PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS
The top news headlines for March 19, 2008, were as follows:
Brenda Martin continues to languish in Mexican jail awaiting charges for fraud. A junior cabinet minister from the Canadian government visited her in the Guadalajara jail but held out little hope that the Harper government would be able to influence the Mexican Federal Court system. Martin has been held without bail and without formal charges for two years.
In other news, 300 cancer tests in Newfoundland and Labrador were discovered to be faulty. Women who were tested for breast cancer and subsequently cleared now find that the test was not conclusive. Health officials say that 100 women have died in the past decade as a result of the faulty test.
And in local news, the campaign to create a heritage centre at the site of Winnipeg’s former Upper Fort Garry suffered a fatal blow Wednesday at City Hall. Winnipeg city councilors voted against giving the Friends of Upper Fort Garry group any more time to raise the money it needs to build an interpretive centre at the downtown location, often referred to as the birthplace of Manitoba.
As Lloyd Robertson would say, that’s the kind of day it’s been this Wednesday, March 19, 2008. The news is not so good when we tune in to our favorite media source. Good news does not usually attract our attention, it’s the bad news that catches us, and then throws us into slight anxiety.
But today, Sunday, March 23, 2008, I proclaim to you the good news of an early Sunday morning news breaker: the tomb is empty! To those in prison, to those suffering physical and emotional despair, and to those who wrestle with rebuilding the ruins of their broken lives, this news is the best you have ever heard. My old broadcasting nature compels me to proclaim to you this good news: Here are our top stories…
1. “Man claims anointing of Holy Spirit, begins ministry to down and outers”
Jesus began his ministry on this earth when he read from a scroll in the synagogue of the village of Nazareth. That scroll contained the words of Isaiah the prophet. This is what he read:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor…” (61:1-2).
Then he returned the scroll to its keeper and paused before he spoke. When he spoke again he said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Those words rocked their world. But what do they mean for us?
Filled with the Spirit the prophet spoke to his people and brought words of encouragement to them. Filled with the same Holy Spirit Jesus applied these words to himself in a greater way. Here’s what we know…
There are two triplets of great significance in Isaiah’s writing. The first speaks powerfully of Jesus’ identity as the Servant of the LORD. In the first triplet he says “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me…the LORD has anointed me…He has sent me.” There is a tremendous amount of authority in these declarations. Jesus claimed to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in him and empowering him. Then Jesus claims to have a special blessing from God, the anointing, the hand of God upon him. Then without a doubt, Jesus is set apart and sent by God himself with authority and power to minister to humankind.
Jesus is the anointed One. The Greeks used a term to describe the anointed One. We know him as the Christ. In Hebrew he is called the Messiah, the One who was prophesied to come. There may have been hundreds of children named Jesus in first century Palestine but only one was called the Christ, the Messiah of God.
The second triplet repeats his mission in various ways. Three times the prophet uses the word “proclaim” to emphasize the verbal aspect of that mission. He wrote that the Messiah was “to preach (proclaim) good news to the poor…to proclaim freedom for the captives…to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.” These are synonymous declarations. The good news was translated by the Greeks as “Gospel” meaning that a new program was being established, a program founded on God’s truth and grace, not the wickedness and evil of man.
The essence of the new program was understood best in the phrase “the year of the LORD’s favor.” Jews knew it as “Jubilee,” the year of redemption. In Leviticus 25 the people of Israel were instructed to let the land rest every 7 years as a Sabbath year. After 7 cycles like this, seven times seven years, the fiftieth year was a year of liberty where land that was sold would return to its original owner, slaves would be freed, and wrongs would be set right. I don’t know if the Israelites ever followed this instruction correctly.
But when Jesus came he declared Jubilee, the year of the LORD’s favor. Note that Jesus stopped reading Isaiah at this point and did not mention the day of vengeance. This was to be the day of divine judgment where God would punish the wicked. That is not why Jesus came the first time. He understood his mission the first time this way: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (Jn 3:17). Note too that there is a year of the LORD’s favor and only a day of vengeance. These are metaphors for their length. The Year of the LORD’s favor is the era of grace we presently live in. Paul wrote, “For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
What is this good news? What is involved in the year of the LORD’s favor?
It is news of personal restoration and renewal. It is good news for the poor in spirit, those who have recognized their sin and are relieved of it through the death on the cross of the anointed One. It is healing for the brokenhearted, those who have been disappointed by life’s false promises. It is release from the darkness, the bondage of sin that has held so many captive with its lies. It is comfort for those who mourn, who have lost so much in the tragedies of this life.
Jesus wipes the ashes of mourning from your brow and places a festive crown of celebration on your head. He takes away the sorrow of our world and replaces it with fresh life, the oil of gladness. Jesus takes our grieving clothes and wraps us in the clothing of praise.
We may wonder why in Jesus’ earthly ministry he did not heal all the lepers, or give sight to all the blind, or cast out all the demons. The miracles of Christ were to be a sign that he was bringing something great to our world – the year of the LORD’s favor. Those miracles were just the beginning of and pointed to the light breaking into our world.
Here we see again the promise of this proclamation. “They will be called oaks of righteousness…They will rebuild the ancient ruins” (61:3-4). Upper Fort Garry is very special to me so I took great interest in its restoration. The fight at city hall seems ridiculous to me. How could they destroy the heritage of Winnipeg for condos? We may try to erase our past but it is a fruitless effort. In Jesus we don’t need to erase our broken down histories. Even they can be redeemed and restored to something we can praise God for. Salvation has come, even for our failures and forgettable pasts.
The empty tomb of Jesus Christ is the validation of this good news. Our greatest enemy, death, was overcome by the resurrection of this man who ministered to down and outers. This is how we know the news is good and it is true.
2. “Borders opened, immigrants flood nation and workplaces”
Recent news from the U.S. suggests a widespread fear of aliens (illegal immigrants) and foreigners taking jobs and quality of life from longtime residents. Congress and the Presidential candidates all wrestle with policy and what to do with the U.S. – Mexico border.
The good news that Jesus brings knocks down the border gates and opens wide the kingdom of God to all peoples who accept Jesus as the Son of God. You don’t have to be Jewish anymore.
“Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards” (61:5). Is this a threat? No it is the glad cooperation of the nations who flock to Jesus. They are taking their places in the life of God’s people. What are those positions?
“And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God” (61:6). This was the original call of Israel in the OT, “…you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…” (Ex 19:6). Sin had disqualified Israel from serving the LORD in this way. But God was not satisfied to let his servants languish in disqualification so he planned to save them and add to them a people who would serve him. God saved us in order that we would serve him as priests, mediating between the world and him, proclaiming the good news like the Christ.
We in the church today are called to that same purpose. Peter declared that “…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). That is why Jesus saved us, that is why he died, and that is why he rose again.
We can live in the shame of our sin or we can accept our new status as his proclaimers. The LORD promised, “Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance…” (6:7). Listen to the words of Isaiah: he said a double portion. Not only is our shame wiped away, cancelled out, but we receive a double portion of the inheritance our heavenly Father has reserved for us.
Peter again enlightens us to what that is: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pe 1:3-5). Eternal life! What a great inheritance! And now as the U.S. tries to stem the tide of foreigners and aliens flooding into their country, the doors of God’s kingdom are wide open to those who accept Christ’s invitation.
3. “Man dies to save others, says he was glad to do it”
This is the kind of headline one might find while staring at the tabloids in the supermarket checkout. “Man dies, then gives interview.” Yeah right! Well in this prophecy it is absolutely true.
The Servant of the LORD speaks for himself as this chapter concludes. He says, “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels” (61:10).
In light of Isaiah 53 and the suffering which the servant would endure, the death he would experience, this joy would seem out of place. But Jesus came joyfully to do this work. In the garden he prayed that God would take away this cup of suffering, then saw the beautiful outcome of his death for all people and set his face sternly to the task. And he was glad to do it…
We are encouraged to look to Jesus and to consider this life in the same manner. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). Jesus was delighted in the LORD’s mission to save humankind. He looked ahead to the joy of our salvation while soldiers hammered nails into his hands and feet.
I am reminded of ‘perspective’ when I hear our children complain about something. Two hours of shopping with mom is an eternity when you are seven years old. Two hours is a major part of your life at that age. I remember those days and the grieving of lost playtime or TV shows. Now two hours is nothing as I get older and join my wife in some shopping adventure. I know it won’t last forever. But a year of suffering medical issues is a significantly higher percentage of your life. What about half your life? Yet compared to eternity it is nothing.
Jesus endured 6 hours of the worst experience a human could ever suffer. The spiritual agony coupled with the physical agony, bearing the sins of generations, not to mention the insults and humiliation Jesus received while hanging on the cross…were nothing to him compared to the eternity of life with you and me.
So he bore the agony, delighted in the plan, and earned the right to be the groom for his heavenly bride, the church. It was not that the agony was nothing…it was everything. But Jesus believed firmly that his Father would raise him from the dead and give him the throne of heaven.
Now he says to us: “Here is your righteousness. Wear it as you would a leather jacket. It’s my gift to you.” You didn’t earn it. You didn’t buy it. But you wear it as a great gift from a wonderful friend. And it is your ticket to eternity.
Finally…
That’s the kind of day it’s been this Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008.
Joining you today and forever is a new anchor man, if you choose to celebrate his coming out of the tomb. He served for a time in the field and has been anchoring the good news for centuries. Jesus is the anchorman.
"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 6:19-20).
In the early centuries of the Christian church, when persecution of believers was hottest, Christians disguised the cross as an anchor on their tombs. It symbolized the hope that they had based primarily on the cross of Christ. With some anchors, the stock at the top clearly reminded Christians of the cross, and so it became a great symbol of the Church.
Jesus is the anchor for the soul. There is great security in knowing that after the cross came the empty tomb.
That’s all for now. Sports and weather are next. Have a great Easter morning.
AMEN
