Isaiah 61:1-6 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
The Third Sunday after Epiphany Sunday, January 23, 2022 “The Anointed One Brings Good News”
Out of all the passages that could have been used, this was the one. Jesus was in his hometown of Nazareth. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day just as he always did. The Gospel-writer Luke tells us that the scroll of Isaiah was handed to him. Was that a decision of the attendant? Had Jesus asked for that one specifically? There were certainly other choices. The Old Testament as we know it was the Bible of the Jewish people at that time. Thirty-nine books. Literally thousands, even tens of thousands of verses. No matter how it happened, I am convinced that it was no coincidence that Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah. Even then, there were 66 chapters as we count them and around twelve hundred verses available to Jesus. And this is where he turned. He and the others in the synagogue would not have referred to it by chapter and verse the way that we can, but it was Isaiah 61, beginning with verse one. So, why this section of Scripture? After all, at other times we hear Jesus remind us that every verse of Scripture is about him. So many verses could have been used, and so many from Isaiah’s prophecy in particular. But this one was the one by which Jesus would introduce himself to his hometown worshipers. Do you suppose that this is a passage worth our close consideration? Let’s look and see how rich and meaningful this passage is. It tells us as it has told believers for many centuries that the Anointed One brings good news. The fact of the anointing is immediate and upfront. The Spirit of the Lord is on the one who speaks the words of these verses because the Lord has anointed him. This is one of many verses that explain the term the Messiah or the Christ, the Anointed One. In Old Testament times kings were anointed to demonstrate that God had chosen them; priests were anointed to indicate their selection into their calling; prophets were anointed for the same reason. But so many promises like this one spoke about an anointing that was even greater and an office that combined all three: prophet, priest, and king. This Anointed One was the object of longing and waiting and anticipation. And no wonder, because he brings good news. Look at what that good news consists of. He proclaims freedom. He says, “You will be free.” With synonym after synonym he describes the freedom he has come to bring: release for the bound, comfort for mourners, freedom for captives. Those who first heard these words from the Lord’s prophet were also those who were warned about exile in Babylon. For people whom God had chastised by handing them over to enemies, here was the good news: freedom, release, return, restoration. They could come back to the land that was so special to them. They could trade in their mourning attire for joy and beauty and celebration. And all of us who hear these words today are still haunted by many of the same issues. Afflicted. Brokenhearted. Mourning. I am sure you know people you could categorize these ways. And I am sure that at times you could be part of that list. I am not talking now to captives in Babylon or any other foreign land, but I am talking to people who can be taken captive by disease or pain or suffering or fear. And I am talking to people who were born into captivity to sin and unbelief. I am talking to people who far too often are enslaved again by exactly those things which they want to avoid and exactly those things that God wants them to avoid. And I am talking to people whose actions have earned them captivity to death itself. In other words, I am talking to people who need this good news. I am talking to people who need release and freedom, comfort and joy. And I get to tell you about the one who was anointed to bring it to you. Jesus told us already, just as he did the synagogue worshipers in Nazareth. He said, “I am the one.” “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). The year of the Lord’s favor was at hand as Jesus preached and taught. In the Old Testament times, every fiftieth year was supposed to be a Year of Jubilee. All debts would be canceled. All land that had to be sold away was returned to the family that originally owned it. Every slave in Israel was to be set free. Scripture seems to suggest that if the Year of Jubilee was ever celebrated, it was almost certainly not celebrated every fifty years. But Jesus was coming to usher in an even better year of God’s favor. It was release for slaves to sin and death. It was the restoration of a Promised Land, and one even better and more lasting than the one that surrounded Jerusalem. God was canceling the debt of sin owed by each and every one of us. That’s what he did by sending