The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, … [Isaiah 61:1-2, NIV].
Anyone returning to Jerusalem–or what was left of it–in the early years following the Edict of Cyrus [538 B.C.E.], would have quickly determined that pessimism, even hopelessness, had taken root. Yes, there was some cause for relief. The Persians, led by Cyrus, had soundly defeated the Babylonians, setting the stage for the return of many Hebrews from decades of exile. Yet those who returned saw the ruins of Solomon’s Temple, which had been destroyed and defiled by the Babylonians on their way out of town, and acknowledged that the whole area in and around the former Jerusalem was a wasteland. Isaiah’s earlier prophesy [see Isaiah 5:5 et seq.] had been fulfilled. Because the nation of Israel and the people of Judah had disobeyed Yahweh, ignoring the plight of the poor, the orphan, widow, and stranger, the “vineyard” originally crafted by Yahweh for Yahweh’s people had been destroyed.
Now, after their return, they saw that resources were hard to come by. The economy was a wreck. Many who had not been carried off to Babylon had begun to worship pagan gods. The reality was that anyone trying to rebuild in and around Jerusalem wasn’t even starting from scratch. They had to travel uphill to get to zero.
And yet, in the face of this discouragement, the Isaiah text appointed for this week [Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, Third Sunday of Advent, RCL, Year B] contemplates a continued proclamation of good news–at least it’s good news to some who will hear it. Building on the message of “comfort” that we read last week [Isaiah 40], this week’s text offers additional assurances. To establish his “bona fides,” the writer/prophet announces that Yahweh’s “Spirit” is “upon me.” That first person pronoun is utilized twice in the initial verse of the chapter, stressing that anointing and power always comes from Yahweh, not from some other source.
And so, what has the anointed prophet been commissioned to do? It’s certainly more than merely to provide comfort. Within chapter 61, the prophet declares a total reversal of the world’s so-called “reality.” The brokenhearted will be lifted up; captives will become free, prisoners will be released from their dungeons.
Note that Yahweh’s marching orders to the prophet literally include intervention into the realm of time itself. For example, verse 2 speaks of the proclamation of “the year of the LORD’s favor.” Using the same language found in Leviticus 25:10, we see that the prophet is to announce a re-calibration of Jubilee itself, an event that the ancient text says happens once every 50 years. And so, Yahweh isn’t just telling the prophet to announce the forgiveness of student loan debt; Yahweh is wiping all the bankers’ slates clean. This makes sense only in a new world in which Yahweh imagines a fresh, new kind of liberty that is permanent, the kind that will alter all economic and social relationships within the community. That sort of change won’t sit well, of course, with the establishment. Yahweh has taken sides in the argument and so the “good news” may not be good news for everyone.
And yet, that’s the sort of reversal that Yahweh is talking about. This reversal of fortune will result, says the prophet, in the rebuilding of the ancient ruins (especially the Temple), the restoration of those places that have been devastated, and a renewal of the ruined cities [Isaiah 61:4]. Those whom Yahweh favors will exchange their current spirit of despair with garments of praise [61:3]. They will no longer be invisible; they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor [61:3].
This new future is possible because Yahweh has made with “an everlasting covenant” with those who before have always been disfavored [61:8]. Now, Yahweh’s favored ones–i.e., the brokenhearted, the poor, the neglected stranger, the imprisoned, those who grieve, those who will lose their lives through the choices made by others–they now have a new covenant with Yahweh of their own. They no longer need to rely solely upon the covenant between Yahweh and Abraham, or between Yahweh’s covenant with Isaac or Jacob. To be sure, those “older” covenants are still in full force and effect, of course, but for those who have previously been slighted and ignored, they now have a covenant of their own.
The text ends with a beautiful metaphor:
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 [Isaiah 61:11, NIV].
Thus, where before, pessimism, even hopelessness, had taken root, now there is room in the garden for hope! Indeed, everything is in place for the indwelling of Yahweh’s everlasting kingdom, save for one important element. The smallest of seeds–that of the mustard plant–can now be planted in its appropriate place, in order that it take root, grow, and show its majesty.
And so, almost 600 years later, a fresh, young rabbi will appear upon the scene. He’ll be baptized by John, tested in the wilderness and, in the last few days before he begins his earth-shattering ministry, return to his home in Nazareth, where he will, as an observant Jew, go to the synagogue there, and as a favorite son, be called upon for the haftorah reading–a short reading from the Prophets that follows the reading from the Law in a synagogue.
The young rabbit will find a portion of Isaiah–the portion that is appointed for this week’s reading–and he will stand before his friends and childhood neighbors and say (in the first person):
The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He 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 [Luke 4:18-19].
Then he’ll roll up the scroll, give it back to the synagogue attendant and sit down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue will be “fastened on him” [Luke 4:20] and he will utter perhaps the most important sentence ever uttered on this earth:
Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing [Luke 4:21].
For all who have eyes to see and ears to hear, Jesus proclaimed in that moment that he is the Christ and that Christ is Yahweh’s servant who will bring to reality the longings and hope of the poor, the oppressed–including those yet to be born–the imprisoned, the forgotten, and the lonely. This is the Christ who will offer amnesty, I.e., the sort of liberation and restoration associated with Jubilee.
As Fred Craddock has written in his wonderful commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Interpretation Series, p. 62), “It’s interesting that the first public word of Jesus as an adult was ‘Today.'” Indeed, Yahweh has this thing about time; Yahweh refuses to be bound by it. Jesus understood that God’s reign isn’t “someday.” It’s ongoing today; it wasn’t yesterday, and it won’t need to wait until tomorrow. Again, it’s TODAY!. Or, as C.S. Lewis would put in, the kingdom is within “God’s unbounded now” [see Screwtape Letters]. Jubilee! Thanks be to God for this incomparable mystery.
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