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December 11, 2005
3rd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 61: 1-3
Pastor Joel Zank

Christ Is The Reason for The Season!

(Isaiah 61:1-3) The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach 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, {2} to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, {3} and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

In Christ Jesus, the LORD's Anointed, dear fellow redeemed,

Well, the great debate rages on: Should a person say, "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays"? It seems like everyone's got an opinion on the subject, from the President of the United States to the manager of the local Wal-Mart Store. I would guess we all have an opinion on the matter too. I don't suppose I'm going out on a limb too far if I speculate that we are all for keeping Christ in Christmas-it only seems right since it's his birthday and all. But just exactly what are we wishing people when we greet them with the words "Merry Christmas" or for that matter, "Happy Holidays"? That's a good question to consider as we prepare to celebrate our Lord's birth. For help with the answer we'll turn to the Prophet Isaiah. Even though he lived 700 years before our Savior was born, he knew Christmas, and he knew why it's "merry." At the risk of sounding cliché, we'll consider the Prophet's message taking as our theme: "Christ Is The Reason for The Season." Why? Because he proclaims powerful news; and because he provides needed relief.

We'll look at Christ's work in moment, but first we have to figure something out - who's speaking the words of our text? The Prophet Isaiah put pen to paper, but is he quoting himself or someone else when he writes: "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me..." (Isaiah 61:1)? Maybe the word anoint offers us a clue. In Old Testament times God told his people to anoint their prophets, priests and kings. That meant pouring scented oil over the heads of those whom God had chosen to serve in these positions. Our speaker, then, is a prophet, priest, or king. So we might conclude that this is Isaiah himself, if not for something Jesus says at the very beginning of his public ministry. St. Luke tells us that in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus was invited to read from the scroll of Isaiah. In fact, he read the verses of our text and when he finished, he told his listeners: "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:21). In other words, Jesus was saying, "I'm the 'Anointed One' Isaiah wrote about." Friends, that makes perfect sense. God calls Jesus the Christ. Christ is a title that means "Anointed One." Jesus was anointed to be our Prophet, Priest and King, not with scented oil, but the with the Holy Spirit when the Third Person of the Trinity came to rest on Jesus in bodily form like a dove at the Savior's baptism. In the truest sense of the words Jesus can and does say, "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me..."

During his life as the Son of man on earth, Jesus did not make full or constant use of the power that is his as eternal God. But that did not mean he was powerless. His Father anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit so that he could carry out the rescue mission on which God had sent him - a mission Jesus so wonderfully describes in his own words here in the Book of Isaiah.

First, God sent Jesus to preach. Because Jesus is God and anointed with God's Spirit, every word that Jesus utters is important-wouldn't you agree? And more than important, because he is God and anointed with God's Spirit, the news he proclaims is powerful; it changes lives forever. We learn what this means from these words in Isaiah. As we listen to them, we have to do so with Old Testament ears, keeping in mind the troubles and heartaches of people who lived long ago. For example, Jesus says in our text that he has been anointed "...to preach good news to the poor..." and sent "...to bind up the broken hearted..." (Isaiah 61:1). Christ uses language here in keeping with an Old Testament celebration, one called the "Year of Jubilee" (Leviticus 25). When God brought his people into the Promised Land, every man got a piece of the land. That property was an inheritance from God here on earth - a treasured possession that no believer would want to give up. But sometimes the choices a person made caused him to forfeit his property. He would incur debts, become bankrupt, and so have to face the heart-breaking reality of losing his piece of the Promised Land.

We might feel that anyone who made such foolish choices ought to lose his share of God's inheritance. But in a demonstration of his great mercy, God had compassion on the debtors of Israel. Every fifty years God commanded his people to observe the Year of Jubilee. In that year, all debts were canceled and all forfeited property went back to its original owners. With one powerful command, every debtor became God's heir once again. Can you imagine how the poor of Israel welcomed the Jubilee!

Sure Jubilee was great for the poor, but what about the rich? As if to anticipate that very question, Christ fast forwards Israel's history to a time about 150 years after the days of Isaiah when every Israelite would have to forfeit his piece of the Promised Land. Why? Because of the people's sin. Because of their rebellion against God, the LORD would hand his people over as captives to the Babylonians. Then all of them would lose everything - their land, the Temple, their festivals and sin offerings - it would all be gone. They would all be poor; they would all be captives.

But even after all their sin and rebellion, God sent Christ "...to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, {2} to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God" (Isaiah 61:1-2). This is powerful news! The people have a choice. They can cling to their sin and face the day of God's wrath, or they can repent of their sin, be released from their captivity and enjoy living life in the Lord's favor.

From Bible History we know that many Israelites did repent-and many were released from their Babylonian captivity. But these powerful words of Christ had a far deeper meaning for those people and for us too. We know this from the fact that Christ applies these words to his ministry and mission. The Babylonian Captivity was over for more than 500 years when Jesus got up to speak in that synagogue at Nazareth. He wasn't talking about physical poverty or captivity - he was focused on the spiritual and with good reason.

Because of our sin, we are all debtors before God. By nature we have all forfeited our piece of Promised Land in heaven. From the moment of our conception we were all captives of sin, slaves of Satan, destined to suffer eternal death with him in hell. And there was nothing we could do about it because we were born spiritually bankrupt. There was no redeeming quality about us, nothing we could offer God to cancel our debt or the eternal darkness that awaited us. We were lost and condemned creatures.

But God, who is love, sent Christ to proclaim powerful news to us. Remember, when Christ speaks, lives are changed-like the time Jesus said to a dead boy in the town of Nain, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" and he did (Luke 7:14). Or how about the time Jesus said to ten lepers, "'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And as they went, they were cleansed." (Luke 17:14). Whenever Jesus speaks, powerful things take place! Are you remembering that Jesus has spoken some powerful words to you? At your baptism he spoke words that raised you from spiritual death to life with him. The promise he made to you that day is summarized so well in Isaiah 43: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. {2} When you pass through the waters, I will be with you...When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;" (Isaiah 43:1-3).

There could be no better news for us poor sinners! God, who has every reason to be against us, says he is with us to cancel our debt, to free us from the power, from the guilt, and from the punishment of our sins. Do you believe him? We say that we do, and yet we often live as if we don't. We mope along through our days, looking more like defeated captives than victorious soldiers, more like deprived vagrants than satisfied Christians. And as the days fly by till Christmas it only seems to get worse. We feel rushed and exhausted, wishing the holidays were past, or at the very least a month or two away. We've forgotten, haven't we? We've forgotten that Christ is the reason for the season. It's not about shopping yet to be done; it's about God's gift to us, all wrapped up in swaddling clothes and delivered to Bethlehem centuries ago. It's not about Christmas cards and letters still to be written; it's about the Word of God made flesh, living in us, speaking to our hearts through Word and Sacrament, speaking powerful words to heal the hurts and fill the emptiness of our sin-infested lives. His words make a difference and always for the better, if only we take the time to listen to them and reflect on them every day. We have not done that, and yet rather than let us continue in our misery, or worse, disown us for our foolishness and doubt, Christ takes the time to connect every promise he makes to his greatest accomplishment of all - our salvation. So again we see why Christ is the reason for the season, because he provides much needed relief - or as he explains his mission in our text: "...to comfort all who mourn, {3} and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor" (Isaiah 61:2-3).

Life in this sinful world has taught us that "talk is cheap." Husbands and wives, moms and dads, sons and daughters break their promises so easily and so often; why should we think it will be any different with Christ. Why believe him when he says he will always be with us (Matthew 28:20)? Why trust him when he says he has plans to prosper us and not to harm us (Jeremiah 29:11)? Why? Because he has already kept his greatest promise, the one from which all other blessings flow. He has already accomplished the great exchange, the one he talks about in our text. Once we were mourners with reason to cover our heads with ashes, the outward symbol of our inner despair over sin and its threat to ruin us forever. Jesus on the other hand is eternal God, crowned in glory and might, dwelling in unending bliss. Yet in love for which there are no words, this same Jesus left his throne above to be Immanuel - God with us here below in human flesh - for this one reason, so that he could become our sin and the object of God's wrath in our place. He became the mourner instead of us, forsaken by God and mocked by hell. But not for long because he satisfied God's wrath and in doing so, conquered hell. He rose from the dead, and now he gives to all who believe in him a crown of beauty, his own righteousness to replace our sinfulness. Gone is our reason to mourn. Now our faces can shine with the oil of gladness. No longer do we need to despair, for Christ has paid our debt of our sin! Thanks to him we live every moment of each day as the God's forgiven sons and daughters. Now we are the objects of God's praise and pride. How can we be sure? Because we have a new name. We who were once known only as sinners are now called "oaks of righteousness," standing tall in the holiness of Christ, planted and nourished in the garden of God's grace.

What a relief! Gone is the guilt, gone is the punishment of our sin. That means that there is nothing in the way of Christ's promises to us. With our sin atoned for by Jesus, God can only bless us. Nothing can stop him, not sickness, not troubles in our homes, not problems at work, not even death. For in the hands of our loving God, who turned the death of his Son into life for us all, every dilemma we face must bring us something good. God will have it no other way. Believe it, my friends. This is the truth that makes this and every season of our lives a merry one. And this is the blessing that we want to be seeking for others when we wish them a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, Happy Holy-days as it used to be said. We want everyone who hears our greeting to know the powerful news that there is relief from sin and peace with God through faith in Christ Jesus and him alone. Amen.