"Joy Is Coming!" based on Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11

Third Sunday in Advent - December 14, 2008

Pastor Troy Slater - Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Herington, Kansas

A quick look at some of this week's headlines certainly doesn't leave much room for any joy during this season. One and a quarter million New Englanders lost power this week in an ice storm - certainly a reminder of our troubles last year at this same time. Activists in California very passionately continue to demand that same-sex marriages be restored in that state. The headlines said how there are more and more signs that our nation's economy along with the world's is sliding deeper and deeper into a recession. The American auto industry continues to go down the tubes as do our retirement accounts. There's a governor who should be in jail in Illinois for corruption and a mother who is in jail in Florida charged with murdering her then two year-old daughter. And of course there is the usual and all too familiar news of "wars and rumors of war" that mark our headlines. Happy Holidays, right? Merry Christmas. Although even that greeting - "Merry Christmas" - while we tend to mean it as a greeting of peace and of goodwill during this time of year, for many the Christmas season can be anything but joyful, for it reminds many of us of just how broken so many of our families have become; for others among us the Holidays merely serve as sorrowful reminders of loved ones who are no longer with us. Yes I suppose it would be hard for anybody to blame us if we are feeling a bit lacking of much reason for joy this season.

But it is in fact just such a situation that our Old Testament reading for this morning was written for. For Isaiah writes this text looking ahead to a day when God's people are stuck in Babylon - the land of their enemies. Exiled from the Promised Land, separated from the now destroyed "Solomon's Temple" which they had known back in Jerusalem, their life is in shambles. The headlines of the Israel Daily News proclaim, "Death and Destruction! No hope! No future! No joy." All they can do is hang up their harps and sit by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and remember the good ol' days. That's the situation that our Old Testament reading for this morning was written for. Not a lot of joy.

Of course it's hard to feel too sorry for the people, after all, it was their own fault. They found themselves in Babylon - a strange and foreign land - because of their own sin. God had told them "serve and trust in me alone. For I am your Creator, I am the one who rescued you from slavery and death in Egypt. I'm your God - I am to be your joy." But what did they do? Well, let's just say they thought the grass was greener on the other side. They thought they could construct their own joy as they adopted the world's ways while ignoring God's. They made their bed and so now the Lord their God was going to make them lie in it. And so they did. There they sat in a strange and foreign land with no joy because of their sin.

And you know, when it comes right down to it, that's ultimately what all our problems go back to. The "thorns and thistles", the illness and death, the joylessness of our world today - the troubles that plague our headlines - it all goes back to sin. Of course the world, like with Israel, tries to kid itself into thinking that mankind can somehow construct its own joy in life, apart from our Creator. And so He says, "OK, think your future joy and security is tied to your IRA's? Well, let's have a financial crisis that cuts those babies in half." "Think you can improve on my gift of marriage by involving two men? Here's the AIDS virus." "Think you can insulate yourselves from the forces of nature? Here's an ice-storm and a Hurricane Katrina." "Think you can bring world peace without turning to me? Here's Bin Laden and His Al-Qaeda crew." "Think you can find joy in what you can do or what you can accumulate? It's all going to rust and ultimately be destroyed." The psalmist in Psalm 2 says, "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord. … But the one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath." The more we try to make our own joy in this world, the more the Lord shows us we can't.

And so if there is a lack of joy in our world, it's not God's fault - as many like to blame - rather it's ours. And ultimately there's not a thing we can do about it other than repent and ask the Lord for mercy. But regardless, the headlines will continue to read of storms and disasters; murders and death; economic downturns and political corruptions; there will continue to be wars and rumors of wars - for sin will continue. Even as we wish one another a "Merry Christmas", it will all continue. Just as it has from the days of Adam and Eve, it all will continue until this world winds down. ..

And while there’s obviously not a whole lot of joy in all that – like I said earlier, it is for just such a people living in just such a world that our Old Testament reading for this morning was written. A people in need of some joy. And so let's turn to it. Let's turn to our Old Testament reading. Let's read the first part of it once again. "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach 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 gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Good news for the poor. Broken hearts bound up. Freedom for captives and release for those caught in darkness. Comfort for those who mourn. Praise instead of despair. That's what the Lord promised His Old Testament people. In other words, His message to them was, "Hold on! Hold on for joy is coming." "Joy is coming." …

Now I suppose in a way we could say that for Old Testament Israel, these words were fulfilled about 70 years after they were taken into Babylon as they then returned to the Promised Land. The Lord God brought the world situation to a point where His people were able to return to Jerusalem. And what a joyous time that must have been for the people. Many of those that returned would never have seen the Promised Land before as they would have been born during those 70 years in Babylon. But no doubt their parents and grandparents told them stories of their homeland - Jerusalem with Solomon's magnificent temple - one of the great wonders of the world in it's day. Beautiful grazing lands - a land of milk and honey. Yes it would have been a joyous time as Israel was finally able to return home.

But you know what? When they got back, the land was overgrown with thorns and thistles, in other words they still had to learn to beat a living out of the land. They rebuilt the Jerusalem temple that had been destroyed but it paled in comparison to the one Solomon built And in fact the one they rebuilt, it too was destroyed a few centuries later. And when that one was rebuilt, it again was destroyed only this time never to stand again - even to this day. Wars continued to trouble their land and yes, death continued to enter their lives. In other words, they still struggled to find much joy, even back in the Promised Land - a piece of dirt there in the Middle East. They still struggled to find much joy.

And so was the Lord God lying to His people when He promised them that “joy was coming”? … Well actually it's quite interesting to note that this text from Isaiah 61, it was in fact the very text that in a town named Nazareth a young rabbi used it for a sermon one Saturday morning. And quoting Isaiah this rabbi said, "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." Of course this young rabbi's name was Jesus. And this Jesus then concluded by saying, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, "Joy is coming and in fact I am that joy," Jesus said. "I am the one sent to preach good news - in fact I AM the good news; I am the one come to proclaim freedom for those in the chains of the law and yes even to heal the blind. I am the one who will release the oppressed and proclaim the Lord's favor. Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Is fulfilled - that's a perfect tense verb. In other words, it's done and the results are ongoing. In Jesus, as He stood there in Nazareth, God's Word from Isaiah was fulfilled and continued to be fulfilled in Him. Joy finally came in this Jesus.

I mean take for example the case of the widow and her dead son in the village of Nain where Jesus said to the dead man, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" and he woke up. Or consider the example of a sinful woman at the house of Simon the Pharisee where Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Or the woman with a flow of blood for eighteen years, "Your faith has healed you," Jesus said. Or Jairus' dead daughter whom Jesus commanded, "My child, get up". Or His worry-full disciples where Jesus encouraged them, "Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom." Or Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house." Or even consider the Roman soldiers who mocked and crucified Jesus yet He said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Yes, "joy is coming" Jesus proclaimed and indeed, that joy was in Him. That joy for troubled, mournful souls was in Him - He who had come to go to the cross for the sin of the world. Yes that's ultimately who Isaiah was pointing a troubled Israel to. The Christ, the Messiah coming to save His people from their sins. He wasn't pointing them to some temporary joy to be found in a piece of dirt in the Middle East - rather He was pointing them to the joy of an eternal Savior....

So what about us? Is there joy coming for us? An eternal joy coming for us? Well, this morning you probably noticed that we lit the pink candle on the Advent wreath. The pink candle, why that's the joy candle. You see today we focus on the fact that there has been and there continues to be joy for us. .. "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" was spoken over you. And there, there at the baptismal font, heaven became your promised land. Joy came to you. .. "Take eat, this is my body given for you. Drink the blood of the covenant shed for the forgivneess of all your sins" Jesus has said to you. And there at your Lord's table you were given a foretaste of the feast that is to come. Joy came to you. .. "I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" you have heard even here this morning in response to your confession. And there your sin was removed from you as far as the east is from the west. Yes joy came to you. Jesus has come and preached good news to us. He has become the good news for us as He was crucified for our sins and raised for our salvation. He has bound up your broken heart - given you the freedom of sins forgiven. He has given you the confidence of death defeated. He has given you the joy of heaven secured. Yes joy is yours - in Jesus - joy is yours.

Of course that still leaves us longing for something, doesn't it? After all, we still walk through a world filled with sin - ours and everyone else's. Like Israel had after returning from their exile, we still have all the headlines and well, we still place into the dust of the earth the bodies of our deceased loved ones. We still struggle finding the joy. And so it is that during this advent season as we prepare to look back into the manger and behold the miracle of God coming into our flesh, that same Jesus also directs us forward. As those forgiven at His cross, washed in His blood, we look forward to the day of His return; forward to the Day that we all long for – that day when this world with all its sin and pain will be no more. As God’s people we look forward to the day when around our Savior's throne we will join with all those loved ones who have gone before us. I suppose we could say that's our ultimate joy. That ultimate joy that is ours, that is yours in Jesus. And so really God's message to us today is the same as it was centuries ago to His people sitting in Babylon. "Hold on, for joy is coming. Yes hold on, for joy is coming." Yes it is. Yes it is. For Jesus is coming. Yes Jesus is coming. … And so would you please pray now with me, "Yes come Lord Jesus come." Amen.