church

INI
3rd Sunday after Epiphany (text for 2nd)
January 24, 2010
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

JESUS IS THE ANOINTED ONE
Isaiah 61:1-3

Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen Today we consider the Word of
God given through the prophet Isaiah, chapter 61, beginning with the first
verse, as follows:

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who
are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of
vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who
mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of
righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." Here ends
the text.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Who was anointed to bring comfort to those who
mourn, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

What does the word anointed mean to you? We certainly are hearing that word
used a lot recently, especially in political contexts. E.g., in the aftermath of
Monday’s surprising election in Massachusetts, one senatorial candidate from
Iowa was quoted as saying that “…We can no longer select candidates because
they are anointed by the party establishment… It is even worse if everyone
assumes that the anointed candidate is the best candidate.”

Be that as it may, you might guess from that statement that the word anointed
has to do with someone who is specially chosen or selected for a certain office.
Interestingly, it’s a word that originates in the Bible. In the Old Testament, God
indicated His selection of certain people for certain offices by having His
prophets anoint them with a special oil. The prophet would place a few drops of
the sacred oil on a person’s head, and that signified – irrevocably – that that
person was God’s choice for king, or high priest, or whatever the office was.

I wonder if you can guess what word the Old Testament Hebrews used for
“anointed”? It was meshiach, or Messiah. In the New Testament it is the Greek
Christos, or Christ. Now, both names mean anointed one, and that’s very
significant. It tells you everything you need to know about our Epiphany text
for today. In this prophesy from the Book of Isaiah, we hear the Son of God
speaking about Himself, describing in great detail the duties He was anointed
by God to carry out. If you’re the kind of person who thinks of Christ as one
small part of your life, then I’m afraid you’ve got another thing coming. But if
you’re the kind of person who often feels captive to your sins and
brokenhearted because of your mistakes and failures, then there’s good news for
you this morning. Our theme today is,

JESUS IS THE ANOINTED ONE

I. Anointed to heal the brokenhearted
II. Anointed to ring in the Jubilee.
III. Anointed to reverse our suffering.

Recently we’ve spoken several times about Old Testament prophesies that had
both a near-term and a long-term fulfillment. Isaiah’s prophesy in our text for
today is one of those. In the near term, it speaks to the way that God would
deliver his people from the bondage of the Babylonian captivity. But that
immediate application fades almost completely into the background compared
to the importance of the long-term fulfillment – the identification of Jesus as
the Anointed One of God.

Do you know the day on which Jesus was anointed? You ought to – I just read
it to you about five minutes ago. It was the day of His baptism. On that day
Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit, who descended upon Him in the form of
a dove. It was the beginning of His public ministry. With this anointing, Jesus
was officially designated and empowered by His heavenly Father to fulfill a
certain office, and to carry out specific duties. But what are those duties? And
what do they have to do with you? Our text tells all!

It starts off, "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has
anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted.”

This is part of Jesus’ calling. He was anointed to heal the brokenhearted. And
the original expression here is intensive; not just “broken,” really, but more like
“shattered” or “disintegrated”. Jesus didn’t come to tinker with your life and
make small adjustments. He came to make big changes. He came heal people
whose hearts and lives have been shattered by sin. I had a friend in seminary
who drove a beat-up Saab. One time he was on his way home to Denver,
driving through rural Nebraska, when a rock kicked up under his hood and
broke his distributer cap. And when I say broke, I mean shattered it into dozens
of pieces. Obviously, Chadron Nebraska is not the best place to look for a Saab
distributer cap, so you know what he did? He bought a bottle of superglue. And
he went back along that road and found every tiny piece of that distributer cap
and glued it back together. And it worked! The car ran; at least it ran well
enough to get him back to Denver. I’d almost call that a miracle.

But I know one thing that’s definitely a miracle. It’s what our Lord Jesus Christ
does to take the lives of sin-shattered people and put them back together again.
Christ – the Anointed One – gives people new life and hope. Jesus Himself said
the same thing in a different way in His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Mt 5:3. Who are “the poor
in spirit?” Anyone with a guilty conscience. Anyone who’s honest enough to
realize that their life is stained with sin and that they have fallen far short of
God’s requirements. Does that sound like you? Do you sometimes feel like your
life is just too broken to fix? Don’t despair, for the kingdom of heaven belongs
to you! Jesus was anointed specifically to preach good tidings to the poor, to
deliver good news to people just like you. To tell you that not all is lost, that
there is hope for you. That the Anointed One can take a life even as messed-up
as yours and put it back together again. It’s ironic that the people who are most
pleasing to God are the same ones who acknowledge how displeasing their lives
have been before God. The Psalmist says, The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise. –
Ps 51:17.

JESUS IS THE ANOINTED ONE. And He was anointed for something else -
He was anointed to ring in the Jubilee. This is another of those words whose
meaning may be a little vague to you. The “Jubilee” was a special observance
God commanded for His people in the Old Testament. Every fiftieth year
would be the official “Year of Jubilee” in the land of Israel. During that fiftieth
year the land would lie fallow and no crops could be cultivated At the jubilee all
land that had been sold during the previous 50 years would revert to the original
owners. At the jubilee all slaves would be set free. It was a picture God gave
His people of how His anointed Son would one day set the world free from sin.
Our text says, The Lord has anointed Me…to proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God. When Jesus
arrived on the scene, that year had arrived, the jubilee in which the slaves of sin
would be set free. Paul talks about that great liberation in his letter to the
Romans. He asks them, What fruit did you have then in the things of which you
are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been
set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to
holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.-- Rom 6:21-23.

What’s it got to do with us? A lot! The word “jubilee” might especially ring a
bell for you because 2010 is the jubilee year of the Church of the Lutheran
Confession. This year we are commemorating fifty years of God’s grace as an
organized church body. Fifty years during which He has preserved the pure
teaching of His Word and the right use of His sacraments in this tiny fellowship.
But there’s a broader significance for us of the term “jubilee.” As far as we’re
concerned, the “acceptable year of the Lord” is the whole New Testament era
in which we’re living. The Apostle Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians 6:2: For
He says:“In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I
have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
salvation. This earthly life is our time of grace. There will be no other
opportunity to believe and be saved. If we want to escape the Judgment to
come, we must flee to the Anointed One now. If we’re concerned about friends
and relatives and acquaintances who don’t yet know Christ, the time to act is
now. This is the window of opportunity! The jubilee is now!

One good reason why we need to flee to the Anointed One is because what He
offers us is so wonderful. Jesus was anointed to reverse our suffering. This part
of our text is so beautiful – in my opinion it is one of the most beautiful
expressions of the Gospel in all of Scripture! Jesus was anointed to do what? To
comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them
beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness.

Jesus gives us beauty for ashes. The season of Lent is coming up in less than a
month. Does anyone remember what the first day of Lent is called? Ash
Wednesday. That’s because ashes have historically served as a symbol of
repentance. People in Bible times would sometimes put ashes on their head and
wear garments of rough sackcloth to show their sorrow over sin. And it’s
appropriate, when you think about it. Ashes are dark, and so is our sin. The
temptations of the devil, the world and our own flesh so often bring the
darkness of sin into our lives, competing with and combating the light of the
Gospel. Ashes are bitter, and so is our sin. Sin always seems so sweet and
attractive at first, so cold and bitter and painful in the end. Sin causes so much
suffering in our lives.

But Jesus was anointed to reverse our suffering. To console us in our mourning.
To take away our ashes and give us beauty in exchange. There’s an interesting
word play here, by the way. In Hebrew if you take the word for “ashes” and
rearrange the letters, it spells this other word – “beauty.” With His death on the
cross, our Lord Jesus takes the ashes off our brow and places a beautiful victor’s
wreath there instead. The Apostle Paul said, “Finally there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge, will give to me on
that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” – 2
Tim 4:8.

What a reversal of fortune for us sinners! Jesus was anointed to bring us the oil
of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Do
you understand that language? Have you felt this in your life? What a heavy
garment is the spotted garment of our own sin and of our own righteousness.
How unattractive and depressing it is! How it weighs on our spirits! And how
unfit a garment it is in which to appear before Almighty God! But our Lord
Jesus invites us to put off that garment of sin, to lay it in repentance at the foot
of His cross. In exchange He bids us take upon ourselves the pure white robe of
His righteousness. By trusting in Christ, the Anointed One, His righteousness
becomes your righteousness, and your spirit of heaviness is traded in for a
garment of praise and joy! You can hear the joy vibrating in Isaiah’s voice when
he says, a little later on in verse ten: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul
shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of
salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom
decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

JESUS IS THE ANOINTED ONE. Finally, notice the purpose for all of this –
it’s all about God. That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting
of the LORD, that He may be glorified. So many churches nowadays focus
on…what? They focus on you, the person in the pew. Their theology, their
preaching, their programs: it’s all about you. About satisfying your “felt needs,”
catering to your likes and dislikes, and making you feel good about yourself. But
is that really what Christianity is all about? Not according to the Bible. The
Bible says that this whole wonderful plan of God, the plan that saves you and
transforms every aspect of your life, it’s all about God, that He may be glorified.
That’s what the whole Christian life is about. It’s going to impact you, alright.
It’s going to change your life in ways you never dreamt of. But it’s all about
God. That’s why Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may
see your good works (and do what? And glorify you? And make you successful
and rich and happy? No!) , that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven. –Mt 5:16. You already believe in the Anointed One. Your
feet are on the path of life. Now your task is to, by any means possible, bring
other people along with you to eternal life. He died for all, that those who live
should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose
again – 2 Cor 5:15.

Ambrose Bierce was a Union officer in the Civil War. He also happened to be
an author and a rather sharp-tongued critic, and he didn’t like kings much. He
wrote a satirical dictionary in which he gave this definition for the word
“anoint”: “Anoint, a verb meaning to grease a king or other great functionary
who is already sufficiently slippery.” Well, our definition would be somewhat
different, of course! Especially now that we understand what a central role
anointing plays in our lives. Not the anointing of earthly rulers or politicians,
but the historic and monumentally important anointing of the Son of God.
During this Epiphany season, our Heavenly Father reminds us that JESUS IS
HIS ANOINTED ONE. Anointed to heal the brokenhearted, to ring in the
Jubilee, and to reverse our suffering. God grant that we may ever praise and
serve the Anointed One, our Savior Jesus Christ. AMEN.