Grace Lutheran Church First Sunday in Advent, Dec 3, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

First Sunday in Advent “The Days Are Coming”

December 3, 2006 Jeremiah 33:14-16

False optimism and real hope can be hard to distinguish at times.

Time magazine this week published a letter to the editor that stated that talk of God foolishly looks to the past while science is about understanding the future. A person who wrote a letter to the editor of Time magazine this week said, “Science and religion seemingly cannot coexist because religion is all about the past and science is all about the future.”

For many science is filled with answers for the future. Science has a certain refinement to it, with its measurable quantities and verifiable testing. But the seeking of a real, lasting hope in science will not work. We cannot mask the frailty of the human body even with the greatest of drugs. Whether it is science or another invention of human hands, we all are susceptible to placing our trust and confidence in something other than the one true Lord God. Maybe it is the dollar in your wallet or the muscles on your arm. But while so much in this world fades away, is contradicted, perishes, or falls apart, we offer in this church a gift that does not perish, fade, or waste away. We offer at Grace a real, lasting hope, a light that shines in the darkness and is not overwhelmed. Because the gift we offer was not purchased with gold or silver but the very precious blood of Jesus Christ. We offer the gift of redemption, new life.

I know that at times the church’s message can seem contradictory to what is presently being experienced. We offer a message of hope and rebirth but at times may experience very much the opposite. Consider when Jesus came to Bethany and found that Lazarus had been in the tomb dead for four days. Martha heard that Jesus was coming so she went and met him. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus went on to comfort Martha with the real promise and hope saying, “I am the resurrection and the life, Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Jesus invited Martha to believe in the hope that through him there would be life, even as she looked and saw death. Jesus could make this promise because he is the messiah, the son of God, who is coming into the world. Instead of relying on the invention of human hands Jesus invites us to believe in his hands.

Jeremiah the prophet had given the promise of hope to the people of Israel, “Behold the days are coming, declares 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 dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”

Jeremiah spoke these words at a difficult time in the history of Jerusalem and so it is helpful to focus on a phrase that he says. Jeremiah promised, “The days are coming.” And he also says, “In those days and at that time.”

Jeremiah speaks of a real time, with real hope and confidence, but by doing so Jeremiah is also making a statement about what surrounded him. I want you to consider the context of Jeremiah giving to the people these words of promise. Jeremiah was in jail because he would not become a cheerleader for Jerusalem as they were besieged by the Babylonians. King Nebuchadnezzar and his army were battling Jerusalem at her gates. Jeremiah looked around and said that the city was a wasteland, it was a once mighty tree that they had been cut down to the stump by their sinful disobedience. In fact Jeremiah told the people to stop resisting the army of Babylon.

Zedekiah, the king of Judah, heard about Jeremiah’s words of condemnation and was furious. Zedekiah was furious that the prophet of the Lord would destroy the optimism of the city that he was working so hard to save. Zedekiah was trying to keep everyone positive even as Babylon was about to destroy the city. Zedekiah and others could never imagine Jerusalem falling to the hands of the enemy because they placed their entire hope for the future in the survival of that city. IF the city fell then their hope fell.

Jeremiah refused to be so shortsighted and see this defeat as a defeat of God and his promises. Jeremiah promised, “The days are coming.” This promise was a reminder to the people that though God would give the city and the land to the Babylonians, this was not the last word. The days are coming when people will once again look to Jerusalem and find their hope and confidence.

Zedekiah had false optimism about the city of Jerusalem. Jeremiah had a real hope in the lasting power of God’s promises that would accomplish what they say. What is the difference between false optimism and real hope?

Consider a retired couple; the wife is dying of a chronic illness and the husband can’t bear the thought of life without her. He is angry that the doctor at the last appointment said, “She’s dying, and there’s nothing more we can do.” The husband forbids this kind of talk and no one is allowed in his presence to speak this truth and the wife is never told of the severity of her condition.

False optimism, empty hope, vain promises continue when we call evil good and good evil. Our bondage to sin is real. Struggles in this world with death and dying our real. It is frustrating but true that peace and justice do not always flow in this country. But too often we desire to be silent about what is happening and pretend everything is fine. We must be honest and call evil what it is. When we expose darkness to the light of Christ’s love, the darkness will not overwhelm us.

Consider the darkness of death and suffering. Death and suffering were experienced to the fullest by our Savior Jesus Christ. The cross was a cruel form of death. But the cross and its suffering exposed to the light of Christ’s love gives us an opportunity for hope. As we understand the depth of the suffering of Jesus on the cross we also find that even there God is at work in that dark, evil Friday, that we now with confidence call Good Friday.

As followers of Jesus we have an opportunity with that husband of that dying woman to offer him hope. We offer a hope that does not fade or perish. We offer the promise that God is at work. Jesus’ promised that he is the resurrection and the life and that all who believe in him live even though he die.

Just as the context of Jeremiah’s imprisonment because of his words about Jerusalem being destroyed by the Babylonians shapes his statements of hope. The context of the second reading from 1 Thessalonians is very important. Paul longed to go and see these new Christians but was prevented and so he sent Timothy to find out how they had survived the opposition, persecution, and attacks of Satan. Timothy returned with the wonderful report that the church in Thessalonica had survived by holding to the faith. Paul urges them to continue to stand firm and not falter in their faith. Paul prayed with confidence that God would sustain them in the faith.

As Paul prayed night and day for the strength of the Thessalonians to remain, I too pray that Grace Lutheran Church does not falter. But I also know that the only way we will stand firm is by remaining firm in the Lord.

Any plan we have for transformation that relies upon our ingenuity or industry or ability to do what was done in the past, is going to fail. It will fail as surely as King Zedekiah could not stop Babylon from destroying Jerusalem. If we believe that we will find a promising future in sharing the gospel by simply holding onto the traditions of the past we will fail. St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” (Rm 12:3)

We will bring a change to this congregation by being transformed by God’s Word not by trying to redo what was done in 1956. Jeremiah promised a rebirth in Jerusalem, but it would not be through the invention of any man but by God’s promises. I believe God is at work at Grace Lutheran Church and he will continue to be at work as we lift up the cross of Christ and let him be our guiding light.

Work with me to help folks come to understand the truth about Jesus. Express the real hope and confidence of Jesus in your lives. Live with a clarity and passion and integrity with your words and actions that people will want to know more about the hope and confidence that lifts and sustains you. Become ablaze with the love of Christ and discover with me the joy of bringing the light of Christ to the darkness of sin.

Soli Deo Gloria

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