Theme: The One promised.......
Isaiah 61 is one of the Advent readings, read throughout many parts of
the Church today. We heard it read this morning. It speaks, as all the Advent
readings do, about the One who is to come, the One promised. But you know, something makes Isaiah 61 very special, uniquely
significant. What is it ? Well, it’s this, this deep wonder, that the words of Isaiah 61 were read by the One who
was to come Himself......
These are the very words Jesus read out in the synagogue in
The Synagogue service on Saturday mornings was simple. First there were prayers,
followed by readings read by seven readers. After that there followed teaching,
someone, sometimes a visitor, would be invited to sit in the chair at the front
and speak to the congregation. The service ended with a general discussion. On
one particular Sabbath morning, however, Jesus was one of the readers. He took
up the scroll and read the words we heard this morning from Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord 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 favour…
When He had finished reading He said very simply - He said this passage
has come true today.......... as you heard it read.........
Now, the folks in the synagogue,
we can be sure, had long been used to listening, like ourselves, to the words
of the old prophets as they were read. What they were certainly not used to,
was the word of the prophets, the Word of the Lord coming in power, arriving in
their midst in living power - but that is what happened. No wonder then, there was a stunned silence that
morning, and all eyes were fixed on
Jesus.
Those words of Jesus this passage
of scripture has come true today as you heard it being read..................
Now, there’s a phrase we read time and time again in the Old
Testament…. The Word of the Lord....... the
Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah, the Word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah……….. Then, as now, men and women were used to
being surrounded by a sea of words, every day, from dawn to dusk and beyond.
But the Word of the Lord is different........when God speaks His word it is powerful, active, His Word does things……….
My
word, says the Lord, the word that I
speak..... will not fail to do what I
plan for it, it will do everything the Lord speaks, and what He says happens,
the Lord speaks the Word and the earth is created, the Lord speaks and human
beings are created, the
Lord calls a slave people out of Egypt and Israel is created, God speaks and
the desert becomes a place of blossom.
When Jesus stands up in the
synagogue in his home town of
When Jesus reads these words -
The Spirit of the Lord 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 favour… these are words of power, moving and creating, in
the midst of ordinary life in Nazareth. We know that, because, the Scriptures
speak of the Spirit of the Lord, as the life-giving, life creating source of
God’s power. And the Lord Jesus, here, has just declared that the Spirit rests
upon Him. That what Jesus does, is done in the power of the
Spirit - Jesus lives and moves, speaks, and heals in the power of the Spirit.
All that He does is unfailingly, sustained, enrichened,
fruitful in the Spirit who leads and sustains Him on His journey towards
The Spirit of the Lord, rests on Jesus
So what will He do in that wonderful, holy power that rests on Him ?
The 61st. chapter of Isaiah, which Jesus reads tells us: Isaiah 61 speaks of One who will bring treasures of life, a wealth of salvation, for men and women.
The power of the Spirit rests on Jesus, and He, He Himself will begin the Work of shaping, creating, salvation for the world. How will that come about ?
Well, look first at what Isaiah 61 speaks about, in the words that Jesus reads He is speaking about what sin does to life, of how sin distorts life.
breaking the hearts of some, enslaving others, imprisoning others in dark dungeons, making many mourn, making many grieve.......
this is what sin does.........
these words in Isaiah 61, are all about the disfiguring, distorting effects of sin on human life
But, you see, that is the very reason why Jesus read these words out that day in the synagogue.........
they are for the broken hearted, for the slaves, for those in darkness, the prisoners in dark dungeons, for those who mourn, for those who grieve.......
And the inexpressibly wonderful thing about Isaiah 61 as Jesus reads it is that
is good news............ good news we hear through the words of Jesus.
The Spirit of the Lord has
anointed me to preach good news, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind to release the oppressed,
to
proclaim, not the year of judgment, of condemnation, but the year of the Lord’s favour…of
His mercy !
God has sent His Son, Jesus, the
One reading the Word of the Lord in the synagogue that day........ to bind up
and heal our broken hearts, to declare to us a word of freedom, to bring us out
of whatever dark prison we are in, to bring us into healing light, into the sunshine
and warmth of God’s mercy and grace.
This is what the gospel is, good news, in Jesus
Matthew’s gospel tells us of Mary Magdalene.
She stepped into the house of Simon the Pharisee, uninvited, and went into the
room where Jesus was............. within a few short moments,
she
began weeping uncontrollably in Jesus’ presence - why ? well, the gospel makes
it plain that her tears of both sorrow and joy: sorrow at the weight of sin and
guilt that so burdened her, sorrow for all the wrong turnings she had taken in
life, sorrow at all the wasted years......... then joy: when she hears the
words that no one else had ever said, or could say, she hears the words from
Jesus Himself... your sins are forgiven.
There is the living reality of Isaiah 61: that woman’s wasted life
saved, redeemed through Jesus: who says this is why He has come: The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me to speak good news, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and
recovery of sight for the blind to release the oppressed, to proclaim, not the
year of judgment, of condemnation, but the year of the Lord’s favour…of
His mercy !
Now, if we read on in Isaiah
61, we find this promise: that instead of mourning, there will be gladness,
instead of despair, thankfulness for life. in place of
devastation, restoration......
Where does will this balm, this healing for our lives come from ?
We know the answer: from Jesus
Himself !
The Bible’s diagnosis of all our troubles, and sorrows, and ruin is that this is because our relationship with God has been broken and sin has come in and destroyed human life. And the remedy the Bible holds out for all is - the good news that the living God has restored, repaired healed this broken relationship Himself, from His side.
Romans 5 puts it in four words - while we were yet sinners, laden in conscience, burdened in soul. Christ died for us. God has opened up a way for us to come home to Him, through Jesus, who died for us.
How can the death of the Lord Jesus bring us to God ?
Well, the stark reality, the Bible declares, is that we are all under judgment ourselves, in the sight of God, for our sinfulness....... we are responsible for our own lives
we are responsible for all our wrong choices ........ and there is a final reckoning
that woman was in Simon’s house, perhaps that’s one of the reasons why she could not stop weeping........
But, imagine, for a moment if by some incredible power, by some incredible event........
imagine if in some amazing way the judgment we are under was cancelled
if that final reckoning on our own lives was taken away..........
Well, that’s what the gospel,
the good news is..............
Well, that is what has happened. At the Cross such is His love for us that Jesus took up the judgment on your life and mine Himself,
Jesus has taken our final reckoning on Himself, gladly.
Because it means salvation for us............
Listen to the words of Isaiah 61 - verse 10 ...... they are not words of condemnation, sorrow or judgment, but of joy:
I delight greatly in the Lord, my soul rejoices - He has clothed me
with garments of salvation........ and arrayed me in a
robe of righteousness.
The message of the gospel, in
this Advent season is what it has always been...........
that God
has taken the Cross, the deepest sign of the hatred, and rejection of Jesus we
can imagine, and has made it the radiant holy place of salvation, God has made
the lowly Cross of our Lord Jesus - the place of glory.