Isaiah 61:1-10
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Dear congregation,
It is an old habit in many cultures to wish each other all the best for the New Year. The wishes are then also concretized: health, success, happiness, and many other things.
These are well-intentioned wishes. They all arise from the one wish that our counterpart may have a good year.
It is a friendly and benevolent attitude towards our fellow human beings. And receiving such wishes also lets us breathe a sigh of relief and rejoice on the one hand, because someone means well with us. So far so good – I suspect you have received many such messages and greetings in the past few days in person and/or via WhatsApp or email.
At the same time, however, we are not naïve. As much as we are happy about these wishes and as much as we like to send good wishes, our life experience shows: this year we will not only experience simple and good things.
Our experience knows that this year we will not only be happy and deal with the beautiful sides of life, but also face challenges. Some of us continue to live with our chronic illnesses. Others are still in financial need. Some of us will experience the unforeseen, a sudden death, a serious diagnosis, heartbreak, worries at work and school.
No, none of us is naïve.
At the same time, although or perhaps because we are not naïve, we read the Bible. In the Bible we read passages that sound like New Year's wishes.
Listen to the sermon text from the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 61:1-10
1 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 afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to the bound that they may be free and single;
2 To proclaim a year of the Lord's gracious and a day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all those who mourn,
3 To provide for those who mourn in Zion, that they may be given adornment instead of ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning, beautiful garments instead of a sorrowful spirit, that they may be called "trees of righteousness," "planting of the Lord," for praise to Him.
4 They will rebuild the old ruins and raise up again what was destroyed in the past; they will renew the desolate cities that have lain destroyed from generation to generation.
5 Strangers will come and feed your flocks, and foreigners will be your farmers and vine-growers.
6 But you shall be called priests of the Lord , and you will be called servants of our God. You will eat the goods of the nations and glory in their glory.
7 For the reproach they have borne double reproach, and for the shame they shall rejoice over their portion. For they shall have twice as much in their land. They should have eternal joy.
8 For I am the Lord, who loves justice and hates robbery and injustice; I will give them their reward in faithfulness, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their seed among the nations shall be known, and their descendants among the nations, so that whoever shall see them shall know that they are a generation blessed by the Lord.
10 I rejoice in the Lord, and my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation, and has clothed me with the mantle of righteousness, adorned with a priestly headdress like a bridegroom, and like a bride resplendent in her jewels.
What strikes me in connection with the new year and the many good wishes, I want to emphasize: As always, there is much more to say about this section.
- To proclaim a year of the Lord's gracious and a day of God's vengeance
I like to hear the first half-sentence, the proclamation of a gracious year of the Lord. This is very much in line with our New Year's wishes that I have just described. Surely you too have stumbled inwardly while listening to the second half: A day of God's vengeance. Most of us have a hard time with God's vengeance. Yes, I don't have it easy with it either. Because I don't like how the idea of God's vengeance has been used by priests and bishops in church history to frighten the faithful. As long as the faithful live with great fear of God's vengeance and fear the day of judgment like the plague, the authoritarian structure of the church functioned.
To frighten and thus exert influence. This is an old, terrible strategy that supports authoritarian systems and undermines the idea of democracy and equality.
So many of us hear this and therefore emphasize the grace and goodness of God. I agree with that, and therein lies the origin of our Lutheran heritage: the liberation from a frightening God. This has and had its justification.
But this does not do justice to Isaiah and possibly not to our God. Just as little as we do justice to our life if we expect only good and goodness and high times from it.
For Isaiah, the idea of a day of God's vengeance is first and foremost a reparation, a comfort for those who suffer from the unjust and evil deeds of an authoritarian system.
What do I mean by this: The day of God's vengeance is here directly connected with the following verses: "To comfort all those who mourn, 3 to create for those who mourn in Zion, that they may be given ornaments instead of ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning, beautiful garments instead of a sorrowful spirit, that they may be called "trees of righteousness," "planting of the Lord," for his praise.
You notice: the large group of the population, the so-called simple men and women who lived in an authoritarian Babylonian Empire, helpless and powerless at the mercy of the violence of rulers, were told: one day this state of affairs will change.
It is downright grotesque that these verses were later used, as I have just described, to frighten the so-called simple men and women, the believers.
The only ones who should be frightened by the announcement of a day of God's vengeance are those who abuse their authority, their rule.
Isaiah holds out the prospect, and thus Isaiah stands in the old Jewish tradition, that it should and can stop people abusing their power over other people. People should stop governing by force. It should stop rulers enriching themselves at the expense of the population. It should not be the case that the rulers live in palaces and villas, in luxury, while the so-called ordinary people lack daily bread, electricity, pure water and a roof over their heads.
God's comfort, to put it bluntly, is bound and connected with the thought that justice grows and the unjust distribution and division of the world has come to an end.
- So far so good. This brings us to the question: how should that be? Are we going back to our good New Year's wishes? As a rule, we don't think that far: we simply shower people with good wishes. But let's take the opportunity to think about it: let's reinforce the illusion that a good life is a life without illness, without worries, without suffering. And if we create additional suffering in this way, because all those who are sick, have worries, go through difficult experiences would have to have the impression in the end: They are not blessed. Without overtaxing our well-intentioned habit of good wishes, I would like to point out what is different about Isaiah.
This is the beginning of this section. Isaiah says of himself: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me – he has anointed me – to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives, and to the bound that they may be free and single;"
Isaiah sees it as his task to become active so that the merciful year of the Lord does not remain just a pious wish that everyone can guess will not fulfill itself.
So Isaiah does not simply pour out good wishes, but goes deeper: If it is to be a merciful year, then it is also up to me to do something about it. Specifically: to support those who are subjected to difficult experiences in life. In order for it to be a good year, the sick are not simply wished health, but it is announced that the wounds will be bandaged. Good medical care for all those who need it.
It is envisaged that those who are unjustly living in poverty will become free: their creditors can no longer hold them captive and pass on poverty from generation to generation.
In other words, better opportunities for those who grow up in corrugated iron huts, better school opportunities. This means people in all leadership positions with an awareness of their task: to keep an eye on the lives of the so-called ordinary men and women and to do everything they can to make them feel better.
Yes and unfortunately, that is not possible without specifically uncovering and accusing those who are poorly fulfilling their office and their leadership task, their government task. Yes, we as a white part of the population will be careful with this in this country – but hopefully we will not fall into the trap that it is a problem of "black and white". We will certainly act wisely and prudently, but we will not simply stand by and watch as the majority of our population is at the mercy of the wanton will of those who enrich themselves unjustly.
Isaiah sees this as his task: it is not an easy task to take on a prophetic office: to continue to work with clever diplomacy so that peace can be found in the world and that we do not simply wish for each other like the blue of heaven.
Isaiah is not and was not the only one who took on this office. In the fourth chapter of his Gospel, the evangelist Luke tells us that Jesus refers to this passage from Isaiah 61.
In the Gospels we then read how Jesus understood and lived this: he sometimes courageously criticized and concretely confronted some scribes and some Pharisees.
But he did not only give pious speeches and criticize others. Jesus did not become a know-it-all who withdraws and knows from a distance how to govern and lead better: Jesus was responsive to those who suffered from injustice. He has bandaged wounds. people healed.
To make the connection to our first Sunday in the new year: With every good wish we express, the question goes hand in hand with: "What do I have to do with it so that this wish comes true?"
What do I have to do with the fact that there is peace: worldwide, but also peace in the family, in the community, at work?
What has God called me to this year?
Is it enough that I wish someone health? What do I mean by that? Could it be that we become more specific with our wishes: Maybe I wish someone enough strength to live with their illness. Maybe I wish someone that they will be able to cope with the difficulties that lie ahead of them this year. Maybe I wish him trust that is deeper than his doubt.
When I start to formulate my wishes more precisely, then my thoughts are really with the person I wish something to.
Then I practice both: the beautiful habit of good wishes and yet do not become naïve - but believe that I can make a difference with my life.
Just like Isaiah and like Jesus and like the many subsequent Jews and Christians who have become such bearers of hope wherever they live. I want to close with this beautiful image: Terebinths of Justice. We can be that this year too.
It is worth giving a whole sermon about these sacred trees and their significance in the Bible.
At the beginning of Isaiah, a withered, dead terabinth is described and taken as an image of the condition of the people. Later in Isaiah, he speaks of the tree even being cut down. And then: yes, even from a tree that has been cut down, new life can arise: it sprouts again.
Here at the end of the book the view: Many terabinths.
At the beginning of this year, in a world in which much has run away and withered, perhaps also in our personal lives: Isaiah sees that the power of God through him and through many others can lead to the world becoming better here and there: always where a sad person is comforted, a fearful person is freed from his fear. Where people understand their responsibility, fulfill their positions and work with dedication and keep the well-being of all in mind.
This is not naïve. This is experience: Read the reports of "Bread for the World" or other aid organizations. Listen to the parents whose children are in the Baby Therapy Center. Be aware of the grateful smiles of those who are waiting for groceries in Winterveld. Think of the mothers who proudly and confidently carry their little premature babies in the lovingly sewn kangeru cloths.
May it be such a gracious year of the Lord and let us trust that people who abuse their authority will not get away with it in the long run.