive for building a nation in the 1940's, for the 3 Suez Wars that followed, until the day at last came when Israelis once again re-unified their holy city of Jerusalem, and their soldiers were able to drive their jeeps and stop in front of the wailing wall to pray.

                                      5.       I recently finished novelist Herman Wouk’s book, “Hope,” a historical fictionalized account. While I may not agree with the perspective in the book, Wouk gives us an intimate insight of a devout Jew into this day of final liberation and salvation.

                                                                   a.                 “...Clearing a plaza so the Wall can breathe, and Jews can

                                                                   come to worship by the thousands, not a few at a time. ...

                                                Well, here he is, here where the priests of two destroyed

                                      Temples served the Lord God for a thousand years, and

                                                                    here where the Dome of the Rock stands, as it has stood for thirteen hundred years, over the fabled place where Abraham offered up Isaac. Ha Ha’bayit b’yadenu? ...(he) wonders as he walks out at last on the holy ground...” [PAUSE]

                  

II.       I would like to take you back to the day of those later chapters in Isaiah, so we may better comprehend Isaiah’s expectation, and how Jesus may have reworked this expectation.

                   A.       When Cyrus conquered the hated Babylonians, and soon after his edict of release cleared the way for a few people to go home, there was a surge of anticipation, dreams of the utopia that might be, nostalgic memories of the long-forgotten  glory days of David and Solomon.

                                      1.       In the first few years after that, and especially after the first group of Jews came home, “there were ominous sign that the path to national health and prosperity would not be as smooth as (Isaiah’s first) vision might have suggested.”

                                                          a.       The returnees were like a trickle, not a mighty stream.

                                                          b.       The attempts to rebuild the walls foundered, were interfered with.

                                                          c.       When the second temple was completed, it was a sad imitation of the once beautiful edifice.

                                      2.       Depression and despair set in. Possibly they began thinking like those who had second thoughts about joining the Exodus from Egypt:

                                                          a.       I wish we were back in Egypt and not out in this wilderness. At least there we had food and a roof over our heads.

                                      2.       It reminds me of some of the thoughts that prey havoc with the faithful church members who stay during a time of conflict, or wait out the prolonged absence of an installed pastor.

                                                          a.       There are strong hopes, dreams, always based on the past which now is visualized as a kind of golden age.  The remnant talk about those who will come back. As time passes, they wake up to a harsher realism; they see the hard work, a tighter budget, the sacrifices required.

                                                          b.       But they are determined to set their sights on God’s vision for them people and their future. And nothing will deter them!

                                      3.       The constant throughout the years and centuries which has enabled God’s chosen people, the Jews, to persevere is this promise of salvation: He is coming himself to deliver them  in a new reign of justice and peace; God will be with them in person and they will see him face to face.

                                                         a.       It is God’s last promise in the book of Revelation.

                                      4.       There is Hans Lilje’s commentary on Revelation during the Nazi period.

                                                          a.       And Claus Westermann, the converted Jewish theologian, who describes his experiences of deprivations after World War II,

                                                                             (i)       Westermann points to the picture in Isaiah 60:4-9, in which the nations bring their great wealth to give to Judah; they will come on camels with incense and myrrh.

                                                                             (ii)      At a time when Jewish treasures and wealth were being stolen, in Westermann’s day, his friends had to substitute  base commodities just to stay alive, while their wealth was being stolen by the Third Reich.

                                                          c.       ...Anne Frank’s Diary

                                                          d.       ...“Schindler’s List”

                                                          e.       ...Swiss psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”

                                      5.       Any of our struggles today pale in comparison.

                  

                                      B.       Here in chapter 61 and 62,says Paul Hanson, Old Testament instructor at Harvard, the “tone is in keeping with other literatures written in crisis situations with the intention of renewing the languishing spirits of a people.”

                                      1.       Where you must start in any situation is to restore hope: to equip and strengthen a people.

                             a. or, as President Richard Nixon said, “to turn the lights back on.”

                                      2.       Jesus’ very first Beatitude is what?  At the top of the list is this one, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

                                                          a.       Isaiah speaks here to his own “poor in spirit.”

                                                          b.       One of the figures who stands tallest in the Bible as one who knew such a moment of utter despair is Job. In the 19^th chapter of Job comes a magnificent affirmation of faith which George Frederick Handel set to powerful music: “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.”    

                                                                   (page 2)

                                      3.       The promise of God in Isaiah now is that his Anointed One who is coming will be filled with his Spirit! (Yahweh puts an exclamation point on it!)

                                                          a.       This is an intensely spiritual passage.       

                                      4.       “I will turn the(ir) darkness into light...Arise, shine, the glory of the LORD has

                                    risen upon your; his glory will appear over you.”

                                                          a.       How appropriate for our lovely Christmas and Hannukah lights that shine on the darkest and coldest winter nights!

                            

                   C.       Look at the language here: “oppressed,” “brokenhearted,” “captive,” “prisoners,” “those who mourn,” “a faint spirit...”

                                      1.       These are words Jesus re-uses in his Beatitudes, all preceded with the word “Blessed,” or “Happy.”

                                      2.       Happy is a Spirit-filled condition, being joyful in the Lord’s presence,

                                                          a.       but in Luke it includes a favorable physical condition.

                                      3.       Precisely through “blessing,” God’s Anointed One, his Messiah, will bring about a complete upheaval and reversal.

                                                          a.       In the Christmas story of Luke, nowhere is this better expressed than in Mary’s Magnificat:

                                                          b.       “The LORD has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.

                                                For behold, from now on all generations will call me “blessed.”

                                                          c.       Or this: “He has filled the hungry with good things,

                                                and the rich he has sent away empty.”

                                      4.       Instead of an ambiguous suffering servant figure in Isaiah, or in the nation of Israel’s reunification of their land, for us we celebrate the fulfillment in Christmas, in Jesus’ birth

                                                          a.       as well as in his return to judge the earth with righteousness and his truth, as our Christmas carol “Joy to the World”  proclaims.

 

IV.      Isaiah’s familiar hymn of “good tidings” is followed by two gifts  in the third verse which Luke 4 does not quote. God will  “give to those who mourn in zion a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning.

                   A.       It is followed by a promise that “you shall eat the wealth of nations, instead of dishonor you shall rejoice in your lot... a double portion ...yours shall be everlasting joy!

                                      1.       Is this a glorious hope and promise to hold out to all of you as God’s own anointed people and as Central Presbyterian Church!      

                                      2.       Our restoration as a church goes beyond the restoration of a larger budget, beyond hiring a friendly, congenial new staff, beyond having more children in worship. For our community exists for one purpose only, beyond ourselves, to glorify and give praise to our God, to serve Him alone the rest of our days!

 

                   B.       Garlands of flowers are given to those who mourn.

                                      1.       It is a symbol that they have turned from sin,

                                      2.       but also that they are now called “The Redeemed of the Lord.”

                                      3.       The ashes on their foreheads are washed off with the water of their baptism.

                                                (page 3)

                                      4.       Isaiah 58:5 says, “The anointed one is sent to those “smeared with the ashes of mourning (60:20). This is repeated in Lamentations 3.

                                      5.       The garland is now for the bride and for a marriage feast.

                                                          a.       in celebration of the bridegroom who comes down out of heaven with the new Jerusalem adorned for his bride, the church.

                                      6.       Do you know what technically is called, “A Christmas Garland?”

                                                          a.       It is a collection of Christmas carols and poems, usually from medieval times.       

                  

                   C.       Secondly, we the redeemed people of God receive our anointing with an oil that makes our faces, shine and so reflect our Christmas joy.

                                      1.       in Isaiah 61 this is “the oil of gladness.”

                                                          a.       It might be nice on Christmas Eve, as an alternate to the candle-lighting, to anoint every shining, happy face with oil as a seal of God’s gift of his salvation in the baby Jesus!

                                      2.       On line I discovered an item for sale called “The Oil of Gladness” ...

“a blend of seven very distinct oils: frankincense, cassia, myrrh, hyssop sandalwood, spikenard, and aloe, in a base of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. (You can order a small vial for $10.00.)

                                                          a.       With some of these same oils Jesus was anointed at his birth, and then anointed for his death.

                                                          b.       The advertisement says that this blend of oils is for “increased purity before God and one another, our submission, our desire to become a sweet savor to God, a lifestyle of worship, uninhibited lavish adoration of him, and a refining discipline.”

                                                                             (i)       Just think, if you had spent $10 for some of this oil, you would not have had to hire me as your interim pastor!)

                                                          c.       “Within this blended Oil (of Gladness)  is a powerful anointment for an open heart... Open up your heart to YHWH,” the ad promises, “and you may just find yourself lying on the floor too –Experience it for yourself! Think and worship outside the box.”

                                                          d.       So promises Olive Oil Ministries on the Internet.

                  

                   D.       Third, says Isaiah, our clothes no longer reflect the inner brokenness and can become instead the festal clothing of our worship.

1.       Do any of us even think about our worship clothing any more, what we will wear to church? 

                                                          a.       I love to see Lee Hopkins’ outfits!  such joyful demeanor!

                                      2.       John Calvin comments here about the Old Testament custom of the Jews who sprinkled ashes and filth on their bodies, adorning themselves in grimy sackcloth, “a wretched condition.”

                                      2.       By contrast, do you recall how Christ’s resurrected clothing reflected his new office in light and glory?

                                                          a.                         

                   E.       You and I, we are now called God’s ‘Treasures of Righteousness.”

                                      1.       These reflect not our treasures on earth, but our “treasures in heaven.”

                                                          a.       “For where your treasure is they will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20-21).

                                                          (page 4)

                                      2.       We are like new trees, says Isaiah, “oaks of righteousness,

                             “the planting of the LORD (himself) that God may be glorified”

                                      3.       Here is a verse from a Methodist Advent hymn by a composer named Richard Garland:

                             “Take heed and watch for hope-filled signs

                             anticipating God’s designs.

                             Be ready to receive the grace

                             that fills our hearts with love’s embrace.”

                                      4.       My prayer for each of you this Christmas, all you people whom I love as God’s treasures, that you will receive as your Christmas gifts a garland and the oil of gladness.       (page 5)