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Advent Part 4: Isaiah 61
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
You see Christmas is about the fact that Christ joins us in the story and refuses to let the story corrupt him. Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information.
Speaker 1:Welcome today. If we haven't met yet, my name is Jeremy. I'm really glad that you're here with us, at least in part because we are really getting close to Christmas now. And we've been in Advent fertile. We are moving our way through this season of waiting together, but we are now finally on the verge of the arrival of the Christ child, and that means anticipation is high.
Speaker 1:So I've been wearing purple through Advent as we normally do, but tomorrow on Christmas Eve, the stole will turn to white and signal the arrival of the child with us. So I hope you're able to join us for Christmas Eve. If you haven't got tickets yet, you can head to commons.church/christmas. You can do that on your phone anytime. Pick a service that works for you.
Speaker 1:And those tickets are, of course, free, but they just help us to ensure that we have seating at each of the five services. So one hour service. It's meant for the whole family to experience together. We'd love to have you here. Now, one more plug before we get rolling.
Speaker 1:We are getting close to the end of the year and for a lot of us that means we are looking at making a donation for the 2018 tax season. You can of course make a donation on-site right until the end of the year. We do have services on December 30 and that's always available. But you can also head to commons.church to make a donation online right up until midnight on December 31. And we deeply appreciate your support, especially around this time of year.
Speaker 1:Advent is in swing. Together, we're hoping to do something special this Christmas, but also a significant part of our budget every year comes in during December. So thank you for being part of that. We also want you to know that our annual donor report is available on the Web site. We really wanna be transparent about how we've used your resources, and you can head to commons.church/donate if you want to find the link to read that if you haven't already.
Speaker 1:Now, we're in a series called unexpected. And we've called it that because we wanted to try a different approach during a season where we're often rehearsing familiar stories. And so we're taking our inspiration from the ways in which our bibles retell and reimagine old stories in new ways particularly at Christmas. And our hope is that together we can uncover a bit of that sense of rediscovery for ourselves. Now today, have I a story that's not really a Christmas story, at least not traditionally.
Speaker 1:But it is one that invites us to reconsider the impact of what the advent of Christ really means for us. And so we'll begin by reading from the gospel according to Luke. And then today we'll spend some time looking back at the prophet Isaiah and the source material from where Jesus gets his words. So this is Luke chapter four verses 16 to 22. When Jesus went to Nazareth where he had been brought up and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as was his custom.
Speaker 1:He stood to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written. The spirit of the Lord is on me because the spirit has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed free. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Speaker 1:Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began by saying to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Let's pray. Who are we, gracious God, that you should come to us, and yet you have visited your people and redeemed all things through your son? As we prepare to celebrate this birth, would you make our hearts leap for joy at the sound of your promise?
Speaker 1:Would you move us by your spirit to notice your wonderful works? Would you touch us by your grace so that we might become aware of your welcome extended to us this day? As we rehearse old stories and we retell old tales, would you bring new life into our imaginations? Would you show us new things and breathe new life into us? Would you remind us that you make all things new again?
Speaker 1:To all of this we ask, through the Christ whose coming is certain, whose daydraw nears, and whose brilliance is already shining around us if we choose to see it. In the gentle name of the one we await, we pray. Amen. Okay. Today, we have a surprisingly full day and a lot to get through here, but I did promise an Eaton story before Christmas.
Speaker 1:So take a look at this. What is the time for now? Should we go back to bed? Amazing. Alright.
Speaker 1:So I don't know if you have kids, but the thing that I have found is, at least at this age, there is nothing that could disappoint my son on Christmas morning. It does not matter. We could literally wrap empty boxes, and if he got to tear wrapping paper off of them, he would be ecstatic with that. I mean, we used an old box of Christmas lights, and he thought that was amazing before he even realized that it wasn't old Christmas lights in that box, which makes me think we overspent way too much last year. And by the way, speaking of overspending, I was brought up right.
Speaker 1:My parents did not go crazy at Christmas. I mean, we got presents. Don't get me wrong. We did well. But my parents also maintained a level of modesty around the holidays that I really grew to appreciate as I got older.
Speaker 1:And yet, now that they are grandparents, it's like all bets are off in our house, and they have just decided they don't actually live with this little monster that they're creating, and so they go nuts with the presents. It's ridiculous. Boxes are showing up at our house in September with instructions on how to wrap them and what order to unwrap them. I have just started taking presents and storing them in the attic for his nineteenth birthday. He's gonna get them then.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. But here's the thing. There is something about realizing that the story is even better than you remember it. And sometimes, all that it takes is to see the story through someone else's eyes. Now, my son has definitely done that for me at Christmas over the past few years.
Speaker 1:And honestly, if you find yourself cynical this Advent, spend five minutes with a five year old. It will help. You can borrow mine if you want. A part of what I love about Jesus is this way that he continually challenges us to see ancient stories in new ways all over again. And our scripture today may not sound like a Christmas story, but my hope is by the end of our time today Jesus might help us see it that way.
Speaker 1:Now we started by reading from Luke. So let's go back there and pick up a few things before we go even farther back to Isaiah where Jesus is reading from. Because in this short passage Luke is doing a lot already. First, read that Jesus went to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and that's because this moment immediately follows Jesus' temptations in the wilderness. Now, that's a fascinating story in itself.
Speaker 1:We did a series called anxiety a few years ago, two years ago I believe, where we looked at the temptations of Christ and how each of those temptations are archetypes in a sense. They represent some of the most common sources of anxiety and fear in our lives today. And the temptation narratives are really about situating Jesus in the human story for us. So in the bible, we get writers like John who really want us to know that Jesus is divine. But we also have writers like Matthew and Mark and Luke who really want us to know that Jesus is human.
Speaker 1:And of course, Christianity is built on this idea that you can have both. In fact, if there's anything you take from Christmas, it should be the sacredness of the human story. The theologian Karl Rauner once wrote that if God became human then it should be impossible for humanity to speak lowly of themselves. Because to speak lowly of yourself is to speak lowly of God because God became one of you. And so when we read through these little pedestrian moments in Jesus' life like returning to Nazareth or going to the synagogue on Sabbath as was his custom or even being tempted.
Speaker 1:We should realize these moments aren't just put here as filler. Luke isn't getting paid by the word. Luke wants us to see ourselves in the prosaic moments of Jesus' life so that maybe we can come to see ourselves in the more profound moments as well. This is so core to the Christmas story. The divine becomes human, not so that humans might become gods, but so that we might become aware of the divine breath that animates us always.
Speaker 1:So please remember this Christmas. In the midst of everything that is going on in your life, before you are anything else, you are made in the image of the divine. And God being born like you is meant to remind you of the divine breath within you. And I know that the excess of Christmas can make us all feel less than at times, but hear me, Christmas really should remind you of just how extra you are. But here, Jesus comes home.
Speaker 1:And he goes to church and he walks to the front and he picks up a scroll and he begins to read. And if you remember the last time we talked about Isaiah at the start of Advent, we talked about first and second Isaiah. And about how the first half of the book is largely dealing with the threat of war on the horizon and God's presence with God's people in a time of anxiety. And how the second half of the book is about the experience of exile in the present, that pain of feeling forgotten and God's comfort to God's people as they looked forward to a restoration someday. Well, this quote comes from the second half of the book.
Speaker 1:And so that means it's written by someone who's experienced, at this point, more than a generation of exile. They've been conquered, they've been humiliated, they're oppressed, they've been born into that oppression in fact. And yet still, they hope deeply for something new. And, this is what the prophet says, the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. God has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoner.
Speaker 1:To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God. Now, right away we've got an interesting anomaly here. Because when Jesus reads from the prophet, he says he has come to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and then he stops, and he closes the scroll, and he rolls it up, and he hands it back, and he sits down and he says, today it is fulfilled. There's a couple ways we can deal with that and we'll get to it. But before we look at what Jesus leaves out, we have to look at what he adds in.
Speaker 1:Because there are a couple more changes here that Jesus makes that are a little more subtle, but they are no less significant to how Jesus sees himself. And the first change that Jesus makes is that the Isaiah version of the text says the Messiah has come to proclaim freedom for the captors and release from darkness for the prisoner. That's the NIV. In the ESV it says, an opening of the prison doors to those who are bound. But when Jesus reads this, he says, I have been sent to proclaim recovery of sight for the blind.
Speaker 1:And this is a really interesting change because it comes down to our methods of interpretation. See, what's happening here is that in the Hebrew of Isaiah, the second half of this passage says something like, and to the bound open deliberation. Now it's sort of a peculiar little phrase. Really uncommon in Hebrew actually. But in the context of proclaiming freedom to captives, you would probably assume that means something like open the doors of the prisons and that's exactly what the English standard version goes with.
Speaker 1:So the question is, where does Jesus get this recovery of sight to the blind bit? The answer is that he's actually doing something really fascinating here. We have to remember, the context for the second half of Isaiah is all about a group of people who have been born into exile. And they're subject to a ruler that oppresses them, and they are longing for their freedom and sovereignty. And where have we heard that story before in the Hebrew bible?
Speaker 1:Well, was way back in Exodus. Right? Remember that whole story of the Hebrews in slavery in Egypt. They cry out to God and God hears their cries and God sends Moses to lead them out of oppression into a new future. Well, the most famous use of this peculiar phrase from Isaiah is actually in Exodus.
Speaker 1:And it's used twice there. And both times, it's used in the context of God opening the eyes of the blind. And so what Jesus does is he chooses the most expansive interpretation that he can. He takes the meaning of this phrase from Exodus and he drags it all the way into Isaiah. And that's because when Jesus reads this passage, he sees not just the particular moment of Isaiah, and not even just the particular moment of the people he's speaking to.
Speaker 1:Instead, he sees this entire long story of God's salvation laid out before him. And, this is a really incredible moment because it means that Jesus sees himself not just as the fulfillment of some ancient prophet's longing for a leader. Instead, he sees himself as the fulfillment of the long story of God's working for justice in the world. And sometimes, we will talk about the people of Jesus' day, how they imagined the Messiah coming as a political or a military figure. Well, this is Jesus reinterpreting the prophet on the fly to say, actually, guys, it's so much more than you think.
Speaker 1:Because to proclaim freedom to the prisoner, today, in this moment, is actually to tell the story of the God who has always been on the side of the oppressed. Who has always been working for justice. The God who always hears the cries of those in pain. The God who has always come and met us in our moment of struggle. In other words, Isaiah imagines God in his particular moment of history.
Speaker 1:And the people want to see God in their particular moment of history, but Jesus says actually God is present in every moment where freedom triumphs over captivity. Everywhere grace overcomes violence. Everywhere peace floods in and replaces fear and anxiety. In every moment where things are made new, this is where Christ is come. And what happens is that our bibles translate Isaiah in the context of his immediate moment and that's correct.
Speaker 1:But Jesus reads Isaiah in the context of the much larger story of God, which in a sense is even more correct. Because for Jesus, every time the world becomes a little more beautiful, more equitable, more generous, this is not just nice. It is the advent of the divine. And your participation in those moments, whether it is a kind word or a generous gift, whether it is the realization of how you can become a better version of yourself, or the choice to challenge the unfairness of the world for someone who's near you. All of that is part of the coming that we wait to be fulfilled at Christmas.
Speaker 1:And before we get to what Jesus leaves out, there's one more piece Jesus adds in here. Because while the original passage from Isaiah says, to proclaim freedom for the captors and to open the prison doors, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, Jesus sneaks in a little line here about setting the oppressed free. Now, because it's very much on theme it doesn't stand out very much but what's interesting is that this is actually another line from another part of Isaiah. In chapter 58 the prophet writes, is this not the kind of fasting God has chosen? To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke?
Speaker 1:To set the oppressed free and to break every yoke that binds them? So very similar type of passage here, but watch as the prophet continues. Is the fast God wants not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter. That when you see the naked, you clothe them, that you do not turn away from your own flesh and blood. Now, on the surface here, Jesus has taken a line about setting prisoners free, changed it to recovery of sight for the blind, and then snuck back in another line about setting the oppressed free, and it seems kind of redundant.
Speaker 1:Except that when we see the context of Isaiah 58, we can see that Jesus is doing something on purpose here. Remember, the original context of Isaiah 61 is the oppression of the prophet's people by a military superpower. So when Jesus starts, he's talking about all those who suffer under unjust political systems. Then he adds in a reference from Exodus, and he reminds us about the divine plan to heal all things. Now he adds a reference to Isaiah 58.
Speaker 1:And, this one this one is really about those who we have lost sight of, isn't it? I mean Isaiah 58 talks about the oppressed but it rails against those who do not open their homes and tables and hearts to the stranger. So these aren't political prisoners. These aren't those who need healing. These are travelers and foreigners, those who experience homelessness and isolation.
Speaker 1:These are those who are excluded from within the community that should have been the ones to embrace them with open arms. In other words, when Jesus talks about the freedom for the oppressed, he is talking about blessing to those who we have turned our backs on. And so, with these three little lines, Jesus is taking a very familiar passage from Isaiah and he's turning it into something like a reading list for his audience. It's Isaiah 61 and the treatment of political prisoners. It's Exodus four and the blessings of God on all people.
Speaker 1:It's Isaiah 58 and the responsibility of the community of God to embody the story of grace. And I know when I say that, it can make it's hard for us to make sense of it because we're like, are we really supposed to get all of that from just these few words? We have to realize that these people here were steeped in these stories from birth. Like, this is their cultural world. It's where they drew their shared memory from.
Speaker 1:And so, the same way that I could say, don't be a Grinch, and you would immediately know not just what I meant, but the entire story that Theodore Seuss Geisel wrote seventy years ago would come to mind. Or the way that I could talk about Kevin McAllister, and particularly at this time of year, a little image of a child defending his home all alone comes to mind. Or perhaps the way that I could mention the greatest Christmas movie of all time, and an image of Bruce Willis jumping off the top of a building in front of a wall of flame is what you picture. Die Hard, for those of you who haven't seen it, that's what cultural memory does for us. It allows us to bring an entire constellation of ideas to mind with just a few words.
Speaker 1:And that's exactly what Jesus is doing here. He's saying, this memory isn't just a memory. It's part of an ongoing story. And you are part of an ongoing story and all of it finds new meaning and fulfillment here in me today. Because for Jesus this story is just getting started.
Speaker 1:And if that sounds bold that's because it is. It's shocking and it's subversive and it's transformative, not least of which because after Jesus says all of this, he sits down. And so what do we do with this deliberate act of exclusion on Jesus' part? The prophet says, I have been anointed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of our God's vengeance. And Jesus says, yes and no.
Speaker 1:And at this point, we should not be too surprised at Jesus reinterpreting the Hebrew scriptures for us. And we've seen him do it already today, and one of his favorite sayings throughout the gospels is to take an ancient passage and say, you have heard it said, but now I tell you. And so bringing new and fuller meanings to the text, this is right up Jesus' alley. But at the same time in Matthew five eighteen, Jesus says that not one jot or tittle will disappear from the law until everything is fulfilled. So we have to be careful here.
Speaker 1:But the key for me is this language that Jesus uses as he closes the scroll. He says to his audience, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And in fact, that's the same language he uses in the passage from Matthew I just read. Jesus says, I have come not to destroy but to fulfill. Same word.
Speaker 1:So this is a theme for Jesus. The Greek word that he keeps using here is the verb play roam. And fulfill is fine, that's exactly what it means. The only problem I have with it is fulfill in English kinda makes it sound like it's a word that has something specifically to do with a prophecy. Like you fulfill a prophecy or you fulfill someone's expectations, but that's not exactly what plaid le roe means.
Speaker 1:What it simply means is to fill up. Like to fill to the top, to finish, to complete. And over and over again Jesus says, I have come not to destroy, not to abolish, not to bring vengeance or judgment, but to fill up. To fulfill the story, to complete the narrative, to finish what God started when God's breath first entered into humanity. Yes.
Speaker 1:There has been violence along the way. And, yes, there's been pain, and, yes, there's been vengeance attributed to God, but that's not how the story fills up. Because you see, long as there has been a people of God, there have been people who believed and pleaded and longed for the day when all things would be made right. Not just Israel. Not just Judah.
Speaker 1:Not just those on the right side with the inside track, but all things everyone made well. And that meant the restoration of political prisoners. It meant the healing of those who suffered in their bodies. It meant the repair of communities that had become insular and lost sight of their purpose. All of it filled up and made complete.
Speaker 1:But the advent of the Christ and the full filament of that story and the central focus of the Christmas season is bound up in this shocking realization that the way God fills the world. The way God makes all things right, and the way God's vengeance against evil is enacted looks nothing like what we imagined. You see, Christmas is about the fact that Christ joins us in the story and refuses to let the story corrupt him. Christmas is about the fact that God could become one of us and still not turn against us. Christmas is about the fact that God would experience all of the injustice that the prophets did, and yet come to a new conclusion.
Speaker 1:A divine conclusion, a full filled conclusion that love will heal the universe. Because you see, everything that we thought we knew about God is changed forever at Christmas. Christmas is where old stories are brought to completion, and where incomplete imaginations of the divine are filled up. It's where God's love is finally made complete in the world in the presence of a child. And Jesus knows exactly what he's saying here.
Speaker 1:Everything has changed because of the advent of the Christ. And so as we stand on the verge of the Christ child's arrival, That moment where everything changes and everything we thought we knew is transformed in divine love. My prayer is that your experience of Christmas this year might be filled up. And, because of it, you might work for justice, you might comfort the afflicted, you might open your table to those in need this season, and that as you do, you might begin to see the hope of the ages filled up anew in Christ this Christmas. All of it in the presence of a child with us.
Speaker 1:Let's pray. God, for all the ways that you reorient and transform, transfigure and reimagine our picture of who you are, we thank you. We thank you that you are taking our imaginations of the divine and conforming them to the likeness of your son. That your grace and peace is how you overcome violence and evil. That your forgiveness and welcome is how you overcome the worst of us.
Speaker 1:That your acceptance and your welcome is how you invite the world to know you fully. And so God, as our imaginations are filled up and fulfilled, as we slowly move towards the completion of the story when we will know you perfectly, We pray that even now, our words and our actions, our generosity and transactions, all of it would be filtered through your love. And, that we might share this new divine imagination of grace with everyone we encounter this season. May Christmas come again this year, and may grace appear in our midst in the birth of a child. In the gentle name of the one we await, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen.