“The Year of the Lord’s Favor”
Isaiah 61:1-2

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
The Circumcision and Naming of Our Lord–New Year's Day—January 1, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

You are invited to follow the sermon outline on the last pages of the bulletin, which lists the Bible verses quoted in today’s message.

Well, it’s finally here, the day we’ve all been waiting for—the end of 2020!  I doubt there’s been a year when people were more anxious to see the old year gone and the New Year arrive.  A year ago today when we gathered here on the first day of 2020, no one had any idea what a tough year it would be.

The year had barely begun when the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe, leading to unprecedented economic shutdowns and lockdowns.  Schools and businesses closed for most of the year, the lucky people trying to work or study from home, the unlucky losing their jobs, their businesses, even their lives. 

So many events and activities like our Blocktoberfest had to be cancelled.  For children and young people, this was a year without baseball or dance recitals or prom or graduation.  For the elderly, this was a year of severe isolation and loneliness.  For many families, this was a year without their traditional gatherings at Thanksgiving or Christmas, a year without birthday parties, weddings, even funerals.

And for churches, too, this has been a very difficult year. Probably the majority of Christian churches across the country and around the world still are not holding any worship services.  We were blessed here at Trinity to find a way to have a service every Sunday.  But, so many other regular church activities have been suspended. 

Having to live through all this for so many long, dreary, tedious months, we have all felt the stress and strain of last year. So, when we talk about the year 2020 it is largely negative, and understandably so.  But, in spite of all this, though it may be hard as to believe, I’m here to tell you today that 2020 was in fact “The Year of the Lord’s Favor.”

That phrase comes from today’s Old Testament Reading in Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

In the first recorded sermon that Jesus gave, at his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, he quotes these verses from the book of Isaiah and says that he has been sent “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  That is a rich symbolic imagery the people he was talking to would immediately understand.  It goes back to a very unusual event God commanded the nation of Israel to observe in Old Testament times.

The book of Leviticus describes how every 50 years the nation of Israel was to celebrate what was called a Year of Jubilee.  There’s an historic bell in Philadelphia which is called the Liberty Bell, because cast into it is part of the verse from Leviticus which established the Year of Jubilee: “You shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.  It shall be a Jubilee for you.”

Very unusual things would happen during this Jubilee Year.  All the fields would lie fallow, with no crops planted; all slaves and indentured servants were set free; any land that had been bought and sold during the previous 50 years was returned back to its original owner; and all debts of every kind were cancelled.  Maybe you should try convincing the bank that holds your mortgage that this is a Year of Jubilee!

What was the purpose of the Year of Jubilee?  Sociologists say it was an ingenious scheme for stabilizing the social structure, a way to prevent the development of a oppressed underclass, permanently indebted to and enslaved by the upper class.  Agriculture experts say it shows the ancient Israelites had an uncanny understanding of modern agriculture techniques; leaving the land lie fallow can actually increase production.

Those things may be true; those things may have been wonderful side benefits to the Year of Jubilee.  But God did not institute the Year of Jubilee because of its sociological implications or agricultural benefits.  God instituted the Year of Jubilee because of its prophetic significance.  Because, like so many other aspects of the Old Testament, the Year of Jubilee was symbolic, a great big sign, pointing forward to the coming of the Messiah.

All debts being cancelled in the Year of Jubilee is a symbol that in the Messianic Age the spiritual debt of our sin—a debt so enormous we could never pay it off ourselves—that debt will be cancelled by the coming of the Messiah.  The debt of your sins has been cancelled because the Messiah, Jesus Christ, paid off that debt himself, for you: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many;” “It was not with . . . silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ;” “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Slaves being set free in the Year of Jubilee is a symbol of us being set free from spiritual slavery.  “I tell you the truth,” Jesus says, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin. . .  But if the Son sets you free you shall be free indeed;” “[He] loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood;” “Though you used to be slaves to sin . . .  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God.”

The land lying fallow during the Year of Jubilee is a symbol that you do not have to produce your own salvation; the salvation the Messiah brings is not earned by works but is a gift of God’s grace: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast;” “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”

Finally, the most remarkable component of the Year of Jubilee, all property being returned to its original owner.  That symbolizes, first of all, that through the Messiah you have been returned to your original owner.  Satan no longer has a claim on you.  “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” 

The return of property also symbolizes that one day you shall go to your true home, heaven.  “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ;” “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord;”  “In my Father’s house are many rooms; I am going there to prepare a place for you.”  “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The Gospel of Luke reports the first recorded sermon that Jesus gave: “The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:  ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor’ . . .  And he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”

You see, “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” is not just a year, but an era, the Messianic Age.  The angels announced the commencement of “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” the night of Jesus’ birth, when they sang out the Good News, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” is the entire time since the first coming of Christ as the Babe of Bethlehem until his second coming at the Last Day, the era we call “A.D.,” “Anno Domini,” “The Year of Our Lord.”  And that is why, in spite of everything thing that happened last year, 2020 was in fact “The Year of the Lord’s Favor.”

We pray this morning that the New Year will indeed see the struggles of last year soon ended, and bring us better days and happier times.  But, whatever the New Year may bring, every time you write out the date 2021 remember that we are right now—spiritually—in an unending Year of Jubilee.  All debts are cancelled, meaning your sins are forgiven; all slaves are set free, meaning Satan has no claim on you; the land lies fallow, meaning you do not have to earn your salvation; and all property is returned to its original owner, meaning you belong to God, and heaven belongs to you.  “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” is now.

Paul says in 2nd Corinthians, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. . .  we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. . .  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”