Brett Blair
The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia assigned to be the guide and "gofer" to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet.
Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you? Mother Teresa looked at him. You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea? she asked.
Yes, he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said. “You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” Mother Teresa understood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor and she made it hers as well. She knew that they more than anyone else needed good news.
On a Saturday morning, in Nazareth, the town gathered in the synagogue to listen to Jesus read and teach. It was no big surprise. He was well known in the area; it was his hometown. He was raised there. They wanted to learn from him. So when he read from the Isaiah scroll, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor” everyone understood these words to be the words of Isaiah. It is how that prophet from long ago defined his ministry.
When Jesus finished that reading he handed the scroll to the attendant and sat down. In that day you sat in the Moses Seat to teach to the people. Today preachers stand in a pulpit. So all eyes were on Jesus, waiting for him to begin his teaching. What would he say about this great prophet Isaiah? Would he emphasis the bad news? Israel had sinned and would be taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Or would he emphasis the good news? One day God would restore his people and bring them back from captivity. It was Israel’s ancient history but it still spoke volumes.
Now here’s the wonderful twist, the thing that catches everyone off guard that Saturday morning in Nazareth. Jesus does neither. He doesn’t emphasize the past. He focuses on the present. He doesn’t lift up Isaiah as the great role model; Jesus lifts up himself. This is the pertinent point. It’s what upsets everybody at the synagogue. It’s why everybody was furious with him and drove him out of town. They were going to kill him. He dared to say that these great words of Isaiah were really about himself. “Today,” he said, “this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
This morning let’s look at the ministries of Isaiah and Jesus. Why are their ministries so closely tied and why does Jesus describe himself as fulfilling Isaiah’s ministry?
I
First, Isaiah’s ministry: Who was this man? He lived 700 years before Christ and was a prophet during the reign of King Hezekiah. He spent most of his life in the city of Jerusalem. Now what was his ministry? Let me tell you first that it was not a ministry that any man would be proud to fulfill. His ministry will to proclaim the awful and fearsome judgment that would be brought upon Israel and any nation that defies God. But there was more. His message was to add salt to the wound because God was going to use the wicked kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon to destroy his people and take them into captivity and slavery.
Do you know what Isaiah called that day? “The Day of The Lord.” So next time you hear that phrase remember that it’s not a good thing. The day of the Lord is to be feared.
How could God so abandon his people? Let me tell you about a commencement speech that was addressed to Harvard’s Senior Class. On the morning of their graduation, seniors gather in Memorial Church to hear the minister offer words of solace and encouragement as they leave "the Yard" to take their places in the world.
The 1998 senior class heard the unvarnished truth from the Rev. Peter Gomes, minister at Harvard and the author of several books on the Bible. Doctor Gomes took no prisoners that day. He began: "You are going to be sent out of here for good, and most of you aren't ready to go. The president is about to bid you into the fellowship of educated men and women and, (and here he paused and spoke each word slowly for emphasis) you know just - how - dumb - you - really - are."
The senior class cheered in agreement.
"And worse than that," Doctor Gomes continued, "the world - and your parents in particular - are going to expect that you will be among the brightest and best. But you know that you can no longer fool all the people even some of the time. By noontime today, you will be out of here. By tomorrow you will be history. By Saturday, you will be toast. That's a fact - no exceptions,
no extensions."
"Nevertheless, there is reason to hope," Doctor Gomes promised. "The future is God's gift to you. God will not let you stumble or fall. God has not brought you this far to this place to ABANDON you or leave you here alone and afraid. The God of Israel never stumbles, never sleeps, never goes on sabbatical. Thus, my beloved and bewildered young friends, do not be afraid."
What Doctor Gomes did for the senior class at Harvard, Isaiah does for Israel. This is the wonderful part of Isaiah’s ministry. It’s true that he told them they would be destroyed. But he also preached a message of restoration. He stood on the steps of the temple in Jerusalem and told them there was hope. There would be a year of Jubilee. There would come a time when God would forgive. Listen to Isaiah’s words in chapter 14: “The Lord will have compassion on Israel; once again he will choose his people and settle them in their land. And the house of Israel will possess the nations.”
Don’t forget this my friends: God is a Holy God and he must punish his rebellious people but he will afterwards redeem them. Now with this in mind listen to what Isaiah tells the people in chapter 61: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me to preach good news to the poor…bind up the brokenhearted…proclaim freedom for captives…and release the prisoners from darkness.” Do you hear the message. It is god redeeming his people from captivity. It’s a kind of second Exodus.
Isaiah had a name for this day. He called it “The Year Of The Lord’s Favor.” This is a good phrase. Next time you hear it be glad.
II
And this is the theme that Jesus draws upon. Let’s now take a look at Jesus’ Ministry. When Jesus sits down in the Moses Seat and begins his sermon he applies Isaiah’s words to himself. But there is one thing more. Jesus isn’t just proclaiming restoration; Jesus intends on fulfilling that restoration. He is going to complete the work that Isaiah left undone.
Let’s stop for a minute here and ask a question. It’s the question we asked at the beginning. Why does Jesus describe himself as fulfilling Isaiah’s ministry? How is Jesus going to finish or complete Isaiah’s work? Wasn’t the work already fulfilled when Israel was redeemed and brought out of Babylonian captivity? The answer is Yes, in a manner of speaking. They even rebuilt their Temple that had been destroyed in the war. You can read about it in the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
So how is Jesus fulfilling it? Here it is…now don’t miss this: God said it is through suffering of the servant that salvation in its fullest sense would be realized. Israel, described here as male servant, would have to suffer before he could be redeemed.
Here is how Isaiah described the redemptive nature of Israel’s suffering:
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
By now you recognize that these words are descriptive of Jesus’ suffering on the cross. And they are. But they were first a description of what Israel would have to endure before she could be redeemed.
Here is the great truth: It is through suffering that we are set free from our prisons. Elie Wiesel, a teenager then, witnessed the death of many family members. He recalls the day when he, as well as the other prisoners, were finally liberated from Auschwitz by the allies. On that day powerful, strong soldiers broke down the fences of the concentration camp to release the prisoners. Frail, feeble, gaunt, and near death they were terrible victims of a horrible criminal evil.
In spite of his condition Wiesel remembers one solider, a strong black man who upon seeing the horror of human suffering was overcome with grief. He fell to his knees sobbing in a mix of disbelief and sorrow. The captives, now liberated, walked over to the soldier, put their arms around him, and offered comfort to him.
I can't help but wonder what it is that Jesus saw on that day he began his ministry. Looking out at those gathered in the synagogue, just as I am looking out at you this morning, as near as I can figure, he saw the same thing that strong black soldier saw: Terrible victims of a horrible criminal evil. And this is no complement! Listen to his words: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.
We don't like to think of ourselves as victims of sin. But evil, in a manner of speaking, has had its own way with us and when Jesus arrived on the scene ready to liberate us prisoners I am sure he was over come with grief.
The good news is our Ally has arrived. This is the year of the Lord favor. This is the Good News. Hallelujah! Amen!
The story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia assigned to be the guide and "gofer" to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet.
Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you? Mother Teresa looked at him. You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea? she asked.
Yes, he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said. “You'll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.” Mother Teresa understood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor and she made it hers as well. She knew that they more than anyone else needed good news.
On a Saturday morning, in Nazareth, the town gathered in the synagogue to listen to Jesus read and teach. It was no big surprise. He was well known in the area; it was his hometown. He was raised there. They wanted to learn from him. So when he read from the Isaiah scroll, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor” everyone understood these words to be the words of Isaiah. It is how that prophet from long ago defined his ministry.
When Jesus finished that reading he handed the scroll to the attendant and sat down. In that day you sat in the Moses Seat to teach to the people. Today preachers stand in a pulpit. So all eyes were on Jesus, waiting for him to begin his teaching. What would he say about this great prophet Isaiah? Would he emphasis the bad news? Israel had sinned and would be taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Or would he emphasis the good news? One day God would restore his people and bring them back from captivity. It was Israel’s ancient history but it still spoke volumes.
Now here’s the wonderful twist, the thing that catches everyone off guard that Saturday morning in Nazareth. Jesus does neither. He doesn’t emphasize the past. He focuses on the present. He doesn’t lift up Isaiah as the great role model; Jesus lifts up himself. This is the pertinent point. It’s what upsets everybody at the synagogue. It’s why everybody was furious with him and drove him out of town. They were going to kill him. He dared to say that these great words of Isaiah were really about himself. “Today,” he said, “this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
This morning let’s look at the ministries of Isaiah and Jesus. Why are their ministries so closely tied and why does Jesus describe himself as fulfilling Isaiah’s ministry?
I
First, Isaiah’s ministry: Who was this man? He lived 700 years before Christ and was a prophet during the reign of King Hezekiah. He spent most of his life in the city of Jerusalem. Now what was his ministry? Let me tell you first that it was not a ministry that any man would be proud to fulfill. His ministry will to proclaim the awful and fearsome judgment that would be brought upon Israel and any nation that defies God. But there was more. His message was to add salt to the wound because God was going to use the wicked kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon to destroy his people and take them into captivity and slavery.
Do you know what Isaiah called that day? “The Day of The Lord.” So next time you hear that phrase remember that it’s not a good thing. The day of the Lord is to be feared.
How could God so abandon his people? Let me tell you about a commencement speech that was addressed to Harvard’s Senior Class. On the morning of their graduation, seniors gather in Memorial Church to hear the minister offer words of solace and encouragement as they leave "the Yard" to take their places in the world.
The 1998 senior class heard the unvarnished truth from the Rev. Peter Gomes, minister at Harvard and the author of several books on the Bible. Doctor Gomes took no prisoners that day. He began: "You are going to be sent out of here for good, and most of you aren't ready to go. The president is about to bid you into the fellowship of educated men and women and, (and here he paused and spoke each word slowly for emphasis) you know just - how - dumb - you - really - are."
The senior class cheered in agreement.
"And worse than that," Doctor Gomes continued, "the world - and your parents in particular - are going to expect that you will be among the brightest and best. But you know that you can no longer fool all the people even some of the time. By noontime today, you will be out of here. By tomorrow you will be history. By Saturday, you will be toast. That's a fact - no exceptions,
no extensions."
"Nevertheless, there is reason to hope," Doctor Gomes promised. "The future is God's gift to you. God will not let you stumble or fall. God has not brought you this far to this place to ABANDON you or leave you here alone and afraid. The God of Israel never stumbles, never sleeps, never goes on sabbatical. Thus, my beloved and bewildered young friends, do not be afraid."
What Doctor Gomes did for the senior class at Harvard, Isaiah does for Israel. This is the wonderful part of Isaiah’s ministry. It’s true that he told them they would be destroyed. But he also preached a message of restoration. He stood on the steps of the temple in Jerusalem and told them there was hope. There would be a year of Jubilee. There would come a time when God would forgive. Listen to Isaiah’s words in chapter 14: “The Lord will have compassion on Israel; once again he will choose his people and settle them in their land. And the house of Israel will possess the nations.”
Don’t forget this my friends: God is a Holy God and he must punish his rebellious people but he will afterwards redeem them. Now with this in mind listen to what Isaiah tells the people in chapter 61: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me to preach good news to the poor…bind up the brokenhearted…proclaim freedom for captives…and release the prisoners from darkness.” Do you hear the message. It is god redeeming his people from captivity. It’s a kind of second Exodus.
Isaiah had a name for this day. He called it “The Year Of The Lord’s Favor.” This is a good phrase. Next time you hear it be glad.
II
And this is the theme that Jesus draws upon. Let’s now take a look at Jesus’ Ministry. When Jesus sits down in the Moses Seat and begins his sermon he applies Isaiah’s words to himself. But there is one thing more. Jesus isn’t just proclaiming restoration; Jesus intends on fulfilling that restoration. He is going to complete the work that Isaiah left undone.
Let’s stop for a minute here and ask a question. It’s the question we asked at the beginning. Why does Jesus describe himself as fulfilling Isaiah’s ministry? How is Jesus going to finish or complete Isaiah’s work? Wasn’t the work already fulfilled when Israel was redeemed and brought out of Babylonian captivity? The answer is Yes, in a manner of speaking. They even rebuilt their Temple that had been destroyed in the war. You can read about it in the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
So how is Jesus fulfilling it? Here it is…now don’t miss this: God said it is through suffering of the servant that salvation in its fullest sense would be realized. Israel, described here as male servant, would have to suffer before he could be redeemed.
Here is how Isaiah described the redemptive nature of Israel’s suffering:
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
By now you recognize that these words are descriptive of Jesus’ suffering on the cross. And they are. But they were first a description of what Israel would have to endure before she could be redeemed.
Here is the great truth: It is through suffering that we are set free from our prisons. Elie Wiesel, a teenager then, witnessed the death of many family members. He recalls the day when he, as well as the other prisoners, were finally liberated from Auschwitz by the allies. On that day powerful, strong soldiers broke down the fences of the concentration camp to release the prisoners. Frail, feeble, gaunt, and near death they were terrible victims of a horrible criminal evil.
In spite of his condition Wiesel remembers one solider, a strong black man who upon seeing the horror of human suffering was overcome with grief. He fell to his knees sobbing in a mix of disbelief and sorrow. The captives, now liberated, walked over to the soldier, put their arms around him, and offered comfort to him.
I can't help but wonder what it is that Jesus saw on that day he began his ministry. Looking out at those gathered in the synagogue, just as I am looking out at you this morning, as near as I can figure, he saw the same thing that strong black soldier saw: Terrible victims of a horrible criminal evil. And this is no complement! Listen to his words: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.
We don't like to think of ourselves as victims of sin. But evil, in a manner of speaking, has had its own way with us and when Jesus arrived on the scene ready to liberate us prisoners I am sure he was over come with grief.
The good news is our Ally has arrived. This is the year of the Lord favor. This is the Good News. Hallelujah! Amen!
