Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
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.
For I the Lord love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul 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 like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, December 17, comes from Isaiah chapter 61, verses one through four. And then verses eight through 11. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified, they shall build up ancient ruins that shall raise up the former devastations they shall repair the ruin cities, the devastations of many generations. For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrong, I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their offspring shall be known among the nations and their descendants in the midst of the peoples, all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring of the Lord has blessed, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall exalt 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, like a priest with a beautiful headdress. And as the bride adorns herself with jewels, for as the Earth brings forth, it sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up. So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before the nation's Here ends the reading. The first thing we should consider when we think about this passage is the position of what this might mean for the people of Israel who would hear it. Isaiah is talking about how God has anointed him a prophet, to bring good news to the people who were punished during the unfaithfulness that Israel experienced. God's people were turning away from him, they turned to false gods, they turned to go after a Syria and other gods and all sorts of things. And because of that God was going to send in Babylon to destroy the city, and the them as a nation. And now Isaiah is saying that there is a piece of good news that goes out to the broken to the poor, to the brokenhearted, to the captives. And it says, To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and to grant those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. And what we see with the prophet Jeremiah, and all of the terrible things that happened to Jerusalem was definitely a time of ashes and a time of mourning for God's people. The death and destruction that Babylon would have brought in the bad guys tearing down God's temple, would certainly brought mourning. And that's what the book of Lamentations is all about. And one of the comforts that Isaiah brings is that he is there to proclaim that God has not left his people, that he has sent good news to them, to bind them up, that eventually they would be brought back to their land. But more than that, Isaiah is pointing us to something deeper, something beyond what would just would happen with God's people going to Babylon and then returning. And Luke points that out in his Gospel in chapter four. Here, Jesus comes to Nazareth, and he goes into a temple synagogue and reads this passage. It says, He reads, 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 liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. He rolls up the scroll. And he says, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Now, what did Jesus been doing? Jesus had gone around in all of Galilee and proclaimed the kingdom of God, and he was starting to heal people. He was casting out demons he was proclaiming the good news. And that's exactly what Isaiah is predicting good news to the poor liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and liberty to the oppressed. Isaiah is looking ahead to Jesus, who would proclaim liberty, not from Babylon, but from all the evil forces that oppress us. But not only that, to give us a spirit of righteousness. There's some things here that are fascinating where he calls them that they may be called oaks of righteousness. or later on, it talks about free as clothed me with garments of salvation us covered me with a robe of righteousness. And then later for as the Earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up. So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise sprout up before all the nations. You see, bringing God's people back to the Promised Land did start a sort of renaissance in their religiosity. When they came back, they were far more dedicated to God and His law. And yet, even in that, they were still unrighteous. And that's the same thing for us, right? We are dedicated towards to our God, if you're listening to this, you are care about his word, and you want to learn more about who he is. And yet you still find yourself not being the righteous person you want to be not being as good or as holy, or as wonderful or as generous or kind, or, you know, all of that stuff. And what we have is Jesus coming to us to be our righteousness. And in him when you're brought into Him through baptism, or through faith, or by being a part of him, the righteousness that he gives us, sprouts up within us and changes us. Christians are given the amazing righteousness of Jesus Christ, the one who was truly anointed to bring this good news to us. And we know that while we struggle with Christ's righteousness, causing us want to be good and holy, and then our sin causing us to want to turn against it, we are waiting for a day when all the righteousness will be made visible, when Jesus will bring in us true fruition, his perfect righteousness, so that we can serve Him and everlasting righteousness innocence at blessedness, as Luther says in his explanation to the second article of the Apostles Creed, and we all can't wait for that day, when we who are oppressed and bound by our sin, by death, and the devil can finally be free. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai