Zephaniah 3:14-20; Luke 3:7-18
Presented December 17th, 2006, by J.D. Kline
The Third Sunday of Advent
Some years ago, in the customary pattern, the following Sunday’s sermon and scripture text were listed in the bulletin, with the text coming from the prophet Zephaniah. A long-time member of the congregation I was then serving came to me following the worship service, pointing to the listed scripture text and asking if this was a test to see who was paying attention. “There’s not really a book in the Bible named Zephaniah, is there?” this member asked.
Indeed, there is a brief three-chapter book in the Hebrew Scriptures based on the oracles of a 7th century BC prophet by the name of Zephaniah ben Cushi. Zephaniah ministered in Jerusalem in the early 600s BC, offering words of judgment against the Judean people’s unfaithfulness. These were the days before the collapse of Jerusalem and the subsequent period of exile, that time of deep disillusionment and despair when much of the ancient Jewish community was forced to live in Babylon. Yet Zephaniah expects that something much like the exile could well occur. It seems surprising, then, that in the middle of the final chapter, there is an abrupt shift from a message of judgment and doom to words of hope and joy. The prophet envisions a time, following the period of judgment, when God will do something markedly new, when God will be with the people in a fresh way. Cries out Zephaniah,
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.
The Lord, your God, is in your midst…
God will rejoice over you in gladness,
God will renew you in love;
God will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival (3:16-18a).
For the Christian community, Zephaniah’s words of hope and joy appropriately point forward to the coming of Jesus, to the gift of Immanuel, God-with-us, the one who rejoices over us in gladness and decides to enter fully into our humanity. As Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into our neighborhood” (John 1:14)—God choosing to live among us, in the very thick of human life.
Speaking for God, the prophet Zephaniah continues,
I will save the lame and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord (3:19-20).
Fast forward several centuries, to the days of John the Baptist preparing the way for Christ’s coming. Much like the prophet Zephaniah, John the Baptist begins his ministry by thundering words of judgment. The Message paraphrases the strident message of John this way:
Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin. And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life (Luke 3:7-9).
The Baptist got this much right—what counts is the quality of our lives. We need a thoroughgoing change of heart, a sweeping transformation of spirit, a radical shift in the direction of our lives. John got it wrong in his apparent certainty that he could threaten and cajole and frighten people into this kind of deep-seated renovation of life. But where John was correct is in his clear call to ethical living, a call to reverse the spiraling disparity of his day between the rich and the poor. Intriguing how little progress we have made, isn’t it? For we still desperately need to hear the call to a life of compassion. If you have two coats, give one away. If you have food to share, then share it ungrudgingly. Do not be in the business of extorting others.
Ours lives are transformed, we have come to believe, when we are empowered by the spirit of Christ. Problem is, we’re far better at speaking about transformation than we are at living it! And so we continue to find ourselves deeply troubled by the disparity between life as it is and life as it ought to be. Our Jewish brothers and sisters continue to await the promised Messiah, and their ongoing question is, “Since the world is so evil, why does the Messiah not come?” For those of us who believe that Jesus has come as the Christ, our question is somewhat reversed. “Since the Messiah has come,” we ask ourselves, “why does there continue to be so much evil in the world?” In other words, what are the signs that God has indeed moved into our neighborhood, that our lives have been touched by the Redeemer?
Henri Nouwen used to tell an old story from the Jewish Talmud entitled “The Fugitive and the Rabbi.” According to the story, one day a young fugitive, trying to hide himself from the enemy, entered a small village. The people were kind to him and offered him a place to stay. But when the soldiers who sought the fugitive arrived, asking where he was hiding, everyone became very fearful. The soldiers threatened to burn the entire village and kill every person in it unless the young man was handed over to them before dawn of the next morning.
The people went to the rabbi and asked him what to do. Torn between handing the young fugitive over to the enemy and having his entire community killed, the rabbi withdrew to his room and read the Bible, hoping to find an answer before dawn. In the early morning, the rabbi’s eyes fell upon the words, “It is better that one man dies than that the whole people be lost.”
The rabbi closed the Bible, called the soldiers, and told them where the boy was hidden. And after the soldiers led the fugitive away to be killed, there was a feast in the village because the rabbi had saved the lives of the people. But the rabbi did not celebrate. Overcome with sadness, the rabbi remained alone in his room. That night an angel came to him and asked, “What have you done?” The rabbi explained, “I have handed over the fugitive to the enemy.” The angel then responded, “But don’t you know that you have handed over the Messiah?” “How could I know?” the rabbi replied anxiously. “If, instead of reading your Bible,” asserted the angel, “you had visited this young man just once and looked into his eyes, you would have known.”
Looking deeply into the eyes of those we encounter along life’s way. Looking deeply at life and its possibilities; discerning the presence of goodness and grace, compassion and peace, even in the very midst of life’s struggles—are these not central means of embracing our call to live in the light of God’s unfolding kingdom on earth? And that call stands at the heart of Jesus’ message and ministry. At the very beginning of his ministry, the Gospel writer Mark tells us, Jesus proclaims, “The kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). Other translations put it, “The kingdom of God is at hand” (RSV); “The kingdom of God is upon you” (NEB); “The kingdom of God is close at hand” (JB); “The kingdom of God has arrived” (Phillips).
Robert McAfee Brown asserts in his book Spirituality and Liberation,
The world isn’t suddenly transformed into God’s realm the moment he speaks those words [the kingdom of God is at hand], but from that moment on the world has to be looked at in a new way, not as alien territory to be shunned or only warily entered but as a homeland to be embraced in joy, since it is the arena of much more than meets the eye, and all the ordinary things going on around us are full of a significance we had not previously imagined.
The arena of much more than meets the eye. Learning to live now as if God’s realm were fully open before us. Embracing Christ’s way of compassion and peace, servanthood and self-giving love, mercy and grace, justice and right living. Seeking to incarnate God’s love in our relationships and in our daily encounters. Looking deeply into the eyes of those we meet along life’s way. Discerning God’s presence in the midst of ordinary life. Trusting that the God who has chosen to move into our neighborhood is able, even now, to transform our hearts, our spirits, our very lives.
This is what it means for us to live now in the light of God’s kingdom. “Rejoice and exult with all your heart …Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst …God will rejoice over you with gladness, God will renew you in love; God will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival” (Zephaniah 3:15, 17-19). Thanks be to God. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer
Holy and gracious God, life is indeed a peculiar mixture of grief and hope, loss and joy, struggle and promise. In this Advent season when we anticipate anew the gift of Christ’s coming, we are especially mindful of our yearnings for a fuller taste of life in your realm, your kingdom that promises new life, new beginnings, new hope. Many of us know all too well the reality of grief, the disappointment of broken relationships, the uncertainty and the fragility of life. Speak to us, loving God, words of hope that touch our hearts afresh with strength, peace, and comfort.
Forgiving God, we acknowledge that there are times when we do things that hurt and harm one another. We are rightly concerned about the destructiveness and pain and waste of warfare, yet sometimes find ourselves battling with the very people we love the most. We carry a thirst for justice and right relationships deep within us, yet sometimes treat those around us with indifference and even contempt. Forgive us, holy God, and fill us with wisdom and courage to walk in the pathways you set before us.
God of healing and wholeness, we pray your blessing upon those who are alone this Christmas season, those who are homeless, those who are struggling with emotional and spiritual issues in their lives. Grant us sensitive hearts, so that we might be messengers of your hope and grace.
Hear us now as we pray for those in special need of your healing touch…
God of peace, bring healing and wholeness to our divided world. Bring peace to Iraq, Sudan, Israel and Palestine, other troubled areas of our world. Grant us vision to be your reconcilers, servants, peacemakers, and ambassadors of love. We pray in the name and spirit of the One whose birth we celebrate, at Bethlehem and in our hearts. Amen.