Oaks of Righteousness
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
Isaiah 58:6-9
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
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.
Isaiah 61:1-4
This morning I sat, putting on my boots, thinking about the day before me, in my mind going through the events filling my calendar and the unscheduled tasks that need to be accomplished, and suddenly my thoughts drifted to the conversation Jesus had with the folks in Nazareth when He went there to preach. It was early in His ministry. He had been preaching and performing amazing signs and wonders across Galilee, word about Him spread across the region, He was invited to preach in synagogues all over, and now He was back in His hometown, Nazareth. On the Sabbath, when His time came, He unrolled the scroll and read from Isaiah 58 and 61. Luke quotes Jesus saying,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18
The congregation expected Him to follow the reading with a discussion of the word. He sat on the teacher’s seat and gave His sermon saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Everyone understood He was claiming to be the anointed one, the Messiah, the one they had long waited for, the one they had prayed God to bring, and now, in their presence, was a man claiming to be the Messiah. They had heard the stories from across the region about His teaching and healing and amazing works, but isn’t this Joseph’s son? How could Joseph’s son be the Messiah? It simply did not fit. They could not believe.
Jesus knew they did not believe. He compares them to the folks who lived near the prophet Elijah, who were too close to him to believe he really was a prophet sent by God, so when the famine came, rather than helping local widows who did not believe, Elijah went to a foreign land and helped a widow there. He also compares them to the people who lived by the prophet Elisha, who healed a foreigner of leprosy, not locals. Jesus knew they did not believe. Their vision was clouded by expectations – they had imposed preconceived limits on what Joseph’s boy would be capable of which limited their view of what God was capable of – and as a result God revealed His glory elsewhere.
After an angry exchange, the congregants threatened to stone Him, which clarifies their understanding of His messianic claim, but He went on His way unharmed.
I sat on my little chair, boots partially on, pondering this exchange, pondering Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, God’s desire to work through His people, and folks in Nazareth who could not believe, whose vision was clouded by preconceived limitations. Suddenly my heart ached. I felt a stab of conviction, knowing that I was just like them, failing to trust, failing to release, failing to believe that God is truly able and willing to help me here in this real world with all its real problems. I say the right words, I preach the theology, I know the truth intellectually, but as I move through each day, I routinely fail to stop to check in with God to verify whether my plans are consistent with His. And when I’m in a bind, I often resort first to my own problem-solving skills rather than His. My first step should always be prayer, but I often start on my own and pray either along the way or later. My initial desire to pull myself up, to solve the problem, to rely on my own skills and other preconceived notions limit God. Perhaps I am unintentionally asking Him to go to others to reveal His glory through them and their situation.
Jesus sat in His hometown describing the focus of His ministry by claiming to be the fulfilment of two related messianic prophecies. He likely read the full text first set forth above, though Luke only provided excerpts. In the first prophecy Isaiah discusses freeing people from injustice, oppression, hunger and homelessness. In the next, he discusses One anointed to deliver good news proclaiming release of prisoners, to comfort people who mourn, and to plant oaks of righteousness who will “raise up former devastations” and “repair the ruined cities” (Isaiah 61:4). Jesus says He is the anointed One. Jesus came to deliver the good news and free people who would become oaks of righteousness making a difference in the world for the kingdom of God.
Isaiah writes, “They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory” (Isaiah 61:3). Who will be called oaks? The people Jesus delivers – the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the captives, the prisoners, and those who mourn. And the Lord shall plant those He delivers for His glory, and they will act in accordance with His will. They will correct devastations and repair ruined cities and make a difference in the world.
Jesus has delivered each of us from captivity to sin. He has set you free, released you from darkness to light, given you new life, reconciled you with God, planted you as an oak of righteousness. What does that mean?
On the evening of the Last Supper, Jesus commanded His disciples to do the work that He had done while in the world. He said,
“For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” John 13:15, and
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12
As Jesus sat in Nazareth on the teacher’s seat, He proclaimed His mission on earth by quoting Isaiah’s prophecy. If the Messiah appoints His disciples to continue fulfilling His mission on earth, this may be interpreted as an anointing in the line of Isaiah’s messianic prophecy. Might that mean you too are anointed? If so, you too are anointed to proclaim the good news, to deliver the oppressed, to free captives. You too are anointed to plant oaks of righteousness because each new generation must be planted, must grow roots, must develop its own foundation of faith and righteousness.
What might you do today to fulfill this anointing?
I wonder if our failures in this regard relate back to bits and pieces of residual unbelief. We have been delivered, but we still live in this sin-filled place subjected to old influences, and we are still far from holy. Like the folks in Nazareth the day Jesus arrived to preach, do we fail because our vision of ourselves, what we might accomplish, and God continues to be clouded by preconceived limitations? Do we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is God with us, that He is truly capable of all things, yet doubt that He will truly use His power and authority to help us or to reveal His glory through us?
Jesus came to plant oaks of righteousness. He came to free people from captivity, from oppression, and from injustice. Through Jesus, you have been delivered from bondage to this dark world and introduced to His holy light. Through Jesus you have been planted as an oak of righteousness. May you grow into the mighty oak God has planned for you to become according to God’s will for your life. Amen.