Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11: A Messiah's Mission

Lectionary Cycle Year B: Third Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 (Read it on Bible Gateway)
A Messiah's Mission
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"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." This was the passage Christ read in the Temple, after which he sat down and told those listening that the passage had that day been fulfilled in their hearing (see Luke 4:18-21). Indeed, the verse seems an accurate description of what Christ was and what Christ's mission encompassed.

To read the rest of this passage in Isaiah, we find even more of what we, as Christians believe the Messiah will fulfill upon his return. The symbols and imagery are some of the same often used to refer to the end times and they are powerful words of assurance and promise. They speak of a time when mourning will be wiped away, the faithful will be clothed in crowns and garments of praise and righteousness, anointed with oils of gladness, and swept up into a transformed world of joy and beauty. Sound familiar?

Isaiah's ministry was just prior to the Babylonian Exile, an event that he prophesied and warned against. He spoke of God's judgment against the people that would result in the exile itself but he didn't stop there. He also prophesied God's forgiveness and the restoration of the people in their deliverance from that exile as well. (See Devotions: Isaiah 51:1-6 for thoughts on Isaiah's prophecy of Cyrus, and Psalm 126 for a Psalm of Thanksgiving composed after that restoration took place.)

On one level, this passage refers to the restoration following the exile. However, we modern Christians can't really read this passage without also finding a messianic level of meaning in it. Perhaps this is because Christ read from it, perhaps it is because the imagery here would form the basis of imagery to come referring to the end times. But, whatever the particular reason, it's a hard fact to deny: there is a definite theme of a spiritual restoration as well.

However, this passage loses a lot of its depth and power if we just link it either to an event from long ago, or one still to come. Of course, we find this passage in the Advent Season because of the messianic and Second Coming overtones. Of course we can find hope in its promise and prophecy of Christ coming again and the changes that will come with that. Of course we can remind ourselves of those promises and their significance in the Christian faith.

But those are the macrocosmic layers of meaning in this passage. Those are when we apply this passage to a larger scale meaning, holding the fates of nations and the world in its words.

The truth is it can hold as much significance on the microcosmic. Just as Isaiah's prophecies have shades of meaning that impact the larger scale, it has a shade of meaning that takes aim squarely at the individual. Even as the words of Psalm 126 can share the joy of restoration, Isaiah's words can offer us words of promise and hope in that restoration in our lives. Isaiah's message spoke first to the people of his time, and they played out true. Christ quoted Isaiah's words to speak to the people of his time, and he lived them out just as true. We as Christians now look at Isaiah's words to speak to us in our time as a promise of what is to come in Christ's return.

Isaiah can speak to each of us as well. Those words can challenge us with our own places where we have fallen short, where we have pulled away from God, where we have brought a sense of loss and challenge into our life. Isaiah's promises of restoration and healing can be promises to us that we can find the same and believe in a God who indeed will restore us, in a God who indeed loves justice and rewards faithfulness.

Let this Advent be a time of restoration in your life. Spend time in prayer and reflection to identify the ways you've put yourself in exile from God. Think about the struggles and challenges you face and need to find hope in overcoming. Even better, reflect on the times you experienced that exile in the past and came through it to find the rejoicing of the Psalm, knowing the prophecies of Isaiah, the promises of God, were fulfilled in your life. Then share that message of hope and promise with another who desperately needs to hear it.

For the complete listing of our Devotions, see our Devotions Archive