Rejoice!
Isaiah
61:1-4, 8-11
I
will rejoice greatly in the LORD
says
the prophet. In
some traditions of the church the third Sunday in Advent (today) is referred to
as “Gaudete Sunday ,”that
is “Rejoice Sunday.” Which,
I guess is why this passage from Isaiah is set for today. That
is why in some advent rings one of the four candles is pink rather
than red. This
Sunday is a kind of mid-season break. It
is set apart from the other Sundays in Advent that often call
repentance and renewal of life as an appropriate preparation for the
coming of Jesus. Advent
is meant to be penitential season, a time for self examination and
reflection. Its
mood in many ways should be sombre.
There
is much to regret about the state of the world and the state of our
own lives. This
year, perhaps more than any year, the build up to Christmas is a
sombre one. We
are living through a more or less unprecedented crisis. Covid
has swept around the world and effected nearly every nation to a
greater or lesser extent. Around
the world it has infected an estimated 72 million people and been
implicated in 1.6 million deaths. In
our own country, as write, those numbers are 1.81 million and 63,500. That
toll has marked this year with an experience of sorrow and loss in
almost every place in a way that almost know previous crisis has. Just
for a moment the whole world has been united in a shared experience,
it it has not been a good one. And
that is only the most acute and distressing aspect of this crisis. Not
only has the disease been the direct cause of much suffering and
death, attempts to control it have led to a transformation of our
lives. Many
of us have been virtual captives in our own homes for much of the
year. We
have been isolated from our loved ones and our networks of support. Even
when we haven't been infected by the disease itself our health has
suffered. Forced
to remain at home, many of our limbs and joints have stiffened. Not
being able to go out easily and breath fresh air has affected the
health of our lungs. But
it has affected not only the personal and the social aspects of our
lives, it has also taken a political and economic toll. Politicians
have struggled to cope, and their struggles have done noting to
improve public trust in them. And
the restrictions that have been set in place has damaged the
livelihood of many people as businesses have struggled and failed. Yet
as this has been happening, for others the experience has been an
increased workload, as extra demands have been placed on “essential”
workers, who often the least well paid. They
often have borne the burden of maintaining as much “normality” as
possible for the rest of us.
And
this has not been the only thing to burden us this year. None
of the world’s other problems has gone away. The
climate has continued its apparently inexorable slide from crisis
into catastrophe. Ever more gloomy predictions about the speed and effects of climate change
are still being made. And
those effects, it is increasingly clear, will weigh most heavily on
those who are already the poorest and most disadvantaged people in
the world. And
as all this has been happening, because of events in the United
States, we have once again been reminded of racial injustices and the
legacy of slavery and colonialism, both there and much nearer to
home. And
this list could go on, we have had barely time to notice the ongoing
conflicts in Yemen, Iraq and Syria that have also added to this
year’s toll of misery.
Isaiah
rejoices. We
might be tempted to reply “that’s easy for you!” No
pink candle for us this year!
But
this is precisely why we need an “Isaiah Advent” this year. Isaiah
invites us to reflect deeply on the meaning of joy and rejoicing. And
perhaps what is striking, but easy to overlook, is that Isaiah was
able to rejoice in the midst of struggle and disappointment. It
was not “easy” for him by any means. The
exile of the children of Israel had ended. They
had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. But
they had returned to ruins. They
have struggled and failed to rebuild the temple. A
failure which seems to reflect a larger failure to re-establish
national life, and to become once more God’s chosen witnesses in
the world. The
landscape over which Isaiah looked was one of misery and frustration. Yet
Isaiah rejoices!
He
points us to the reality that real joy is not about personal pleasure
or superficial happiness. It
is not determined by the immediate circumstances that we find
ourselves in. Isaiah
found it possible to rejoice in the midst of hardship and
disappointment. His
joy, all true joy, is not determined by the immediate circumstances
of our lives, be they bad or good. Isaiah’s
joy comes from a deeply held assurance that the struggles and
disappointments of the present moment will one day be overcome. Isaiah
has an absolute faith that God will act to save his people. He
is so certain that he speaks of the future as if it were already
present.
My
whole being shall exult in my God for he has clothed me in garments
of salvation.
Of
course this passage is perhaps familiar to us already. When
Jesus begins his preaching ministry, he goes to synagogue in
Nazareth. He
stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah is unrolled to
the this passage, and Jesus reads:
The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. . .
The
incident and the words which Jesus reads are sometimes referred to as
the Nazareth Manifesto. Isaiah
announces, and Jesus reads, and we continue to believe, that this is
a succinct portrayal of the mission of God. This
is what God intends to do. And is
perhaps right to call it a manifesto since it has a distinctly
political tone. God
promises a great reversal. Those
who are oppressed and broken hearted will receive good news. Whatever
it is that is holding people down or holding people back, and very
often this the words which are spoken to them, or the find they speak
about themselves, whatever that is, it will be replaced by good news. God
will speak a word that lifts the spirits of the downtrodden and the
down hearted. With
that word comes also the announcement of release for those held
captive and those imprisoned. Above
all God is a God of freedom. God
promises liberty from captivities both literal and metaphoric. God
promises a world where flourishing is possible for all human beings. Frustration
and disappointment will be swept away God
will speak a word of comfort to those who mourn. That will be word spoken to both those who mourn a personal loss, but also
those who regret the state of the world. God
will comfort those who are anguished by the injustice and apparent
futility of our existence. All
that sorrow will be turned around to joy. God
will speak and act:
to
give them a garland instead of ashes
the
oil of gladness instead of mourning
the
mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit
All
this talk already has a background among God’s people as Isaiah was
speaking. This
is a language of Jubilee. Every
50 years in the life of Israel the were supposed to press the reset
button. Debts
were cancelled and the land redistributed evenly among all the
people. God’s
intention is that no one among his people become rich at the cost of
poverty of others, no one should be powerful by oppressing others. Jubilee
was a mechanism established to prevent the concentration of wealth
and power in fewer and fewer hands. Jubilee
was this promised great reversal put into action Whatever
the current circumstances people find themselves in, God’s promise
is that all the negatives will be restored.
In
Isaiah’s case, in the immediate setting in which these words were
spoken, he is able to promise that the ruined cities of Judah will be
rebuild. That
despite their failures and setbacks national life will be
re-established.
Our
perspective is a little different. Not
long after Isaiah had spoken these words also became associated with
the idea of someone who God would send, the one on whom the Spirit of
God rests who speaks at the beginning of the passage. This
passage very quickly becomes associated with the Messiah. That
is why when Jesus reads these words in Nazareth, his sermon is a
single sentence:
Today
this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing (Luke
4:21)
And
as Christians we trust in the accuracy and truthfulness of that assessment of
Jesus of himself. We
believe and trust that Jesus in and by and through whom these things
will be brought about. Through
Jesus, God’s promised reversal, God’s great and permanent
Jubilee, made by Isaiah is what we continue to look towards.
At
the heart of these words and this idea of Jubilee and the great
reversal in fortunes lies the character of God. These
things will happen because of who God is, and what God is like. In
the middle of this passage God speaks directly and speaks about
himself:
For
I the LORD love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
Martin
Luther King, during one the
earlier outbreaks of resistance against racial and economic injustice
said:
“I
do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long
one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and
complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by
conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”
The
arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. There
is much in history and in the present moment which is to be
regretted. There
is much in our own lives that is source of sorrow and disappointment. But
like Martin Luther King we should recognise that that our perspective
is small. Even
this year as dreadful as it has been is just one small scene in a
very long drama. Our
faith, our confidence, is that the underlying plot is a positive one. Behind
the world that we see, which at times seems cold and heartless, lies
the God of love and justice. Because
of that all the negatives that we see and experience will be turned
to positives. Sorrow
will become joy. Captivity
will become freedom. Even
death will become life. Because
God is the God who speaks through Isaiah, and who sends Jesus.
We
read Isaiah’s words at almost the darkest moment in the year. In
a little more than a week we will reach the shortest day. Perhaps
this year this is metaphorical as well as actual. The
days and the weather are gloomy. And
to some extent they may reflect our mood. But
I heard someone say the other day: “In
the dark it is easiest to see the light” I
began Advent by saying “This too shall pass.” That
is certain. Isaiah
rejoices in the midst of his struggles and frustrations and
disappointment because has an absolute confidence in God. What
God has promised God will do. The
current darkness will be made light. Perhaps
with the arrival a vaccine we can begin to see an end to this crisis. Perhaps
this time the voices raised to demand racial and economic justice
will be heard and acted upon. But
even if they are not, God is good and because of that the arc of
history bends toward justice. That
jubilee, that great reversal will take place. As
we reach the shortest day of the year there is a turn around. Slowly
at first and then more quickly the days lengthen. Light
and life return to the world. That
is the kind of certainty and confidence Isaiah has in God:
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.
That
is why, even now, we can rejoice.
Amen.
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