Sermon Tone Analysis
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Copyright October 2, 2022 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche
One of my pet peeves when going to a movie (apart from the ridiculous price of popcorn) are all the movie trailers you have to watch before you finally get to the actual movie.
I feel a little like I am held hostage to what amounts to a bunch of commercials.
I have no intention of holding you hostage today.
The text we are going to look at today is a very important passage in the book of Isaiah.
It is important because it is a preview of coming attractions.
The people did not know this at the time, but these words were pointing to a future day.
How do we know this?
Because Jesus is the one who told us.
In Luke 4:16-21 we read these words,
16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures.
17 The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him.
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lordis upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
20 He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down.
All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.
21 Then he began to speak to them.
“The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”
Jesus is quoting the first words of Isaiah 61 where we read,
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lordis upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.
Most scholars believe there is a gap between the first part of verse 2 and the last part.
The announcement that the “time of the Lord’s favor has come” is about His first coming.
It is when the grace of God was offered to us through Christ.
The second part of the verse “the day of God’s anger against their enemies” is when Christ comes the second time as the victor and Judge over all the world.
This text in Isaiah helps us understand what Christ came to do in the world.
He Came to Comfort
We are told the Savior came “to bring good news to the poor, comfort the brokenhearted, and proclaim that captives will be released, and prisoners freed.”
As you read the gospel accounts, you can readily see that this is what Jesus did.
He brought dignity to those the world rejected.
Jesus raised the status of women, the Samaritans, and the outcasts in general.
Jesus did not cater to the rich and powerful, He appeared first to shepherds, He healed lepers, gave sight to the blind, and restored mobility to the lame.
Jesus welcomed a tax collector and a Zealot into His disciples.
It was impossible not to feel Jesus had come for everyone.
Jesus did not attack prejudice and rejection with threats and force, He did it with compassion and understanding.
This is still what Jesus does.
His offer of grace is to any and all who will receive it.
His grace knocks down barriers of race, gender, income level, and any other barrier.
The world around us sees the church as bigoted and the perpetrators of racism, but they don’t know what they are talking about.
Jesus eliminates these barriers not by separating people or labeling them, He knocks barriers down with His love and His grace.
We all come to salvation in exactly the same way: through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior.
He brought hope to those who were brokenhearted.
These broken hearts may have come from loss or from the wounds of others.
It may have been abusive behaviors, debilitating words, or the simple indifference that says to someone, “you don’t matter.”
The Lord came to bring hope to all of these people.
Look at the examples of Mary Magdalene, Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman at the well, and others.
He is still doing this today.
He does this first by letting people know they are seen.
We all matter to God.
Others may treat us as if we are nothing, but the Lord treats us as if we are everything to Him.
We matter so much that He sent His Son to die to rescue us.
It is easy to feel anonymous in this world.
We often feel unseen or overlooked.
We believe no one cares about us and no one wants to understand us.
This is why so many young people (and others) commit suicide.
They feel no one cares, and they just can’t bear it anymore, so they act out of their great loneliness and feelings of the seeming indifference of those around them.
It is sometimes like people are saying, “please notice me now . . .
please say that my life mattered.
If you have ever felt this way . . .
please do not keep this to yourself.
Talk about it with others and even more importantly, hear the message of the gospel.
YOU matter to God!
He also gives us hope by letting us know that He has prepared a place for us.
You may not feel like you belong anywhere in the world, but the Lord says, “I am preparing a place for you.”
Yes, for every one of us!
He also gives us hope by showing us that this life is not all there is.
Jesus not only died, He rose again!
He wanted us to see that the door to eternal life has been kicked open.
Those who dare to trust Him, will “live even though they die.”
He Came to Announce Release
He came to announce freedom to those who were imprisoned.
Jesus offers to free several groups of people.
First are those imprisoned for their faith.
There are people all over the world who are prisoners because of their profession of faith in Christ.
There are many who are heading down that same road in our own country.
Our constitution says we have the freedom of faith and faithful expression, but we are being shouted down, threatened, and misrepresented.
There may come a day when there will be a steep cost to being a follower of Christ.
Here’s the thing to remember: the Lord doesn’t promise we will never face consequences for being His disciples (in fact, He says the opposite) but He does promise He will set us free.
Jesus also promises to free those imprisoned due to injustice.
The system doesn’t always work and isn’t always fair.
Our Lord exercises justice that is fair and unbiased.
He does not view us in terms of race, color, or gender.
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