(serene music) (graphic swooshes)
Jon: The scroll of Isaiah is the first
of three major prophets in the Bible.
Tim: And in Isaiah 61,
the prophet offers a vision of a restored world,
where the land is full (water sloshing)
of abundance and full of right relationships between people.
The final lines (water sloshing)
of the poem describe Israel
as a new garden of Eden,
"For as the land brings out its sprouts,
and as a garden makes sprout its seed plants,
so the Lord Yahweh will make sprout righteousness
and praise before all the nations."
(bells tolling)
Jon: That sounds great,
but Israel at this time (people wailing)
has been conquered and ruled
by other kingdoms.
They've been reduced to a powerless nation
full of grief and mourning.
Tim: But among those mourning Israelites,
there was a small group (chains clatter)
that never lost hope in God's promise,
and so this poem is written to encourage
that group of people.
The poem is written in three main sections,
which themselves all have three sections.
Jon: Okay, let's go through it.
It begins, "The Spirit of the Lord, Yahweh, is upon me;
because Yahweh has anointed me."
Tim: So the speaker calls himself the anointed,
from the Hebrew word "mashiach."
Jon: Mashiach, that's where we get
the word "Messiah."
Tim: Yeah, exactly.
And this Messiah says that through God's Spirit,
he's going to bring seven acts of new creation.
The first is "To bring good news to the oppressed,"
and then, "To bind up the brokenhearted,"
and then, "To release captives
and those who are bound up, liberation."
And then right at the center of these seven acts,
the Messiah says
that he will proclaim the year of Yahweh's favor.
This is a reference (chain clangs)
to an ancient Israelite practice, the year of Jubilee.
Jon: Oh, right, the Jubilee.
It's meant to happen every seven times seven years,
where everything resets.
Slaves and prisoners gain freedom.
All debts are canceled.
Families receive back their ancestral land.
Tim: Yeah, this radical practice is a sign
that points forward to the renewed creation,
like the cosmic Jubilee. (graphic swooshes)
Jon: So why is the Jubilee
also called a day of vengeance?
Tim: Well, if you set everything right,
that involves reversing everything that's wrong,
and for those who benefit from oppression
or from unjust social arrangements,
the cosmic Jubilee might feel more
like retribution than restoration.
It all depends on how you respond to the cosmic judge.
Now, back to the list. (liquid swooshes)
For those who are being oppressed,
this day will bring comfort to those who mourned.
That's the fifth act.
And then the last two acts describe how
the Messiah will give these people new clothes.
Jon: New clothes?
Why clothes?
Tim: Well, not just any clothes,
priestly garments.
There's a crown-like turban,
garments of praise, and then anointing oil.
Jon: Like the oil used
to anoint the Messiah! (oil pattering)
Tim: Yeah, the Messiah is duplicating himself,
clothing a crew of anointed ones
who are going to share his mission to spread the life
of the new Eden. (birds chirping)
In fact, (river rushes)
look at the next thing that he says about them.
Jon: "And they will be called oaks
of righteousness.
The planting of Yahweh for a display of beauty."
That's a beautiful image!
Tim: It is!
Just like the garden imagery the poem began with.
And this takes us into the middle section of the poem
which is all about the role
that these anointed ones will have in the world:
to bring restoration.
Jon: "And they will build the ruins of old,
they will reestablish the former deserted places,
and they will renew the devastated cities,
the deserted places of many generations."
Tim: These anointed ones are the rebuilders
of creation.
Now that hopeful image is followed by another reversal.
Jon: "And strangers will stand
and they will feed your flocks and sons of foreigners,
they will be your farmers and vine dressers."
Tim: So instead
of being slaves (man shouting)
to other nations, (whip cracking)
like they were for centuries,
God will turn the tables (rocks shatter)
and now those nations will serve the anointed ones.
Jon: You mean like the nations
will be their slaves?
Tim: Well, not quite.
Look at these next lines.
The imagery is not about a master ruling slaves,
"But you will be called priests of Yahweh."
Priests are those who serve the nations on behalf of God,
or as it says, "Servants of our God."
They're acting like a bridge between God and the people.
Jon: The next line says,
"They will eat the wealth of nations
and boast in their riches."
What's that about?
Tim: Well, in Israel, the priests got their food
from the sacrifices that people brought to God.
In other words, (sheep bleats)
they lived off of the abundance of the whole community.
Jon: So these new cosmic priests are benefiting
from the abundance of all the nations.
Tim: Exactly. (water sloshes)
Now, let's look at the next lines that talk more
about this reversal.
"In the place of shame,
they'll be a double portion,
they'll go from insult to joy,
and from the wilderness to the Eden land
and everlasting joy will be theirs."
Jon: That's a lot of joy.
Tim: It's like the ultimate new creation.
Now, in the final part of this middle section,
God himself speaks up.
Jon: "For I, Yahweh, love justice.
I hate robbery and injustice."
Tim: God's reminding them of his character.
God is for justice.
Jon: "And I will give their reward
with faithfulness.
I will cut an everlasting covenant with them."
Tim: This is the covenant that God made
with Israel to bless the nations.
That's what God is being faithful to.
(water sloshes)
Jon: "And their seed will be known
among the nations, and their offspring
in the midst of the peoples.
All those who see them will recognize them,
that they are the seed whom Yahweh has blessed."
Tim: So this is the seed
that is going to become (leaves rustling)
a new garden bringing life
to the world.
Now we get to the third and final part of the poem.
It concludes
with the Messiah celebrating what Yahweh is doing
in the world.
Jon: "I will rejoice greatly in Yahweh,
my being will shout for joy in my God."
Tim: And then he describes why he's rejoicing.
With the clothing images that link back
to the beginning of the poem.
This figure is clothed with new garments
called garments of salvation,
a robe of righteousness,
and then a priestly turban is put on a bride groom,
and then he is adorned with the jewelry of a bride.
So the anointed one is the ultimate priest,
depicted as both a bride and a groom,
getting ready for the ultimate wedding party.
Jon: A wedding?
Tim: Yeah, (people chattering)
the new creation is depicted as a great wedding feast,
where God's generous love is shared with all the world.
And that brings us to the garden image at the end
that we read back at the beginning.
Jon: Oh right,
a garden that's sprouting seed plants.
Tim: And notice this is no ordinary garden.
The plants are sprouting righteousness.
Righteousness means right relationships between people.
And so (water sloshes)
the new creation will be a garden
of renewed relationships (birds chirping)
among all of the nations.
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