Turning Jordan

In recent weeks I’ve been spending a good deal of my free time reading the book of Isaiah and some of its commentaries.  It has been quite an illuminating experience, and looking at the book as a whole has made it somewhat less daunting than I’d always imagined it.  Today I noticed a connection that I thought was quite interesting that I’d like to share with you.

In the Gospel of Luke there is a scene where Jesus opens up the scroll of Isaiah and tells those in the synagogue that the Scripture he read was being fulfilled in their midst.  What he read was from Isaiah 61.1-3,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anoined me to proclaim the good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Until today, I’ve always thought of this verse as referring to Jesus’ works of miraculous healing.  He was preaching the message of salvation to those around him, while proving his identity as Messiah and God by doing various miracles and wonders.  Now that I’ve looked at the book of Isaiah in more depth, however, what Jesus is proclaiming is something far, far more bold and pivotal.

In Isaiah, blindness is part of Isaiah’s preaching to Israel.  We read about this in chapter 6, “Hear, indeed, but do not understand; see, indeed, but do not grasp.”  Isaiah’s preaching was to dull the mind of the Jewish people, stopping their ears and sealing their eyes.  By reading the book we find out that God is going to punish Israel because of its unfaithfulness and lack of trust in Yahweh.  Later on in Isaiah, however, the prophet envisions a future where their mind, eyes, and ears would again be opened.  The last word in Isaiah is never judgment, but  the hopeful promise of mercy.  We read in Isaiah 29.17-19 that “Surely, in a little while Lebanon will be transformed into a farm land, and farm land accounted as mere brush.  In that day, the deaf shall hear even written words, and the eyes of the blind shall see even in darkness and obscurity.  Then the humble shall have increasing joy through the Lord, and the neediest of men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.”

The Messiah would play the key role in changing the fortune of Israel from that of judgment and wrath to that of mercy and redemption.  When Jesus finishes reading the text, rolls it up, sits down, and waits for their “eyes” to fix on him, he then says, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing [literally: in your ears].”  Jesus didn’t read this text to show that his miracles proved he was the Messiah.  Instead, IMO Jesus is saying, “You remember the great book of Isaiah?  Do you remember how Isaiah spoke about a time that would come when the fortune of Israel would change – when they would again be ruled by a king from the line of Judah – when Yhwh would restore Jerusalem and reign over all the earth – well, today, it is so.  I am the one whom Isaiah spoke.”  They had been waiting for this moment for so long.  They had attended synagogue week after week – they had heard from the Scriptures about better times that lie in the future.  And now the time had come, and what did the people have to say?  “Is this not Joseph’s son?” (Lk 4.22).  Could it really be?  Could the people of God who have been waiting to be restored for all this time really not recognize their King?  Could they really respond just like all their forefathers had done?  Sadly – yes, yes, and yes.  Who could have imagined that this would have happened?  Yet, it did.  And as it did Jesus continued to carry on the message of the Scriptures, himself preaching the same message as Isaiah.

This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.  Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘ You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.  For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.  Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Mt 13.13-17)

May we be of those who hear and see – and may the Lord make our hearts burn (Lk 24) when we do.

Andy