November 28, 2021 Advent 1
First Lesson: Jeremiah 33:14-16
14 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. 15 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. 16 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.”
Second Lesson: Luke 21:25-36
25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
On Thursday I woke up to a Thanksgiving text grateful for the five “Fs”: Family, friends, faith, delicious food and finally, you guessed it, football. A solid starting point for our gratitude list. Maria Shriver wrote this about gratitude, “Gratitude is always in the air at this time of year. I can feel it, I can sense it, and I love expressing it to the people in my life. I also love being on the receiving end of it… It’s humbling when someone expresses their love or friendship, or takes the time to make you feel seen and safe. It’s a priceless gift for which there is no Black Friday deal.” (Sunday Paper) I hope you celebrated your many blessings with family and friends praising God for all the abundance and joy we share.
This is the 400 anniversary of the feast we have come to know as Thanksgiving. The meal dates to 1621 probably in September or October when the harvest came. I was surprised to discover that a pandemic played a role in the first Thanksgiving as well. Two disparate groups came together to sign a treaty to aid the other in case of an attack. Both groups needed support. 50% of the settlers died during the first winter while the pandemic killed 90% of the indigenous people. This came to be known as the Great Dying. The meal marked a brief alliance made from necessity as much as gratitude (Smithsonian Magazine). I say this not to dampen our joy, but to realize that we have much to be grateful for and we get to be honest about how this nation came to be. It was a difficult time for our nation before we were even conceived. But that helps us to understand the messages from our two lessons this morning.
Jeremiah’s world was in a state of collapse. Jeremiah himself was in prison for preaching destruction from Assyria. Yet Jeremiah declares earlier in the chapter, “Give thanks to the Lord of hosts!” (33:11) Here we see the hope, the promise of God in the midst of difficult times. Walter Brueggermann writes that the promises of Jeremiah “join together the resolve of heaven and the future of the earth (Working Preacher, Melinda Quivik). Likewise, Jerusalem faces destruction as Luke is writing, and Jesus is offering an apocalyptic vision of God’s redemption.
So as we give thanks, as we welcome the beginning of Advent, as we prepare our hearts and minds for the arrival of God incarnate, let us consider three things: hope in God, the Righteous branch, and what we are asked to do. Hope, Branch, Do.
First let’s look at Hope. “The days are surely coming” is a promise of hope. Jeremiah uses that term 16 times offering hope in a dire situation. He promises that Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. A powerful promise to match the powerful nation threatening Israel. But if you doubt that promise he makes it clear a few verses later. “Thus says the Lord: If any of you could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night would not come at their appointed time, 21 only then could my covenant with my servant David be broken’ (Jer. 33:20-21). One commentator writes, “Jeremiah is announcing the coming of Jesus. Oh, he didn’t realize when he made this prophecy just how God would fulfill the messianic promise, but it was an announcement of Christ’s coming just the same. And like all of God’s promises, it would be fulfilled. It took 600 years, but what’s 600 years to God? A thousand years is but a day for God. The days are coming. There is an inevitability about those words. Does it mean that they are right around the corner? No, but the days are coming. Does it mean that there won’t be heartaches yet ahead? It doesn’t mean that either. But etch it in stone where it will never be forgotten: the days are coming” (Sermons.com, King Duncan). Luke speaks of this same hope, same promise, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Jesus is the fulfillment of that hope, that promise, that covenant God made with Israel and has renewed with us through Jesus. This gives us hope as we await the arrival of God’s Son.
Secondly let’s look at the branch. A few years back a volunteer plant sprouted in one of my pots. I did not know what it was but watered it and hoped it would bloom and I could figure it out. Years passed before I realized that it was not a plant but a eucalyptus tree. I know you might wonder about my horticultural prowess. One day I hope to plant it behind my house where there is a grove of eucalyptus. Plants have a way of growing in unusual places. Sprouts can emerge after a fire or when a tree is felled. Jeremiah speaks of a righteous branch that will spring up for David. This harkens back to the passage we read every Christmas from Isaiah, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jessie, a branch shall grow out of his roots” (11:1). Jesse is of course David’s father. King David sprang forth from his father’s roots. In the same way Jesus emerges in this royal lineage, he is the righteous branch that Jeremiah prophesied. The one who will execute justice and righteousness. Jesus brought forth justice and righteousness just as Amos proclaimed, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (5:24).
But that might lead you to ask why is the world not just? Tom Long writes, “Righteousness is not a sweet virtue that everybody in the world desires. Those who take advantage of others for their own gain do not want the world to be fair and just. Those who benefit from the weakness of others do not want the world to be compassionate. Much money and power are invested in maintaining injustice. If every wage were fair, if every person were honored as a child of God, if every human being were safe from exploitation, many would lose their grip on status, self-gratification, and affluence” (Thomas G. Long, Matthew: Westminster Bible Companion, p. 50).
That leads us to what we are called to do. Jesus asks us to be on guard, to be alert, to pray and to stand before the Son of Man. Yes, all of these will come to pass because it is part of God’s plan, but we have been recruited to be on Jesus’ team to be a light to the world and to shine forth God’s love. Throughout the Bible, the phrase “justice and righteousness” refers to the maintenance of what we might today call social justice, a concern to establish equitable social and economic conditions for the well-being of all in society. (Working Preacher, Margaret Odell). We are to we working towards that end, God’s end. So this advent season as we wait for baby Jesus to arrive may we make space to be of service to our community, and work to usher in justice and righteousness.
In one of my favorite classes in seminary Dr. Loder talked about a little girl named Ruby Bridges. This story reminds us of what we are to do, the hope we have in Jesus and what righteousness looks like. Ruby Bridges was just six years old when, in 1960, she was chosen as the first Black child to integrate the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Photos show the incredible courage of this little girl who was escorted to school each morning by federal marshals to protect her from the angry white parents who screamed curses, insults and threats at her each day.
Dr. Robert Coles, a child psychiatrist from Harvard, interviewed Ruby to see how she endured this dehumanizing abuse. In the interview, Ruby told Dr. Coles that she prayed for the people who threatened her and spat at her. Her mother and minister had told her that God was watching over her each day, and it was her duty to pray for and forgive the people who opposed her.
When Dr. Coles asked Ruby if she thought this advice was correct, she said, “I’m sure God knows what is happening . . . He may not do anything right now, but there will come a day, like they say in church, there will come a day. You can count on it. That’s what they say in church” (Sermons.com, King Duncan).
Jeremiah’s message the day is surely coming, is the church’s message still today. Jeremiah had a passion for righteousness and justice. He announced the coming of One who would bring righteousness and justice into the world. That One is Christ. We are Christ’s disciples. On this first Sunday in Advent we need to ask, does righteousness and justice burn within us as well? Amen.
