Isaiah 61:1-11
(sermon note:
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines;
but you shall be called priests of the Lord,
you shall be named ministers of our God;
you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations,
and in their riches you shall glory.
Because their shame was double,
and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot,
therefore they shall possess a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be theirs.
For I the Lord love justice,
I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants shall be known among the nations,
and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my whole being shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations.
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a Chinese doctor couldn’t find a job in a hospital in America so he decided to open a clinic. He put a sign outside the clinic that read, “GET TREATMENT FOR $20 – IF NOT CURED GET BACK $100.” An American lawyer thought this was a great opportunity to earn $100 and went to the clinic. The lawyer sat down with the doctor and said, “I seem to have lost my sense of taste.” The doctor called out, “Nurse, bring medicine from box No. 14 and put 3 drops in patient’s mouth.” The nurse did as told and the lawyer shouted, “Yuck! This is kerosene!” The doctor smirked, “Congratulations! Your sense of taste is restored. Give me my $20.” The annoyed lawyer went back after a few days to try to recover his money. This time the lawyer said, “I seem to have lost my memory. I can’t remember anything.” Again, the doctor called out, “Nurse, bring medicine from box no. 14 and put 3 drops in his mouth.” And again, the nurse did as told and the lawyer again grimaced. “This is kerosene! You gave this to me last time to restore my taste!” With a smug look on his face, the doctor responded, “Congratulations! You got your memory back. Give me $20.” The fuming lawyer paid him, then came back a week later determined to get back his $100. This time the lawyer said, “My eyesight has become so weak that I can’t see anymore.” The doctor shrugged, “Well, I don’t have any medicine for that, so take this $100.” The lawyer took the bill and stared at it. “But this is $20, not $100!” “Congratulations! Your eyesight is restored! Give me $20.”
Who knew that restoration could be so…miraculous?! Certainly not that unsuspecting lawyer! Well, that doctor’s restoration wasn’t all that miraculous. The lawyer never had the ailments he claimed to have had. He always had his taste, memory, and sight so the doctor’s “restoration” wasn’t really restoration now, was it? Just another case of one scammer trying to scam another scammer…
Not like the actual restoration in today’s reading: God’s restoration of his beloved people. But before we can fully appreciate God’s restoration, we have to first explore the context of our reading for today. Recall the book of Isaiah is comprised of 3 key sections: the prophet speaking to the Israelites before the Babylonian exile, the prophet speaking to the Israelites during the exile, and the prophet speaking to the Israelites in their return from exile. In the pre-exile writings, Isaiah was focused on getting the Israelites to change their wayward ways. During the exile, he was more focused on sustaining their hope and quelling any feelings of abandonment from God. After the exile, Isaiah shifted to encouraging the Israelites to set about reestablishing themselves in their homeland. Our reading falls right in the last section of the book when the Israelites were rebuilding their lives. Isaiah has a very specific purpose to his writings in this last section: to empower and encourage God’s defeated people. After all, they had been in exile for 70 long years. Much had changed in their homeland, they had changed. They were no longer the reckless, God-pleasing people of before the exile. They had become a God-fearing people yet again, but they were also a broken people. They were an oppressed, broken-hearted, captive, mournful people and God needed to restore them before they could restore their homeland. So God sends Isaiah who boldly proclaims, “He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.” And as we heard in our gospel reading, Jesus went on to fulfill Isaiah’s words in his own work. Of course, we know Jesus often fulfilled a lot of Isaiah’s words, especially those in his suffering servant songs. But God needed to restore the spirits of his broken people, and He used the prophet, Isaiah, to do it.
Our God is a God of restoration. Our God is a comforting God. Yes, He is vengeful, just God as well but his vengeance and justice serve a purpose of restoration. God isn’t vengeful without a purpose. God restores broken relationships and broken hearts. Our God is a good and just God. Sometimes it’s hard to see this especially when we’re the ones breaking relationships and hearts. The Israelites no doubt felt abandoned by God when they were thrown into exile, but the prophet had warned them for many years of how displeased God was with them. God will only be ignored for so long before He takes matters into his own hands and doles out a little “tough love.” But be assured that God only doles out that “tough love” for the sake of restoration, not desolation. God doesn’t want to sever relationships with us. God wants to restore broken relationships. Recall the words of Peter, “And after you have suffered for little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10) Our God is a God of second chances.
Now then, why lift up Isaiah’s words this far into the Advent season? Sure, we’re awaiting the birth of our Lord and Savior who ultimately fulfills Isaiah’s words. Jesus does bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners and for that we celebrate when we celebrate his coming into our world. But it goes further than this. Jesus is still among us, within us. Friends, we are the body of Christ in this world now so we ought to hear the prophet’s words as if they were our words, much the same way that Jesus heard them. As the body of Christ, WE are called to bring good news to the oppressed, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners. WE are empowered and encouraged to restore the broken world around us! And how do we do that? By living as God would have us to live, with love and compassion for our neighbors. With integrity and honor. With kindness and patience. THAT’S how we restore the broken world around us! 1 John tells us, “For whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.” (5:4) To be born of God is to have the characteristics of God. Love, compassion, kindness, patience, integrity…what did we hear last week? “Our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Friends, we need to be likewise in this broken world.
Restoration happens within and through us. We are empowered and encouraged to rebuild our broken relationships. Our God is a God of restoration. The coming of Jesus is, for all intents and purposes, a restoration. Let us welcome the restoration that comes with his birth and give thanks for it. And let us sing as David sang in his 51st psalm, “restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” (v. 12) Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
