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Text: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Most people have a number of clever and witty sayings to put down someone who is trying to come up. For example, if someone seems to be bossing others around a bit too much, someone may say, "Who died and put you in charge?" Or they might say, "Since when did you become king?"

Others of us would rather like to be in charge. We have some definite ideas about how things ought to be done. Sometimes we are quick to tell others how we would do it if we were in their shoes. In fact, there is a term for this too. In sports, we call them "arm-chair quarterbacks." From the comfort of their arm-chair, they know exactly how to be a great quarterback.

One of my favorite jokes is about the man who told all his friends that he was a special adviser to the President. He set the President a letter once telling him just exactly how he should run the country. According to the story, the man got a letter back saying, "When I want your advice, I'll ask for it." Ever since then, he tells all his friends that he is a "special advisor to the President" and keeps expecting a personal call any day.

Well, what if you really were in charge? What would you do? How would you fix the world?

I recently learned about an unusual website on the Internet that asks people to submit their opinions on how to fix the world. They offer cash prizes for the best ideas. You can look it up yourself if you like at www.globalideasbank.org.

Here are a few of the clever ideas presented. The first suggests that people should retire for a few years in the middle of their career. They call it a midlife sabbatical. They say you should give this mid-life retirement to any worker who's around 30 or 40 years old. Perhaps it will coincide with raising children. Maybe it's an opportunity to pursue an arts or a civic project that would be impossible to handle when working. Or perhaps it's just time to experiment with a possible career switch. It could give workers time to reflect, to review and to renew. Afterward, these people would return with improved energy, commitment and purpose. They might even avoid the often disastrous effects of the typical mid-life crisis.

A second idea suggests that every citizen aged 18 or 21 receive a loan of $80,000. This money might be used to invest in a house. Or they might invest in an education or a business. The loan would be paid back with interest at the death of the borrower making the program, eventually, self-sustaining. Imagine the opportunity this would present to many poor people who are trapped in a dead-end job and a dead-end way of life.

A third idea deals with the recidivism problem in prisons. Many of those released from prison wind up coming back before long. This person suggests that we pay the prisoners for the work they perform in prison. The money would be set aside in a special account and can only be paid back over several years if the convict stays crime-free.

Are these failure-proof ideas? I doubt it. Perhaps you see loop-holes in them already. But they are intriguing and creative ideas. And they are no more creative than the suggestions of the Scripture passage for today from Isaiah.

How can we fix the world? Isaiah suggests that we become an "oak of righteousness," and he says that we do this by preaching good news to the poor, loving justice, binding up the broken-hearted, proclaiming freedom to the captives, releasing prisoners from darkness, proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor, comforting those who mourn, bestowing a crown of beauty, giving oil of gladness instead of mourning, giving the garments of praise instead of despair.

This part of Isaiah tells the story of how the exiles came to make the return to Israel after the Edict of Cyrus granted them release from Babylon in about 530 B.C.

The first important word comes in the very first phrase of Isaiah 61, where the prophet claims, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." The prophet makes the claim that he is the one on whom God has poured out the Spirit. But his claims are not over! The next significant word in the verse is the prophet's claim that he has been anointed by God and sent to bring good news to the oppressed.

It was as if Isaiah was answering the question, "Who died and put you in charge?" He answers, "God did! The spirit of the Lord God is upon me. God anointed me."

The challenge of this particular time in the history of Israel was to accomplish the difficult task of restoring the nation, rebuilding her cities and reconstructing the temple. These things did not happen over night. For years, they did not happen at all.

When you read Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai, you can see how long and hard this process was. Many in Haggai's time were in despair because they felt they could never match the former days of Israel's glory. But the prophet reminded them that God was still with them.

The third and fourth important words appear in 61:2-3. Here the prophet announces that the year of the Lord's favor has come, as well as the day of God's vengeance. Many scholars believe that this is referring to the year of jubilee described in Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 15 and Exodus 21-23.

To our modern ears, the year of jubilee sounds as outrageous as those ideas in the web site I described earlier. Jubilee called for the release of indentured servants, the fallowing of the land, the remission of debts, and returning property to its original owner.

As for the day of God's vengeance, Israel has now come full circle with regard to this concept. At first the image portrayed God taking vengeance upon the enemies of Israel as a warrior who fought on Israel's side. After Israel betrayed God and worshipped idols, Amos proclaimed the judgment of God. He said that God would no longer fight against Israel's enemies, but now God was fighting against Israel. Here in Isaiah, the prophet once again announces that God is on the side of Israel. God will help them to rebuild their nation and restore them as a nation. It was time for them to fix their world with God's help.

What would you do to patch up this old world? It's hard to go beyond what Isaiah offers. Isn't this what Advent is all about? The world's a broken place, and it is our mission as Jesus people to lend a hand. What would you to help this Christmas?

So many of you have done many things significant this year. We have a room full of angel gifts that our members purchased for needy children at the elementary school. Many of you provided wonderfully for the Thanksgiving baskets recently. Others are very generous with Helping Hand. We have more people on the board of Sandy Valley Habitat for Humanity than any other church in town. We have members who give generously to the domestic violence shelter. Others are very involved in the public schools. Others minister regularly to the members of our church who are sick and in the hospital.

Isaiah is calling us to celebrate Christmas by having a positive ministry in the community. He calls us to have what Rick Warren calls a purpose-driven life. And our purpose is the fix the world.

Isaiah, Jesus and God don't expect us to fix every problem. They merely want us to try to help where we can. Jesus says, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get." (Matthew 7:1-2

Read the newspapers. We can all agree the world needs a fix. This world is still a broken place, full of broken people who could do with a little Good News, and a little help, now and then. Don't worry about a quick fix. Be an oak.

But perhaps you are like the woman who wanted peace in the world and peace in her heart, but was very frustrated. The world seemed to be falling apart. She would read the papers and get depressed.

One day she decided to go shopping, and she went into a mall and picked a store at random. She walked in and was surprised to see Jesus behind the counter. She knew it was Jesus because he looked just like the pictures she'd seen on holy cards and devotional pictures. She finally got up her nerve and asked, "Excuse me, are you Jesus?"

"I am."

"Do you work here?"

"No, I own the store."

"Oh, what do you sell here?"

"Just about everything," Jesus said. "Feel free to walk up and down the aisles, make a list, see what it is you want and then come back and we'll see what we can do for you."

She did just that, walked up and down the aisles. There was peace on earth, no more war, no hunger or poverty, peace in families, no more drugs, harmony, clean air, careful use of resources. She wrote furiously. By the time she got back to the counter, she had a long list. Jesus took the list, skimmed through it, looked up at her and smiled. "No problem." And then he bent down behind the counter and picked out all sorts of things, stood up and laid out the packets. She asked, "What are these?"

"Seed packets," Jesus said. "This is a seed store."

She said, "You mean I don't get the finished product?"

"No, this is a place of dreams. You come and see what it looks like, and I give you the seeds. You plant the seeds. You go home and nurture them and help them to grow and someone else reaps the benefits."

"Oh," she said. And she left the store without buying anything. (2)

Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, tells about his old friend Luther in Tupelo, Mississippi, who puts it another way: "Get involved in something that melts your butter!" Fuller says, "What is it that melts your butter? Maybe it's foreign missions, or China, or wildlife, or the environment, the elderly, people with AIDS, people who are sick and dying. I have a friend who sits with the dying. He just holds their hands and wipes their brow, and talks to them about life and their impending death. Ask yourself what it is that gives your life meaning and purpose. (3)

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this passage is that Jesus used it as his text for his very first sermon in Luke 4:14-30. Jesus explained that he was the Suffering Servant, that the Spirit of God had anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to liberate the captive, and bind up the broken-hearted. When Jesus was put in charge, this was his text. And then when Jesus left the earth he said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." (John 20:21)

Who died and put you in charge? Jesus did. He died on a cross to try to fix the world. But then he went to heaven and proclaimed, "So send I you." He commissioned us who wear his name to go do his work. If you want to really celebrate this Christmas, then fix the world. Melt your butter. Be an oak, an oak of righteousness.

Endnotes:

1) I am indebted to Homiletics magazine online 12/15/2002 for many of the ideas of this sermon.

2) Migan McKenna in Parables, cited in Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spiritual Literacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 359.

3) Quoted in Homiletics, 12/15/2002