Proclaiming God’s Favor—An Advent Blessing—Lectionary Reflection for Advent 3B (Isaiah 61)

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

61 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me
    because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
    to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and release to the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
    to comfort all who mourn,
³ to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
⁴ They shall build up the ancient ruins;
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

⁸ For I, the Lord, love justice,
    I hate robbery and wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
    and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their descendants shall be known among the nations
    and their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge
    that they are a people whom the Lord has blessed.
¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my whole being shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its shoots
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
    to spring up before all the nations.

 

*************

                As we continue our journey through Advent, we return to the message of the prophet we call Third Isaiah, a prophet who offered words of hope and guidance to a group of exiles returning from Babylon. This Spirit-anointed prophet, the identity of whom is not known, speaks of vindication and the restoration of a nation. Good news will be proclaimed to an oppressed people who will experience liberation and freedom. Vengeance will be meted out toward the oppressors, and devastated cities will be repaired. All of this will happen because the Spirit will anoint the prophet/people. Thus, the people can rejoice in the Lord because God will have “clothed me with the garments of salvation.” The opening line of this passage will sound familiar because Jesus drew upon them, according to Luke’s Gospel, to define his own ministry during a synagogue service in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30). Now, if you consult Luke’s Gospel, you will discover that the home folks did not receive Jesus’ message with open arms.

                While Luke’s Jesus draws on Isaiah 61 to define his call to ministry, which is why it appears here during Advent, the prophet had in mind a different application when sharing this word with the returning exiles. It is this prophet known to scholars as Third Isaiah who announced the good news to Israel, sharing God’s promise that they would, as an oppressed people, experience healing of their broken hearts, even as God liberates the captives and proclaims a Jubilee year while wreaking vengeance on Israel’s oppressors. Yes, God will comfort those who mourn in Zion, providing them with a garland rather than ashes. In other words, things will be different now that they can rebuild their cities and set aside the “devastations of many generations” (vs. 4).

                As often happens with the lectionary, a portion is omitted that is troubling. We want to celebrate the liberating action of God, but words of vengeance are less satisfying. Thus, the lectionary omits verses 5-7. However, these are important words for us to ponder. So, I will provide them here:

⁵ Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks;
    foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines,
⁶ but you shall be called priests of the Lord;
    you shall be named ministers of our God;
you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations,
    and in their riches you shall glory.
⁷ Because their shame was double
    and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot,
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
    everlasting joy shall be theirs. (Is. 61:5-7)

In these three verses, we hear that foreigners will care for the flocks and tend the land, while Israel serves as priests and enjoys the nations' wealth. Indeed, the oppressors will experience a double share of shame, while the people of Israel will experience a double portion of everlasting joy.

                With Israel being told that they will be a priestly nation, while their neighbors serve them, Isaiah returns to a word to the people letting them know that God loves justice, while hating robbery and wrongdoing. It is with this defining characteristic that God makes a covenant with the people so that their descendants would be known among the nations as the ones God had blessed. The overall message here is that a day of jubilee will be proclaimed for Israel (the Jewish people), while a day of vengeance will bring down judgment upon their oppressors. In other words, Israel will experience vindication.  

                One theme runs through the passage and that is God’s concern for justice. It would seem that in the view of Third Isaiah, the Babylonian exile was unjust and now God is rectifying the situation by sending the anointed one (Isaiah?) so that the people might be liberated and comforted. This is an important word for us to hear as followers of Jesus. God is concerned about justice. God liberates. God cares about what happens to the oppressed. Here’s the thing, we the followers of Jesus are God’s hands and feet. It is our calling to address the questions of justice facing us, including income inequality, and racism (it is sad that we’re seeing concern for racism in our country turned on its head so that it’s white folks like me who are victims of racism). There is also continued sexual harassment as well as growing resistance to expanding rights for gay, lesbian, and especially trans folk. Then there is increasing anti-immigrant sentiment here and abroad. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The list has grown long enough that many of us have grown weary trying to respond. But if Jesus is called by God, anointed by the Spirit, to proclaim good news to the oppressed, shouldn’t that be our calling as well?

                Yet, there is good news. There in verse 10, the prophet proclaims, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my whole being shall exult in my God.” The reason the prophet can rejoice greatly and exult in God with his entire being is that God has “clothed me with the garments of salvation,” and “has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Indeed, God will bedeck “himself with a garland” like a bridegroom, and “adorns herself with jewels” like a bride” (Is. 61:10). Can you not see in this imagery a festive occasion where the people celebrate? Now this word of salvation is addressed to the people and involves a restoration of the nation and not the kind of personal salvation Christians often envision. Nevertheless, it can be a both/and situation. We don’t live in isolation from one another. Our experience of healing (salvation) takes place within a healed community. So, as William Brown notes, “Zion thus obtains a new identity as one uniquely blessed by God. The clothes make the city” [Feasting on the Word, p. 55].

                We hear this good news that God is at work bringing liberation and freedom to the oppressed, while pursuing justice and bringing salvation to the people such that they can celebrate, as if at a wedding, during Advent. Again, it is important to remember that this liturgical season, which can easily get lost in the shuffle as we race toward Christmas, is a time of preparation. It’s a time to pause and to reflect. This word is given to a people who seek the restoration of their nation after decades of oppression and exile. This is a people who have experienced devastation. The city of Jerusalem (Zion) lay in ruins. The Temple that had been the center of the nation’s life lay in ruins as well. Where would the people find hope? Indeed, where is God in all of this?

We hear this word during an era when people are feeling uncertain about the future. There is a wariness about what might happen to us. Authoritarianism is on the rise and is attracting many in unlikely places, including the United States, where growing numbers of people would welcome an authoritarian figure (Donald Trump?) who would in their minds “straighten things out.” Perhaps this Advent season can provide us with an opportunity to reflect on this feeling of discontent. We can ask the question where is God even as we attend to this promise that God is at work, liberating the captives. Since Jesus embraced the message of this passage as the definition of his own ministry, might we see in this passage a calling to follow in his footsteps, and embrace the work of justice and righteousness. Then, we can rejoice in the Lord, whom Christmas reveals to us as the one born in a barn.   

Most of the readings for Advent, especially those from Isaiah, have an eschatological dimension. That is especially true of this passage. It was recognized not only by early Christians but others including the Qumran Community. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls applies Isaiah 61 to a messiah figure. Tyler Mayfield points out that “The scrolls from Qumran demonstrate how a messianic reading of certain biblical texts was beginning to take shape in the Second Temple period of Judaism” [Mayfield, Unto Us a Child Is Born, p. 115]. Then, of course, there is the direct quote in Luke 4, which Jesus applies to himself. Thus, as Mayfield points out, based on the apocalyptic reading of the passage that was present in the first-century context, “The rejection that he encounters is not the rejection of a prophetic or kingly leadership that offers good news to the poor. Their rejection is of their hometown son as this leader” [Unto Us a Child Is Born, pp. 117]. In other words, they knew the family and didn’t expect a hometown kid to be the messiah.

 Because the Advent readings prepare us not only for the first advent but the second advent as well, it reminds us that God’s realm is both present with us and not yet with us, at least in its fullness. In whatever way we envision the coming of God’s realm, whether with a literal return of Christ or not, Advent reminds us that even as we celebrate the incarnation and the coming of Emmanuel at Christmas, is a beginning and not the end of the story. A passage like this one, even though it does suggest that the foreigners will be the servants, invites us to participate in the work of God in the world, for that is our priestly role.

Advent has eschatological elements that remind us that God is interested not only in the past but the future. The promise is rooted in events of the past, but our hope lies not in the past but in God’s future. So, we wait for that future to unfold. As it unfolds, we can watch for signs that the Realm of God is present and hear the call to join God in expanding that realm by proclaiming in word and deed the good news that God is in the business of liberation. The Gospel reading that is paired with Isaiah 61 is John 1:6-8, 19-28. This passage focuses on the ministry of John the Baptist who came into the world to bear witness to the light and did so through the ministry of baptism. The candle we light on the Third Sunday of Advent is the Candle of Joy. The good news proclaimed that the one who is anointed by the Spirit to bring liberation and healing to the people truly does lead to joy.  

We sing in response to this reading:

Hail to the Lord’s anointed, great David’s greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression, to set the captives free,

To take away transgressions, and rule in equity.

—James Montgomery, 1822