GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY
Sermontelling Isaiah 61:1-11 (NL 315)
Isaiah 61:1-11
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me1
to proclaim good news to the poor.2
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom3 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,4
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty5
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
And you will be called priests of the Lord,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.“For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”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 his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.6
THREE STORIES
The following three stories pair well with the Narrative Lectionary passage for the coming week. They are followed by my sermontelling footnotes which explore the stories’ theological connection to the passage as well as insights into craft and performance. My advice is to read the story first before digging into the footnotes.
“Shut Up, and Get Back to Work!”
Around 440 BC a man named Ezra showed up in Jerusalem with a giant scroll. It was a scroll that told the story of Israel’s humble beginnings, her liberation from slavery in Egypt, and God’s law delivered at Sinai. The scroll was called the Torah. It was God’s gift to his Covenant people. Ezra assembled all of the people, from the greatest to the least, and read the scroll in their hearing for the first time.7
The slaves were there too. Of particular interest to them was a section in the middle that talked about something called the year of Jubilee. According to the scroll, every 50 years there was supposed to be a great reset. Every 50 years, all debts were to be forgiven, all property was to go to its original owner, and all enslaved Israelites were to be released and allowed to go home. The reasoning was simple: The rich shouldn’t gobble up all the land and wealth, the poor shouldn’t stay poor forever, and God’s people shouldn’t own each other. The law was plain as day.8 The LORD had commanded it.
When the slaves heard about the Jubilee, they went to the priests and asked them about it.
“So about that year of Jubilee… that sounds amazing… we’ve been talking amongst ourselves. No one can remember us ever doing a Jubilee. And it’s been at least 50 years since we returned from Exile. Maybe we should do one now.”
The priests had actually known about the Jubilee for a while. The book of Leviticus had been preserved in their private writings in the temple archives. They had never got around to implementing the Jubilee because they knew it would be unpopular with the King and the wealthy landowners. But now the cat was out of the bag!
The priests were quick on their feet.
“We would if we could,“ the priests said. “But proclaiming a Jubilee is very radical. Our Persian rulers would never allow it. If we started freeing slaves here in Judah, the idea might catch on in other parts of the empire. Our overlords would see that as revolutionary and seditious and they would likely punish all of us for starting the whole idea. But don’t worry, God promises that someday we’ll be independent again and have our own King. Then we’ll have a Jubilee.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Asked the slaves.
“Shut up and get back to work.”
Fast forward about 300 years to the time of the Hasmonean dynasty. Judah declared its independence from the Greeks and they now had a king. Surely the time is right to call a Jubilee.
So the slaves approached the priests.
“Long live the King! I don’t know if you remember this ancient centuries old promise but we are seriously due for one of those Jubilee years written about in the Torah. So let’s have our new King call one so all debts can be forgiven, all land returned to its original owner, and all slaves can be released.”
The priests laughed. “Oh that passage from Leviticus? God never meant for us to take it literally. It’s an allegory. You have to look for the spiritual meaning.”
“The spiritual meaning?”
“Yes. The spiritual meaning. See, when Holy Scripture talks about the Jubilee year, it’s not talking about a normal period of 50 years. It’s talking about the end of time. See, all of human history is divided up into 7 weeks of God years, which everyone knows is really like a thousand years. When those 7 weeks of years have reached their conclusion, then the true Jubilee will come when all things are reset forever. No one will own anything, there will be no poverty, and everyone will be free.”9
“That sounds wonderful,” said the slaves. “When will that start?”
“When the Messiah comes. But be warned: only the faithful will be able to participate in the messianic Jubilee.”
“What must we do to be faithful?” The slaves asked.
“Wait and pray. Then shut up and get back to work.”
So the slaves spent centuries praying for a Messiah and for a true Jubilee.
Fast forward 200 years. A man named Jesus came. This man was everything the priests had promised a messiah would be. He even began his ministry by declaring the Jubilee was about to begin. So naturally, the priests, the king, and the wealthy landowners had him killed.
But three days later, Jesus rose again. Proving he was truly the Messiah. So now its 50 years after the Resurrection and the slaves are thinking: This must be it! The Jubilee is about to begin!
So they approach their Christian masters.10
“It’s finally time!” They say. “After centuries of waiting and praying for our Messiah… Christ has come! And we have been faithful. Surely now it is time to institute a Jubilee. Let us, in the name of Jesus, cancel all debts, return land to its original owners, and set all who are enslaved free! After all, Jesus wouldn’t want the rich to gobble up everything, for the poor to stay poor, or for his people to own each other. Let’s blow the trumpet once and for all.”
The Christian masters laugh. “Leviticus? That doesn’t apply to us. That’s the old covenant.”11
“The old covenant?”
“Yes the old covenant with its old laws don’t apply to us anymore. Well… some of them still do. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure and tell you which ones when we see you breaking them.”
“Then what’s the new covenant?” ask the slaves.
“The new covenant is the righteousness imputed as a result of Christ’s soteriological work confessed in the kerygma of the Church and eschatologically fulfilled in the life to come.”
The slaves are stunned. “What does that mean?”
“That means shut up and get back to work.”
Jubilee Day
June 19th, 1865, a Union Soldier stood on the steps of a little Methodist slave Church12 in Galveston Texas. As a crowd gathered around, the soldier read aloud13 the words of General Order Number 3:
The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.
He then posted the order where all could see. This marked the official end of slavery in the state of Texas. And, because Texas was the last holdout, this marked the official end of slavery in the United States of America.14
Two and a half years earlier,15 when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, news of it spread among enslaved people16 all over the confederate south. They knew that if the Union won the war, they would be freed. But at that point it was just a promise. A hope. They had to go about their daily lives just as before.
Can you imagine what it must have been like for those enslaved in Galveston Texas? Working in fields and homes, far from the fighting, waiting for news that the promise of deliverance would be fulfilled? Can you imagine the anticipation? The longing?
Can you imagine what silent prayers they lifted in that slave church?
Can’t you just see the faithful in their pews, listening intently to the preacher’s words for signs of comfort and hope? Can’t you hear them singing…
Oh when Israel was in Egypt land...
Oppressed so hard, they could not stand...
So the Lord said, go down Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old Pharaoh
To let my people go...
And imagining the day that their own freedom was proclaimed?
And now it was here. It was only now that Major Gordon Granger had shown up with federal troops to enforce the proclamation, two months after the surrender of Robert E. Lee, that 250,000 enslaved people in Texas would finally be set free.
Can you imagine the celebrations in Texas as a quarter of a million people were liberated over night? What must it have been like in that church the following Sunday? The week before it had been a “slave church.” What was it now that they were finally worshipping freely outside of the watchful eye of their slaveholders?17 Can’t you just imagine the joy in that room as hundreds of people gathered to worship: stomping, and clapping, and praising. Raising their hallelujahs to the rafters?
Maybe they sang:
You will hear the trumpet sound
To wake the nations underground
Looking to my God's right hand
When the stars begin to fall
O Lord what a morning
My Lord what a morning
O Lord what a morning
When the stars begin to fallAnd the preaching. O how the word of God must have thundered in that room. The Hebrew children must have crossed the Red Sea and sung songs of joy. The walls of Jericho must have come down. The Exiles surely returned as the dry bones danced in the valley and Jesus called “Lazarus come out!”
Can you imagine? The weeping, the laughing, the testifying to the goodness of God in that little Church in Galveston Texas?18
Today that Church is called Reedy Chapel AME. And that first celebration has not stopped to this day. Every year on June 19th they commemorate the reading of General Order 3 with joyful worship and a block party. They are known as the birthplace of Juneteenth, our newest National Holiday. It has also been called Texas Emancipation Day. But my favorite is Jubilee Day!
Tony on Joy
On November 19th of this year, Rev. Tony Campolo went on to join the Church Triumphant at age 89. Tony Campolo, in addition to being a Baptist pastor, was a tireless advocate for the poor. His promotion of a ‘red letter Christianity’ often put him at odds with his evangelical counterparts but few doubted his heartfelt commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Campolo was a tremendous preacher and a great storyteller, known for his joyful proclamation of the good news. Below are three of his stories on the topic of joy. They come from his book: LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.
Tollbooth Joy
Sometimes I just can't restrain myself and I have to have fun, not only for my sake, but also for the people around about me.19 There is a toll bridge that connects Palmyra, New Jersey with the Tacony section of Philadelphia. I crossed that bridge with great regularity back in the days when I was dating my wife-to-be. It only cost twenty-five cents to cross the bridge back then, and from time to time, when I could afford it, I would give the toll collector two quarters. Then I would tell the toll collector that I was paying for myself and also for my good friend in the car right behind me. I never really knew who was in the car behind me, but it was worth a quarter just to pull away from the toll booth, look in the rear-view mirror, and watch the toll taker trying to explain it to the next guy. If you don't understand what this has to do with the joy of the Lord, I don't suppose I can explain it to you.
Higher Down
For several years I was involved in developing missionary work in the Dominican Republic. Traveling to some of the more remote villages of that country could really shake up a guy. The roads were full of holes and ruts. As you traveled along, you found yourself bouncing up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down in the seat of the car. Some of our work was located in villages high in the mountains. If you wanted to visit these villages you had to travel up winding mountain roads to get to them. But even at those higher levels, the roads were just as bad. You still bounced up and down, and up and down in the automobile. But here's the point: When you are up some five thousand feet above sea level, bouncing up and down, you discover that even when you are down, you are higher than you used to be when you were up when you were down. All of this to say that in the Spirit you will still have down times. But personally, I would not trade the down times I have, now that I have been raised up by the Spirit, for the up times I had before the Spirit flowed into my life.
New Trains
The ecstasy of spirituality might be compared to an experience I had when I was seven years old. It was Christmas, and I wanted more than anything to have a set of Lionel electric trains. I had asked my parents, but they told me I had to ask Santa Claus. I was already skeptical about the reality of that red-flanneled saint, but I knew how the system worked. So, on a carefully picked Saturday, I went with my mother to Gimbel's department store-where the real one was. (I was always confused about the many Santa Clauses that appeared on the streets at Christmas time, so my mother explained to me that the others were Santa's helpers, but the real one was at Gimbel Brothers.)
As I stood in front of Santa that particular day, I shouted loud and clear, "I want electric trains!" I said it loud enough for my mother to hear. For that matter, I think half of Gimbel's heard me.
Christmas morning I tumbled down the steps and ran over to the pile of presents underneath the tree. I picked up the biggest box, tore away the paper, lifted the lid and found... underwear and clothes from my Aunt Madeline! I'm a pacifist, but I believe that anyone who gives a seven-year-old boy clothes for Christmas should be shot!
I went through the rest of the presents in halfhearted fashion, convinced that my hopes would not be realized. But then after a while I noticed a large box, way behind the back of the Christmas tree. And when I pulled it out the label said "for Tony." I tore open the paper, lifted the lid, and there they were the Lionel trains I had dreamed about! I picked up the engine and hugged it to my little chest. I loved everybody. My joy knew no bounds. I loved my mother, I loved my father... I even loved my sisters.
My ecstasy lasted for about three hours, and then something happened. It wasn't that I broke the trains. Broken trains could be fixed. Something worse happened to them. They got old! In just three hours they lost the luster of newness. Once they became old, all the king's horses and all the king's men could not restore their luster again. I started to think, You can't do much with electric trains anyway. You put them on the track, turn on the switch of the transformer, and they go around in a circle. You watch them, and watch them, and watch them, and that's it. The joy was gone.
The Bible says that if anyone be in Christ old things pass away and all things become new (2 Cor. 5:17). The God of Scripture promises to make everything new. Our God creates an aliveness that can drive away the blues, and maintain a sense of newness about the wonders of our world that lasts a lot longer than three hours.
~ Tony Campolo
SERMONTELLING NOTES:
The voice in Isaiah 61:1-7 is of an enigmatic figure of an anointed one (messiah/christ) who has been given authority to announce a Jubilee. The identity of this figure has been a source of great speculation and may be the key to understanding much of later Isaiah. I’ll leave it to you and you preferred exegetical methods to decide who Isaiah is alluding to, whether he is a prophet, priest, or King, and whether he is a literary, historical, or eschatological figure. My purpose is to look for narrative possibilities in these passages, not to get bogged down in speculation on things I have no expertise in. If you are looking for an explainer, the Bible Project has a great visual commentary on Isaiah 61 and a podcast episode about the year of Jubilee.
My purpose in these notes is to explore the narrative possibilities of the passage. And this passage is brimming with narrative possibilities because it evokes the drama of the Jubilee year.
The Jubilee occurs every 50 years. One in a lifetime for most people. It’s on the day of atonement. After the High Priest has made atonement for the people and purified the temple, the trumpet sounds and the year of Jubilee is proclaimed. All debts are forgiven, land returns to its original owners, and all Israelite slaves are set free.
Walking the congregation through the drama of the Day of Atonement culminating in the proclamation of Jubilee with all its sights, textures, smells, and sounds could be a great way of bringing this scripture alive. You could have them imagine it from the perspective of the Israelite in the temple (maybe one who lost his family land and who is in danger of being sold into debt slavery). What are they thinking and feeling? What does it mean to know that they are forgiven for their spiritual and physical debts?
The most tempting narrative possibility in this passage is to jump forward to Luke 4. But knowing that the Narrative Lectionary will have us visiting that text in January of next year does free us to look for other less obvious passages that might be echoed in this text. Particularly appropriate for this season may be the poor shepherds of Luke 2 who receive the good news of Christ’s birth. That text is meant to be visited on Christmas Day but if your Church, like mine, won’t have service on Christmas Day, this may be a good time to tell their story. When they are told the ‘Good News’ of the anointed one who brings favor, did they connect those phrases to this passage? Were they expecting the sound of a trumpet and a new age? If you go this route, I have just the sermon title for you: SHEPHERDS, WHY THIS JUBILEE? You’re welcome.
Proclaiming freedom/liberty is an important phrase that is used in the Jubilee law found in Leviticus 25:
“‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan.”
LEVITICUS 25:8-10
An interesting story that uses this same phrase is found in Jeremiah 34. King Zedekiah proclaims liberty to the slaves (the only Biblical example of anything like the Jubilee law actually being practiced). But the people change their minds (much like Pharaoh did) and take the slaves back. For this, God proclaims liberty to the people of Judah: liberty to go into captivity.
Freedom for the oppressed is going to be experienced as loss by the oppressor. Luke’s version of the beatitudes contains woes as well as blessings because you can’t turn everything upside down without those on the top winding up on the bottom. Consider this old Peanuts strip.
Robert Alter translates crown as turban which is not only a better translation but evokes the imagery of priestly garb found throughout this passage. This is actually Jubilee imagery. On the day of atonement the High Priest is to ritually purify himself and receive new garments as a symbol of their own renewal before renewing the people and the temple.
Isaiah seems to be telling the Jerusalem community that in place of their ashes of mourning for the Exile, they will now wear the lavish vestments of the priesthood: a sign that they are new people.
That is no small thing. In my own United Methodist tradition, the receiving of a stole is a day much looked forward to and imbued with great meaning. Others in our congregation might remember other wardrobe changes that were for occasions of great meaning and joy: a white lab coat, a uniform and a shiny badge, a graduation gown, or even a wedding dress, are fulfillment of hopes and dreams and indicators of a new status.
The agricultural imagery we find throughout, is also Jubilee imagery. Every 7th year the land was supposed to lie fallow so it could return to an Edenic state. This image of new things growing is in keeping with the Jubilee being promised. It could also be tied into the evergreen imagery that is likely everywhere in your sanctuary. Audrey Assad has a beautiful song about the evergreen imagery.
“Shut Up and Get Back to Work!”
This historical parable is based on a simple truth: there is no evidence that the Jubilee law was ever carried out in Israel or Judah. It is an ideal law. But the point of this parable is to point out the way we religious folk get ourselves out of the more challenging aspects of the Bible. First, we say the time isn’t right but we fully intend to follow God’s command. Then we spiritualize God’s command so that we don’t really have to deal with it. Finally, we just decide it doesn’t apply to us. But in this parable, the excuses aren’t made to God, they are made to the slaves. When we refuse to carry out God’s will on earth, it is not just a sin against God, it is a sin against all who are hoping and yearning for the change that would be brought about by the Church embracing its true Kingdom identity.
For this parable to have force, it must be clear that the Jubilee is a concrete law that could actually be carried out. It should also be clear that God has commanded it. We have simply decided to ignore that command.
This period in Israel’s history (c. 140 BC) is when apocalyptic literature begins to flourish so it dovetails nicely with our impulse to spiritualize teachings that we don’t like. But that isn’t limited to apocalyptic thinking. It’s been said that a Christian Fundamentalist is someone who takes every word of the Bible literally except for the ones that Jesus spoke. It’s not just fundamentalists who spiritualize the red letters, though. I’ve lost count of the clever takes I’ve heard on Matthew 5:39 that dig into the original Greek or grasp for dubious cultural backgrounds that would have been obvious to the original hearer, all in an attempt to make it not mean what it clearly means: when someone hits you, don’t hit them back.
Note the switch to present tense. This gives a sense of immediacy. Switching tenses feels clumsy in printed text but is really effective in oral storytelling. It is also a subtle way of saying to the hearer: this is it… we’ve finally arrived… will it be different this time? This and the rule of threes will really build up the expectation that is about to be dashed.
This parable is really about us. That’s why it starts in a Jewish context and ends in a Christian one. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Jubilee Day
A slave Church was an official Church organized by slaveholders for the benefit of enslaved people. The slaveholders usually approved the preacher and often had representatives present. You can include this context if you feel your congregation needs it.
There is no historical evidence that General Order 3 was actually read aloud (or that it was not). It can be said with certainty that it was posted in numerous locations throughout Galveston. But a public reading is remembered and commemorated in the life of the Black church and that’s good enough for me. I like the image of a public reading because it echoes the proclamation of release in Isaiah 61.
The word official is important. Though Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, it did not happen overnight for many.
This is a flashback. Instead of beginning with historical exposition, I began with an image of a union soldier on the steps of a church, reading the proclamation. This way I have already cast the story spell.
Enslaved people is now preferred to the word slave. This is a reminder that people who are enslaved are not slaves by nature, that it is a condition that is forced upon them. Slaveholders is generally preferred to masters. This is, again, a reminder that some people are not inherently masters over others. In the previous story, I used slave/master language because it was a parable and parables are by nature archetypal. In this story that is situated in the stories of real people, I use enslaved/slaveholder language for the reasons given above. I know some bristle at these sort of semantics but to them I would say: it cost nothing to call people what they want to be called. Also: God forbid our clumsy language should come between anybody and the proclamation of the Gospel.
Whether this change came about literally the next Sunday, I don’t know, but it happened pretty quick. Within 6 months, Reedy Chapel was hosting an Emancipation Day celebration. Reedy Chapel’s website reports that they officially became an A.M.E. Church the following year. Historic changes happen the same way Earnest Hemingway said bankruptcies happen: “Slowly then all at once.”
This story from history is really about the two imagined worship services: a service of silent longing and a service of heartfelt jubilation. The historical backdrop provides the necessary context but when telling, I would avoid going into more detail than necessary. Don’t make this a story about Lee and Lincoln and Granger; keep it a story about the joy of a people experiencing freedom. If anything, the invitation is to more fully imagine these two worship services.
Tony on Joy
I heard Rev. Tony Campolo preach once at a friend’s church. He was inspiring and challenging as always, but my fondest memory from the evening is getting to ask him a question during a Q&A after the service. I asked him his advice to young pastors starting out (which I was). His first piece of advice was to burn all the old sermons. But then he said to avoid holding votes in your Church if at all possible. He said that when you vote there are winners and losers and people get their feelings hurt. The best thing for a pastor to do was to hear from everybody and then make the decision yourself.
“Was that helpful?” he asked.
I knew that advice would work in his Baptist setting but that my denomination really liked to vote so, because I still had a mic in my hand, I said, “Well, I should have mentioned that I’m a United Methodist pastor…”
Tony Campolo smiled mischievously and said, “Oh… you’re not allowed to decide anything…”
When I shook his hand later he was warm and encouraging and it is a memory I will treasure. As a tribute to Tony Campolo, I kept his original wording of these stories and I present them to you without comment or elaboration so that once more, he will have the last word…
A rare intersection of the Narrative Lectionary and the Revised Common Lectionary! I was working on this passage for this coming Sunday, as well, and was struck by the language around the new clothes.
I loved what you had to say in the notes about the special clothes for special milestones