Week Three of Advent

Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim 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,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
    and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    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.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.

“For I, the Lord, love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
    and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants will be known among the nations
    and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
    that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”
I delight greatly in the Lord;
    my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
    and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
    and praise spring up before all nations.

Advent is all about waiting. But how we wait really depends on what we are waiting for. As an American living in France I often spend a lot of time waiting in long lines in French administrative offices for official documents and papers. Everyone in these lines is grumpy, annoyed and simply trying to make the best of an unpleasant necessity. But passionate fans will wait in line for hours, sometimes days, for a new iPhone, Star Wars, to be a contestant on a game show, or a host of other things. They’ll wait with eager expectation and excitement because they view what they are waiting for as worth it.

Isaiah gives us a glimpse of what we are ultimately waiting for. The Gospel of Luke records Jesus’ first teaching as quoting the beginning of this text in a synagogue in Nazareth. Luke says about Jesus,

He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

His audience would have known the context. They would have known the rest of Isaiah 61, and they would have known that this was a prophecy of restoration. Jesus is saying that he is here to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy. They had waited long enough and the day of fulfillment had arrived. The entire prophecy is a reversal of fortunes for the people of God. Instead of captivity, blindness, sadness, and mourning, God would bring freedom, sight, joy, celebration and so much more. This was what they had been waiting for, and Jesus had brought it. The year of the Lord’s favor had dawned with Jesus’ ministry.

We wait in hope filled expectation for Jesus’ coming during Advent, because the next time he comes he is bringing with him a new city, a new and better way of things. As John says in the book of Revelation, 

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:2–4)

When Jesus comes again, we have so much to be looking forward to, so much to be waiting for. We are waiting for a world remade, a world set free, a curse lifted, and a new existence of joy, where we can truly have Emmanuel, God with us.