121105 Advent 3 Sermon
Advent 3, December 11, 2005
A People Mover
Text: Isaiah 61:1–3, 10–11
Other Lessons: Luke 1:46b–55; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24; John 1:6–8, 19–28
Theme: We have a People Mover, a Servant/Messiah.
Goal: That hearers will be moved from despair and depression to delight and rejoicing by the good news of Christ.
Zion is a distant, fading memory. Trapped, tortured, and tormented in Babylon, the exiles of Israel Isaiah sees in our text have no access to the Judean hills, the Jordan River, or to the city of the great King . . . Jerusalem. Israel can only dream of the land promised to their patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They feel as though they will never again smell the sacrifices, sing the psalms (cf. Ps 137:4) or celebrate Passover, the Day of Atonement, or the Feast of Booths. Israel appears forever locked in, with absolutely no way out. But into this darkness the Servant/Messiah proclaims, “I will move you from ashes to beauty, mourning to gladness, despair to praise” (see Is 61:3). What else can Zion say but, “I delight greatly in [Yahweh]; my soul rejoices in my God” (v 10).
1.
How many of you are familiar with the terminals at Detroit Metro Airport? For those of you not familiar with the expanse and distance from one end of the airport terminal to the other, let me try to explain. You’ve got to have some pretty good legs and some strong lungs to walk the length of almost 80 gates. As a matter of fact, I was getting poohed out just carrying a light jacket and my computer from check-in to gate 78. Then, I noticed something I had forgotten existed in big airports—people movers.
A people mover is a horizontal escalator, a movable sidewalk. It allows a person on it to catch their breath. It moves the body while you relax. Some people still like to walk, so they have a special lane on it where you can take one step, and gain two or three. What a difference a people mover makes! It made me sigh in relief to see it. It made me feel good that I was getting somewhere faster! Now, my point is this: a people mover has a great deal of power to move several people quickly with seeming effortlessness.
2.
Isaiah writes our text looking ahead to a day when God’s people will be stuck as captives in Babylon. It will be a time when Israel has no king, no temple, no royal city, no land, no liturgy, no sacrifice, no future, and no hope of ever getting back. The Psalmist speaks of the people reminiscing about the good old days when they worshiped in the splendor of Solomon’s temple, worked and shopped in the city of David, and saw the Mount of Olives from a distance. Just listen to their plight from Psalm 137:1-3:
"By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”"
We can relate to feelings like that, all too well, don’t you think? I suspect we all know what it feels like to be disciplined by God. We know all too well what it’s like to make bad life decisions; to use barbed words meant to insult or otherwise hurt others; to judge others for their way of life—and the list could go on and on. Yes, we too know the just judgment of our God. The Ten Commandments and the Law of God are his hammers of judgment, and justice on our sinful lives! And just when we feel like we are trapped and locked in a life of darkness and despair and depression, God says, look ahead, remember the promises I gave you.
3.
Daring to lift our heads to face a Holy and Righteous Judge, God reveals something that makes us sigh with relief and hope. What is it? It’s God’s People Mover, the Servant/Messiah! The Servant/Messiah’s mission is “to preach the good news.” And the words are like wealth to the poor. The meaning of the term for poor is not reserved for the realm of finances. It is also employed to describe people who are “poverty stricken” because of iniquity and sin (cf. Ps 25:16–21). Luke discloses the words of hope from our Lord: “[he has] not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32). That is to say, his Gospel has no effect on the callous and comfortable, but changes the lives of those who are stuck and mired in sin, guilt, and shame. Then comes “liberty.” Like the Year of Jubilee that Israel celebrated every fiftieth year, the cycle of slavery and debt is broken and the sinner is allowed to go free.
Jesus proclaims “the year of Yahweh’s favor” because he came not to condemn but to save the world (Jn 3:17). But, let there be no doubt, there will be a day when He will execute the “day of vengeance” (Jn 5:22–29). Like the people-mover at the airport, the effect on those mourning over sin means of entering into all the blessings of God’s favor, not wrath. Surely, these are words the penitent long to hear.
But, the Servant/Messiah does not simply throw words at the poor! His words impart what they announce, and never return to Him void of fulfilling their purpose (Is. 55:10–11). The point is this: Those who mourn, as with ashes on their heads, and sackcloth on their bodies; those who have despair in their hearts, become the recipients of Yahweh’s “great exchange” "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21). You yourselves are living testaments to the power of His Word. For, by that powerful word, you have received the beauty of His washing, the anointing of His Spirit, and the righteous garment of His praise! You are known by a new name, “oaks of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh.” God has given you a new identity with new promises, moving you from one degree of glory to another.
4.
Let me take a moment to share with you how powerful the people-mover of God really is. After Jesus reads the words from our text, Isaiah 61, he says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21). “Fulfilled,” that’s a perfect verb indicating present and ongoing results. So, what does this mean? It means that the Jubilee, announced by Isaiah, was begun there in Nazareth, and is now still ongoing, even today. The word recorded in Luke’s Gospel is the assurance!
And what was begun? Just listen: To a dead son in the village of Nain, Jesus says, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (Lk 7:14). To a sinful woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee, he says, “Your sins are forgiven” (Lk 7:48). To a woman with a flow of blood for eighteen years, Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you” (Lk 8:48). To Jairus’s daughter, He says, “My child, get up” (Lk 8:54). To the disciples, He says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Lk 12:32). To the starved, the famished, the empty, He says, “Come, for everything is now ready” (Lk 14:17). To Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house” (Lk 19:9). To the Romans who maimed him, mauled him, and mocked him, he says, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34 KJV). And to every one of us he will one day announce with a loving gleam in his eye, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43).
In the baptismal flood, Jesus moves us from hell to heaven by making our connection to the cross on which he died. Get this: we’ve got a flight home that he won’t let us miss! In the eucharistic body and blood, his body killed, his blood shed on the cross, he moves us from emptiness to fullness, from sorrow to joy. In the Absolution, we are told again and again and again that we have been moved from death to life, that the forgiveness of the cross has been delivered to us. And that life is forgiven and free forever! We are going home!
5.
Beginning with Israel in exile, everyone who has been so moved says, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”
What, then, shall we say in response to all of this? “It is nothing short of revolutionary and life-changing!” “Exactly,” says Isaiah. “Because I love you,” says Jesus! Amen.
Sermon Outline
1. We could never overstate the power of a people mover.
2. Particularly when we know all too well the feeling of being trapped in despair and depression.
3. But look up ahead. Is it a bird, a plane, Superman? Infinitely better!
We Have a People Mover, a Servant/Messiah.
4. Jesus moves us from hell to heaven, emptiness to fullness, death to life.
5. Everyone who has been so moved says, “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.”
Liturgical Setting
Being moved by Yahweh and its resulting joy resounds throughout the Propers for the Third Sunday in Advent. Paul states in the Epistle, “Be joyful always” (1 Thess 5:16). Joy comes to those who have been moved “from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thess 1:9). In the Gospel, John the Baptist proclaims this Advent joy. He is “a witness [testifying] concerning that light” (Jn 1:7), a light that moves us from darkness into the light of Christ’s eternal love (Jn 8:12).
Relevant Context
The Book of Isaiah can be divided into three sections: chs 1–39; 40–55; and 56–66. Our text is the centerpiece in the final section of 56–66. In the first part of this unit, 61:1–3, the Servant/Messiah offers his “mission statement.” In the last part, 62:10–12, Yahweh announces his salvation to Jerusalem; it will be called “the City No Longer Deserted” (62:12). In between these two sections, three units contain promises to Zion and to the nations. The outline is as follows: Is 61:4–11 states that Zion will be rebuilt while the nations serve her; 62:1–5 declares that Yahweh will never forsake Zion and that nations and kings will see her glory; and 62:6–9 promises that the nations of the world will not devour Zion’s treasures because Jerusalem will be “the praise of the earth” (62:7b).
Textual Notes
V 1: Usually only kings and high priests are the subject of the verb mashach, “to anoint,” so the word’s usage here is figurative to denote a commissioning for a specific task. Throughout the Book of Isaiah, the Holy Spirit is often used in the context of Yahweh’s ability to usher in righteousness and justice, and he frequently does this through his word (11:2; 32:15–16; 42:1; 44:3; 48:16; 59:21). The most obvious connection with the speaker here is the Servant of Isaiah (42:1–9; 49:1–9; 50:4–9; 52:13–53:12). There are verbal similarities: for example, “Spirit,” 42:1; first person address, 49:1ff; 50:4ff; “to open,” 42:7; “captives,” 49:9; and ’adonai YHWH, “Lord Yahweh,” is the same divine title used in 50:4–5, 7, 9. But beyond these verbal connections there is a similarity in tone and function. The Servant/Messiah is chosen and anointed by Yahweh in order to impart salvation to Israel before the nations (Is 61:1), to the end that all may be made righteous, just as the Servant is righteous (53:11). The continuity exists not only between the speaker in Is 61:1–3 and Isaiah’s Servant Songs, but also between the speaker and the Spirit-empowered Davidic leader who is portrayed in Is 11:1–10. These verses indicate that the Servant/Messiah’s most powerful weapon of warfare is the word that issues forth from his mouth (11:4). This word establishes righteousness (11:5) to the end that the “shoot [that comes] up from the stump of Jesse” is lifted up by Yahweh (11:9–10 author’s translation). When Jesus quotes from Is 61:1–2a in his inaugural sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth (Lk 4:16–21), he proclaims that he is the fulfillment of this grand Isaianic synthesis that connects the Spirit-empowered Messiah with the Suffering Servant.
The Servant/Messiah’s mission is structured by seven infinitive constructs, the first of which is ləbasser, “to preach the good news” (LXX, euangelisasthai). The verb bissar is used in pivotal texts in Is 40–55 (40:9; 41:27; 52:7; 60:6). The meaning of the term for poor, ‘anawim, LXX, ptōchoi, cf. Mt 5:3 is not reserved for the realm of finances. It is also employed to describe people who are “poverty stricken” because of iniquity and sin (cf. Ps 25:16–21). Our Lord says that “[he has] not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32). That is to say, his Gospel has no effect on the callous and comfortable, but changes the lives of those who are stuck and mired in sin, guilt, and shame. The noun dəror, “liberty,” is connected with the Jubilee Year; every fiftieth year Israelites that are hopelessly caught in the cycle of slavery and debt go free (Lev 25:10; Jer 34:8; Ezek 46:17).
V 2: The repetition of the infinitive construct liqro’, “to proclaim,” from v 1 signals that what follows recapitulates what has proceeded from a new point of view, here expressed as a year of favor and a day of wrath. In Lk 4:19, Jesus stops with the words “the year of Yahweh’s favor” because he came not to condemn but to save the world (Jn 3:17). There will be a day, however, when at his Second Advent he will execute this “day of vengeance” (Jn 5:22–29). “To comfort,” lənachem—the fifth infinitive construct, is a framing word for the entire book (cf. 12:1 and 40:1). On mourning, ’ebel, the contextual link with 57:18–19 makes mourning over sin the primary idea and the means of entering into these blessings.
V 3: The Servant/Messiah will not simply throw words at the poor! Rather, his performative words impart what they announce (cf. 55:10–11). Those who mourn, with ashes on their heads, sackcloth on their bodies, and despair upon their hearts, become the recipients of Yahweh’s “great exchange” (cf. 2 Cor 5:21). For, by the power of his Word, heads are given a beautiful headdress, bodies receive costly anointing oil, and hearts wear a garment of praise! The people will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh (a new name signals a new identity with new promises, cf. Gen 17:5–6).
Vv 10–11: The speaker here is not the same as that of 61:1–3; rather, it is Zion who refers to Yahweh as ’elohai, “my God”. The gladness is not merely that something has been done, but over who has done it, “my God.” A connecting link between the first three verses in the chapter and the last two is that the same word for headdress, pə’er, occurs here and in 61:3 (elsewhere in the book it is used only in 3:20). In 61:1–3, the Servant/Messiah gives gifts to the people of God, so that they may become “oaks of righteousness,” ’ele hatsedeq. Here, Zion responds with praise to Yahweh for having cloaked her with this righteousness. Those whom Yahweh wraps in this robe experience not only deliverance from unrighteousness and its effects, but also divine enablement to live out his righteousness. This is the significance of the Divine Warrior segments (59:15b–21; 63:1–6) on either side of chs 61–62, with the Servant/Messiah passage (61:1–3) in the middle. Yahweh commands righteousness, and by his power is able to provide it. This is cause for joy indeed! In v 11, this joy is as certain as year after year the earth causes seeds sown in it to sprout. If nature is reliable, how much more so is nature’s God!