Waiting in Joy (Advent 3, Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11)

Waiting in Joy from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.


Psalm 126
1A song of Ascents
When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
2Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;
Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
3The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.

4Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
5May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
6Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
1The spirit of the LORD GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3to provide for those who mourn in Zion- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. 4They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

8For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.

10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult 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 a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the LORD GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.

An old friend is coming over for dinner. Someone you haven't seen in a while, someone who means a great deal to you. Perhaps not a friend, but a favorite cousin, or a new grandchild.

The excitement builds, and you find yourself making final preparations on the afternoon they are to arrive. The guest room is all made up, and has been since Tuesday, but you go and check one more time, and smooth out the last wrinkles so that their place will be immaculate. You start straightening things up, even though the house has been cleaned top-to-bottom already,

Fresh towels in the bathroom? Check, the finest ones, they only get pulled out on special occasions like this one. Coffee made? Not quite, we'll make it fresh when they arrive. But it's perfectly measured already, and you've only got to press a button when they ask.

You've even pulled out the perfect album on the stereo, one that your guest will immediately recognize, yet won't intrude on the good conversation once they do arrive. The minutes tick past as you await their arrival, and so you run down the list for the four-hundred-and-first time: bed made, house clean, magazines stacked, yet slightly askew, fresh towels, coffee prepped, but not yet made... all that's left to do is wait.

You're almost dancing back and forth as the guest of honor pulls into the driveway. That feeling when the car stops and you try and play it cool, but really want to run out to meet them and tell them how grateful you are to have them here? That's joy.

And that's where we're headed.

All the preparations of Advent are leading us to the moment when our souls cry out with a joyful shout that the God of our heart is great! When we can sing God's praises at the miracle of the incarnation, joining the song of the shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

We are waiting in joy for the coming of the LORD. 

In an impatience born of excitement, we look to Isaiah."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 oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

God is about to change the world, and the people who are living and suffering in the meantime deserve to know that their comforter, their redeemer is on the way. So the Prophet Isaiah is sent out with the specific mission of proclaiming the year of the LORD’s favor. ”The identity of this servant is inextricably tied up with commitment to God's will... announcing that after years of mourning the time has arrived in which God will restore the conditions of justice and peace which characterize God's reign.”

We are waiting in Joy for the coming of the LORD.

We wait because justice and peace are too foreign to us. We cannot establish them on our own behalf. In the face of our sin-skewed perspective, we hold on to what little we can grasp, and therefore we are left with a world of oppressed, brokenhearted, captives, prisoners, and mourning.

Isaiah’s words are familiar to us, and tied in Christian memory to Jesus, who reads them aloud to his home congregation in the Gospel of Luke. Christ read these words to a people under the rule of the Roman empire. Isaiah spoke them to Israel in exile. We read them now in a different light, because we must admit that we are not the poor, or the oppressed. We hear Isaiah’s promise with a bit more trepidation, as we grasp at what we’ve already god, www wonder what the change will cost us.

Yet, "We know that even among the economically favored, we have broken hearts, we have dislocation, we need newness, even the kind that undoes and remakes society and us. Even if it scares us to death, we need God's justice-loving joy. So it is worth the risk, worth dying for even.” So we wait in joy for the coming of the LORD, when we will no longer worry about self-righteousness or celebrating our own accomplishments.

Instead, we will serve God, and Christ Jesus with joy as the righteousness of the Kingdom is established over all the earth. We “will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.” We will sing and shout the joy we have been given. ”The end of 'righteousness' is, that glory be given to God; and therefore he exhorts us to gratitude; for it is exceedingly [rude] to be [silent] after having received God's benefits. So we start here, in worship, but the joy we are given here is so compelling that it flings us back out into the world: a parade of grace declaring, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.” God is here among us, and has given us hope, peace, and joy, and at Christmas it is all wrapped up in the fragile body of a child.

We are waiting in Joy, for the LORD has come.