“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I
will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for
David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those
days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the
name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’" Jeremiah 33:14-16
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of
times…..” These opening words from
Charles Dickens’ book “A Tale of Two Cities” could also describe the situation
of the Jewish people at the time this passage from the book of Jeremiah was
written. The Jews had been driven from
Jerusalem and were living in exile as subjects of the Babylonian empire. For Babylon, it was the best of times, as
they were the world’s superpower of the day.
For the Jews, it was the worst of times, as they lived in a foreign
land, longing for home. Disobedience to
God had brought about their exile in a foreign land. Would God be angry forever? Had God forgotten them? The exiles responded to captivity in many
ways. Some tried to seek favor with the
“powers that were” of the Babylonian empire; some became despondent; many just
tried to pick up the pieces and get on with their lives as best they could.
Into this unsettled
situation, the prophet Jeremiah spoke a word of hope. Before the exile,
Jeremiah had stood against his society’s blissful ignorance by issuing dire
warnings of God’s impending wrath at the unrighteousness of Judah’s rulers and
society. His warnings were ignored, and
Judah lost its independence. But now, in
exile, in a situation of despair, Jeremiah once again stands against society’s
despair to bring a word of hope. “In
those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for
David” – not another corrupt political hack like the rulers who had previously
led Judah astray – “and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the
land.”
Scripture reminds us that
after decades of exile, the Jews were eventually allowed to return to their
homeland. Their country still continued to exist under domination of a
succession of foreign powers – Babylon, Persia, Greece, and eventually
Rome. (Meet the new boss, not much
different from the old boss.) Luke
reminds us that at the time of Jesus’ birth “A
decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while
Quirinius was governor of Syria.” The Roman Empire was throwing its power
around. Into this situation the angels
spoke words of hope – to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and to Mary and Joseph – and
to us.
What do you
hope for? Advent is a season of hope and
expectation. As Christians we are fully
aware of all of society’s many injustices, and yet wait with hope and
expectation to see how God will intervene.
And our hope is rewarded with the birth of Jesus, the Christ Child who
will be the promised righteous Branch from David’s lineage.
“How silently,
how silently the wondrous gift is given….”
During this Advent season of waiting, amid all the many troubles of our
day, may we not lose hope and become cynical.
Rather, may we open our eyes and ears to the ways in which God is acting
in our midst. God’s interventions for
humankind often begin in small ways in out of the way places. On Christmas, to bring salvation to the
world, God did not send an army. Instead
he sent a Baby.
What gift is
God offering you this Christmas?
See you in church –
Pastor Dave
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