Good News (Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11)

The book of Isaiah is certainly one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. It is actually the work of not one, but two or possibly even three different prophets. The first 39 chapters were written primarily to help Israel make sense of its destruction. The nation had been invaded; the people, captured, and sent into captivity.

How could this happen? How could God let this happen? Isaiah—the first half of Isaiah—attempts to answer that question.

The second half of Isaiah (starting in chapter 40) was written near the end of this period of exile and captivity. It was written at a time when the people were daring to hope that maybe—just maybe—this dark period would soon be over.

Such hope was hard to come by. For more than a generation, the people had been oppressed and brokenhearted. To be able to reclaim their home and rebuild their nation was a dream few thought would be fulfilled. It’s like the way many in Europe—and indeed, the world—felt during the Cold War. Few dared to believe that they would live to see the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s like the way many African-Americans felt; few dared to believe that they would ever see an Africa-American elected as president of the United States.

Second Isaiah—that portion that begins in chapter 40—was written to provide hope, to let the people know that the future that they could barely dare to dream about could happen; that it will, in fact, happen. There is good news for those who had been oppressed. There is hope. The captives will be released. The brokenhearted will be healed. Those who mourn will be comforted. The ruined cities will be rebuilt, and the devastation of many generations will be no more.

All this will happen, Isaiah says, because God’s anointed one—the “messiah”—will come to power, and will restore Israel to her former glory. And indeed, Cyrus, the king of Persian, soon comes into power, overtakes Babylon, and allows the Israelites to return home. In the eyes of many Israelites, he was the one chosen and anointed by God to bring about their freedom and liberation.

Many centuries later, the Israelites are still in their homeland. Jewish life is centered in Jerusalem, the city of David, the city of Zion. But the people are not free.

Israel is now part of the Roman Empire. There is a strong military presence; Roman soldiers are everywhere. The image of Caesar, drawn as if he were a god, is everywhere, even on the coins that are supposed to conduct business transactions. To support the military and the empire, heavy taxes are placed, especially, on the poor. There is no pulling oneself out of poverty in Caesar’s empire. The poor, indeed, will always be present.

Different groups reacted differently to the omnipotent, omnipresent hand of Caesar. Some, like the Essenes, escaped to the desert, withdrawing as much as possible from Caesar’s influence.

Others, like the Zealots, wanted to raise an army to fight against Rome. They didn’t have a chance, of course… and yet, they believed that if God could help little David defeat the giant Goliath, then perhaps God would help them defeat Rome as well.

And then there were the Pharisees, who believed that God had allowed Rome to occupy Israel because the Jewish people had strayed from following God’s law. They strictly practiced the law—and strictly enforced it upon others—because only then, they believed, would God free them from Caesar’s rule.

Other groups, like the Herodians and the Saducees, thought that the Pharisees and Zealots were hopelessly naïve. “Come on, people,” they said. “Rome is here to stay. There’s no fighting it. Caesar isn’t going anywhere, so you might as well learn to live with it.” And they did. Some even became tax collectors for Rome, figuring, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

As different as all these groups were, they all defined themselves in relation to Rome. They either lived within, or reacted against, the Roman worldview, the Roman Empire, and the kingdom of Caesar. They were movements of fear, violence, accommodation, or withdrawal, and as such, there was very little hope coming from them, and very little good news.

Into this scene comes Jesus. Jesus didn’t define himself as either for or against Caesar. Jesus didn’t define himself in relation to Caesar at all. Jesus defined himself in relation to God.

God’s rule could not be defined in relation to Caesar’s rule, because God and Caesar were nothing alike. God’s kingdom could not be defined in relation to Caesar’s empire, because the two were completely different.

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus went to the temple. Many of the usual groups were there—Pharisees, Saducees, etc. They handed Jesus a scroll, and he opened it and read a passage from Isaiah—the same passage we read this morning—promising good news and hope and restoration. Over the centuries, the passage had been altered slightly—as Jesus read it, it mentioned good news to the poor as well as the oppressed, and included a line about the recovery of sight to the blind.

Languages change over time, scriptures were of course copied by hand in those days, and each generation looked to see how the scriptures could apply in changing times. Such changes to scripture were bound to occur. But the gist remained the same.

When Jesus finished reading, he handed the scroll back to the attendant. Then he announced to all who could hear him: “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Notice that Jesus didn’t say that freedom from oppression is coming; he said that it’s here today. Notice how he didn’t say that good news to the poor is coming; good news is here today. Release isn’t just coming to the captives; it’s here today.
The kingdom of God is at hand. It is present. It is available to all those who choose to stop defining themselves in relation to Caesar. It is available to all those who stop defining themselves according to the prevailing worldview. It is available to all those who repent, who turn away from the crazy, self-destructive ways of the world, and who choose to live in a world that is defined by God.

After all, who says that the rich and powerful are more blessed than others? Everyone who subscribes to the prevailing worldview, that’s who.

And yet, wealth and power do not give life meaning. The wealthy and powerful are still beset by anxiety and dissatisfaction with life. They get depressed, they lie awake at night, and they even commit suicide. Their wealth and power does not keep such tragedies from them. What’s more, they suffer from the resentment of those around them, they must constantly be on guard against those who would seek to take their wealth for themselves, and they face the pressure of having to maintain their status in society.

The weak and poor are blessed because they are just as important and valuable to God as the rich and powerful are; they just don’t know it. Jesus lets them know—that’s part of the good news he proclaims.

But there is good news for the rich and powerful as well. Often, those who are rich and powerful in this world are the poorest in the kingdom of God. Spiritually speaking, they are among the poorest of the poor—as Mother Teresa pointed out in her life.

The challenge is to look upon each person as Jesus would, to not look down upon others, but to recognize each person as a beloved child of God, to learn to love ach person and recognize their value and worth… to recognize that the baby in Africa dying of AIDS is just as valuable to God as your own child; that the homeless person on the street corner is just as important as the mayor or governor; that the telemarketer who interrupts your dinner is just as worthy of respect as a Hollywood celebrity; that even a suicide bomber is loved by God just the same as you or I.

That’s what it takes to live in the kingdom, to follow the way of Christ. It’s seeing the world through God’s eyes; and once you do that, the world changes. It becomes something new. And you can’t help but be filled with love for the world, and all of the world’s people.

If enough people start thinking this way, start believing this way, start living in the kingdom… then hunger will end overnight. The thought that some stuff themselves with way too much food while others starve will become so repulsive, that the people of the world will make sure that everyone has enough.

If enough people start thinking this way, then poverty will be eliminated. It is a great shame and embarrassment that in the world’s richest nation, people beg on street corners. God is offended by this. If enough people follow the way of Jesus, this will not happen.

If enough people start believing, then every person on earth will have access to health care. Diseases that are easily treatable currently kill thousands of children every day. That won’t happen in the kingdom Jesus proclaims.

If enough people start living in the kingdom, there will be no more wars. How could there by, when every person, every child of God, is a brother or sister? No; the kingdom is a kingdom of peace.

The kingdom proclaimed by Jesus is most definitely good news. It’s good news to the poor who live in hunger and poverty, and it’s good news to the spiritually poor. It is good news of great joy for all the world’s people.

Thanks be to God!