Title Toward the spirituality of history!
Toward the spirituality of history!
prophetic tradition
Adding any explanation to today's text might be an absurd thing to paint over a masterpiece that has already been completely painted. So today I did not stand here with the intention of preaching. Of course, it was fundamentally the same at other times, but today I am intentionally reducing my role. Because in Isaiah 61, there is nothing more to add or subtract, and there are no words so complicated that we need further explanation. I am only going to guide you on the circumstances under which today's text was written. This is similar to the role of a concierge in an art museum.
As you read today's sermon, you must have experienced the spiritual breath of the prophet Isaiah vividly. Today's words, written by the so-called Third Isaiah, were written at the beginning of the 5th century B.C.E., at the end of the Babylonian captivity in southern Judea. Just imagine. It is said that the theologian, who groaned and waited eagerly for the day of liberation under the Japanese colonial rule, was liberated. Or imagine the moment when someone who has been in the hospital for a long time with an incurable disease is now leaving the hospital door. Wouldn't you like to sing and dance? The text is written in this context. The words liberation, freedom, and hope in today's text reflect this situation.
These prophecies of Isaiah are not original, but are closely related to Israel's history. That is the Jubilee tradition reported in Leviticus 25:8-12. This Jubilee year has its roots in the Sabbath tradition, and the Sabbath year is also traced back to the Sabbath tradition. The fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, is the result of God's creation and the spirit of Exodus. Creation and Exodus both signify life, liberation, freedom and hope. A jubilee is placed at the end of these traditional stems. The fiftieth year, which is the year after the seventh sabbatical year, is called the Jubilee, and at this time everything returns to its original place. “Set this fiftieth year as a holy year, and proclaim liberation to all who live in your land. This is the year you will keep as a jubilee. Every man must find his own possession and return to his tribe” (Leviticus 25:10).
Based on this Jubilee tradition, Isaiah is writing today's text. Let's read verses 1b and 2. “Preach the gospel to the oppressed. Bind up the torn heart, and inform the prisoners of liberation. Declare freedom to those in prison. Declare that the day of revenge of our God has come, the year in which the LORD will welcome us. Comfort all who mourn.” The content of these words is exactly what will happen in the year of Jubilee.
Coincidentally, this very word was the first word that Jesus read in the synagogue. The writer of Luke testifies in Chapter 4 that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and began to preach in Galilee. “I took the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and opened the passage where these words were written and read it. ‘The Spirit of the Lord has come upon me. The Lord has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. The Lord has sent me to proclaim liberation to the bound, to give sight to the blind, to set liberty to the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (Luke 4:18,19).
The prophetic tradition was not the ingenuity of one or two men, but an idea that ran consistently throughout Israel's history. It has been passed down from the law that Israel, the exodus-level community, received in the wilderness, to Isaiah after the return from captivity, and now to the activities of Jesus, the savior of all mankind. What on earth is the prophetic tradition that continues to drive the lives of the Israelites in this way? Why did the evangelists who embraced Jesus Christ in the entire history of mankind, not tied to one nation, Israel, saw Israel's prophetic tradition as one with Jesus' saving work? Aren't you curious? What on earth is the tradition of these prophets that runs throughout the Old and New Testaments?
spirit people
The prophetic tradition is primarily a matter of ‘spirit’. Look at verse 1 of today's text. “The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me, and the Lord has anointed me with oil,” he said. The Jubilee tradition in the book of Leviticus was also a command from Yahweh. Jesus, who read the prophecies of Isaiah in the synagogue, also acted in the Holy Spirit, as can be seen from the report that the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove when he was baptized. Today we too live by this prophetic tradition, the Spirit. According to the report of Acts, the Christian community is the community of the Holy Spirit. Not only the book of Acts, but the New Testament are all reports of the work of the Holy Spirit. Even today, the word being filled with the Holy Spirit is often mentioned in the church. Being connected to this Spirit, whether individually or in the church community, also means to cherish the prophetic tradition.
What do you think the spirit is? Who are the people whose hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit? The phrase “the Lord Yahweh has given the Spirit” recorded in verse 1 of today’s text is often misunderstood in two major ways as follows. One is the instrumentalization of the spirit. These are actions that use the Holy Spirit to make your life easier. In extreme cases, those who claim to be holy spirits do things like fortune tellers to predict the future of some believers. It also prophesies whether pregnant female students will have a son or a daughter. Others associate the Holy Spirit with tongues. This seems very pure, but it is still an instrumentation of the Holy Spirit. It is the use of the Holy Spirit as a means to strengthen one's faith.
Another misunderstanding of the Spirit is the extreme idealization of the Spirit. Of course, since the spirit is invisible, it can be thought of as ideological, but thinking too extreme is also a distortion of the spirit. Usually we use the word salvation of souls, but if it means that the human body has nothing to do with being saved and only the spiritual part is saved, it would be a mistake. Those who view human beings as spiritual and physical dualism are more likely to view the Holy Spirit as something purely spiritual. Because this matter is a bit complicated, I cannot speak for a long time in a sermon. It is enough just to make it clear that we do not think of the Holy Spirit only as purely psychic, whether material or physical. It is saying that such an attitude that thinks of the Holy Spirit like a demon is not a Christian idea at all.
justice and praise
There were a lot of spiritual people in Israel who looked at the depths of life. One such person, Isaiah, saw the mystery of history. It means seeing history spiritually. That is the prophecy. What is it specifically? First of all, we need to know that Isaiah did not sit at a desk and receive any transcendental oracle like the other prophets. He tried to capture the saving work of God in the history of the nation of Israel, and the very mysterious reign of God.
Yahweh's plan of salvation and the reign of salvation that Isaiah saw is precisely summarized in verse 14, the last verse of today's text. “As a seed sprouts from the ground, like a seed sown in a garden, so the Lord Yahweh makes justice and praise overflow in the sight of all peoples.” Please read these words carefully. The prophetic tradition is clearly established in the history of this nation of Israel, but nothing is biased towards the nation of Israel. The prophets' concern was a just community. This righteous community is not only valid for the nation of Israel, but applies to “all the peoples”. All the peoples will see it, Isaiah exclaims. Even if it is Israel, God will not forgive if it is not just.
A just community soon encompasses all of what has been described in many ways in the preceding paragraphs. Justice is the foundation upon which the oppressed, captives, and those who mourn are restored to the image of God. Remember that this prophecy of Isaiah is associated with the Jubilee tradition? The jubilee year, when all imbalances in society take their place anew, is God's command to establish a just community.
What is the relationship between a just community and spirituality? The prophets who received the Spirit of Yahweh God saw that only a society ruled by God could be just. Conversely, only a just society can be seen as a community where God rules. So Isaiah presented justice and praise as a bundle at the end of today's sermon. A just society and praise to God cannot be separated. This means that only those who aim for a just community are those who truly worship God. The thirst for justice is the spirituality of history, and those who see it want to worship in a true sense. I hope that this worship service we offer together on the third Sunday of Advent will be sublimated into hope and waiting for a just community in your life.