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Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

¹   The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

²   to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;

³   to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

⁴   They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.

⁸   For I the Lord love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;

I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

⁹   Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul 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 like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

We love Cinderella stories. We want the down-and-out rise from the dust. We want characters move from rags to riches, orphans to become kings. We want Rocky to beat Drago. We love these stories because we want to be like them. We want to move up, climb the ladder, reach the top. We want to better ourselves, rise up, and thrive. But we’ve tried it and found that too often, it doesn’t work.

We tried to better ourselves in the Garden of Eden. God told us that we were good. We were whole and needed nothing more to be complete. Then, Satan presented Adam and Eve with the possibility of becoming more than they were. “When you eat of the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. You can improve yourself. You will be better than you are now.”

Adam and Eve attempted to climb the ladder. They took from the tree and ate. Their eyes were opened. They became something more. Now, they knew evil – but it was not better.

The root of sin is seeking to improve ourselves. We want to take control of our own lives. We want to be the master of our own destiny. We keep looking up, striving to be more. We want to be our own god. But the more we try, the more we fail, the more we sin, and the worse we become.

God is not like us. God does not look up – there is nothing above Him. God doesn’t even look side-to-side – there is no one like Him. God only looks down. God looks down to those who are beneath Him. Luther even says, “The farther one is beneath God, the better doss God see him.” God is far-sighted.

God has always acted this way. God brings good news to the poor. Even before God cursed poor Adam and Eve, He promised that He would crush Satan’s head.

God binds up the brokenhearted. After Cain killed Abel, God gave Adam and Eve another son, Seth.

God proclaims liberty to the captives. He delivered His people from slavery under Pharaoh.

God opens the prison to those who are bound. Whether it was the apostles Peter, John, or Paul. God opens any and all iron bars to release His people.

God gives a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. Abraham’s son Isaac was not reduced to ashes, instead God provided.

God gives the oil of gladness instead of mourning. Jesus forgave the sins of the woman who washed His feet with her tears.

God does all of this because it brings Him glory.

God sees our pathetic attempts to rise up and improve, and He has pity on us. So He came down. He came down in the most dramatic, humble way.

Your God came down and placed Himself in the womb of a poor peasant girl. Your God came down to be born at night in a cold barn. Your God let Himself be carried by His parents to another country to escape being slaughtered as an infant. Your God grew up in a little podunk town learning the trade of a carpenter. Your God was despised and rejected by His peers and relatives. Your God touched lepers. Your God ate with the tax collectors and prostitutes. Your God suffered. Your God bled. Your God died. He did all of this for you.

God’s glory isn’t to become something more than He already is. God can’t become anything more. God is glorified through what He does for you. He was anointed to bring good news to you who are poor. His glory is to bind up you, the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to you who are captive in sin, and releasing you even from the prison of death. Christ’s glory is to proclaim to you the year of Yahweh’s favor and to comfort you who mourn. He is glorified by giving you a beautiful headdress instead of ashes and oil of gladness and garments of praise.

In your baptism, He clothed you in the garments of salvation. Through His Word, He covers you with the robe of righteousness.

Christ was anointed to do all of this for you. You, and the faithful believers who have come before you and who will come after you, you all are His garden, His planting. You produce the fruit of righteousness and praise. God has made His covenant with you, and He is always faithful to His promises. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.