Scripture Daily

Context No. 2232 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 61:1-11: in context

1The Lord GOD’s Spirit is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound, 2to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. 4They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the former devastated places. They will repair the ruined cities that have been devastated for many generations. 5Strangers will stand and feed your flocks. Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards. 6But you will be called the LORD’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast in their glory. 7Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them. 8“For I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which the LORD has blessed.” 10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD! My soul will be joyful 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 with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Isaiah announces the mission of the Spirit-anointed one, the words Jesus would later read in the synagogue and declare fulfilled in himself. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he says, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. And he describes a beautiful exchange he comes to bring: to give to those who mourn a garland instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness. He comes to exchange our sorrow for his gladness.

The heart of this passage is the exchange the Anointed One comes to bring. He comes to those in ashes, mourning, and heaviness, the brokenhearted, the grieving, the crushed in spirit, and he comes not to leave them as they are but to make an exchange. For their ashes, the mark of grief and mourning, he gives a garland, a crown of beauty. For their mourning, he gives the oil of joy. For their spirit of heaviness, the crushing weight of despair, he gives a garment of praise. He takes what is broken and sorrowful and gives in return what is beautiful and glad. This is the ministry of Christ to the broken and grieving. Jesus read these very words and said, today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing; he is the Anointed One who comes to bind up the brokenhearted and to make this exchange. To all who are in ashes, mourning, and heaviness, he comes offering the exchange: beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for despair. He does not despise the broken or leave the grieving in their sorrow; he comes to exchange their sorrow for his gladness, to bind up what is broken, to lift the crushed. This holds out hope to all who are in ashes and mourning. If we are brokenhearted, grieving, crushed in spirit, weighed down with heaviness, Christ comes to us with an exchange: he takes our ashes and gives beauty, takes our mourning and gives joy, takes our heaviness and gives praise. This is not a denial of our sorrow but a transformation of it; he meets us in our ashes and mourning and gives, in exchange, what only he can give. And behind this exchange lies the greatest exchange of all: he who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Christ makes exchanges of grace, taking what is ours and giving what is his. This calls us to bring our ashes and mourning to Christ for the exchange he offers. If we are broken, grieving, or crushed, we may come to the Anointed One who binds up the brokenhearted, bringing him our ashes, our mourning, our heaviness, and receiving from him the beauty, joy, and praise he gives in exchange. He comes to give a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness; and to all who are broken and grieving, he offers this exchange of grace, taking our sorrow and giving his gladness.

When I am brokenhearted, grieving, or crushed in spirit, weighed down with heaviness, do I imagine I must stay in my ashes and mourning, or can Christ, the Spirit-anointed one who comes to bind up the brokenhearted and to give a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness, move me to bring my ashes and sorrow to him for the exchange of grace he offers, taking my mourning and giving his gladness?

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