For thus says
the LORD:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
"Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of
Israel."
8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the
north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor,
together; a great company, they shall return here.
9 With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock."
11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the
LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for
sorrow.
14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says
the LORD.
Year ABC
2nd
Sunday After Christmas
January 3, 2016
Cross~Wind:
Title: God: The
Mover
Introduction
Jeremiah envisions a change of address, as the exile in Babylon will
end and the people return to Israel. As God scatter Israel among the nations,
God will bring them back.
Let us talk a bit, on this first Sunday of the year, about moving. Most
of us want to see some movement in our lives. We keep pushing forward. We may
already have some things on our calendars to which we look forward.
Does moving this year mean physical movement for you? It might.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 16.9 million Americans changed
their addresses in 2012 as the recession eased, with 7 million of those moves
taking place from one state to another, which was up 5 percent from 2010. The average
American will move 11.3 times in his or her lifetime. I realized that I had
that many moves by the time I was 18 years old. I am sure that given college
and seminary, and being a UM pastor, it is much higher than that today. A lot
of this moving around is due to work. This means that a company that moves an
employee often offers some relocation benefits to make the transition easier.
All of this is good news if you are a new hire, or if the company decides it
needs you elsewhere. It sure beats loading up a U-Haul. A good relocation
package can make all the difference if you are transitioning to a new place.
Let me pause for just a moment. My time in Indiana has been full of
moving. I had a student appointment in southern Indiana near Madison. I went to
a small town outside New Albany, “the sunnyside of Louisville,” as they say
down there. Each time I moved, one of the things on my mind was that we might
have to move again. It was an opportunity to throw out stuff, making sure the
stuff we had was what we needed. Of course, books were so hard to let go, but I
have been doing that as well. I invited a young clergy colleague to come and
look through my books. He took a bunch of them! What a joy to share them.
God is a mover. In the Bible, God is constantly calling the people of
God to move into new territory. Often, of course, it was quite literal movement
from one place to another.
Recall Joseph's statement to his brothers: "So it was not you who sent me here, but God" (Genesis 45:8).
- Abraham moved from
Mesopotamia to Canaan on God's promise of a family and a home.
- Jacob moved to
Egypt in a time of famine.
- Moses moved the
Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery and back to Canaan.
- Ruth moved from
Moab to Judah.
- Perhaps the most
traumatic move of all: The Jews were taken from their homeland and deported to
Babylon to live in exile, which is the link with our passage this morning.
- Joseph moved his
family (Mary and Jesus) to Egypt for a couple years.
- The apostle Paul
was always on the go.
None of these moves were easy -- no help in packing or unpacking. They
had no moving truck and professional movers to help them. They had to make do
with ox carts, camels and donkeys. They had to reduce life to what they could
carry on their backs.
However, despite the difficult relocation, God, the Mover, provided the
people of God with a package that rivals anything you might find on a
relocation offer sheet today, because God is in the relocation business. We are
creatures of time. We keep moving through life. The “relocation” we need might
be space or physical, but far more importantly, it will be spiritual. The
beauty of it is that God is an expert at this! God is an expert at relocating
people spiritually.
Let us spend a bit of time
reflecting upon this thought as we begin the year.
Application
1. God the Mover takes care of our stuff.
God may not handle our stuff the way we want. In fact, we may lose some
of our baggage. Yet, if God is the Mover, and God loses our baggage, then it is
best that it stay lost. We should leave some baggage behind.
Packing light is an art few of us master.
When I was in Plainfield as an associate pastor, I had a year when I
went through the process of reducing my stuff. In fact, it led to a sermon
around this time of the year around the theme of what to throw away and what to
keep. That year, the stack of things to throw away was large. One of the items
was a popcorn popper. That may not seem like much, but it had many memories. A
bunch of single guys on the third floor of the administration building at
Asbury had a popper. When someone started the corn, it was amazing how people
just drifted down the hallway. It was great time for building friendships and
laughter. I inherited that popper. I had kept it around, by then, for ten years.
It was old. We bought a new popper. It was time for the old popper to go. At
least, I thought so at the time. Even this Christmas, as my oldest son
reflected on the past, asked me, again, what happened to that popper. I guess
we need to be careful what we throw away.
2. The Mover takes care of the expenses.
As you move through the year, remember that grace, the unmerited favor,
of God, has taken care of the expenses of the journey. Your redemption does not
rely upon you.
3. The Mover offers 24/7 access
if you have questions.
As you move through the year, rely upon prayer and reflection upon the
Bible. In our Men’s Group, we call this Quiet Time that we spend with the Bible
and prayer. We ask questions of the Bible. We offer worship, we admit our failings,
and we make our requests known to God. Make sure that you take advantage of the
access to God that you already have.
4. The Mover offers certain guarantees:
the promises of God. Let us remind ourselves of some of the promises.
II Thessalonians 3:3;
But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen
you and guard you from the evil one
Isaiah 26:3,
Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—
in
peace because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for
in the Lord God
you have an everlasting rock.
Philippians 4:7;
And the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
John 14:27.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
5. Finally, God the Mover offers to accompany you on the journey.
The big example of this is when Moses led the Hebrew people out of
Egypt. God went with them. A cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night
indicated the presence of God.
The Exodus is a template for how God relocates people. God makes the
move with God's people. It is just how God rolls. It is Standard Operating
Procedure. God asks us to go -- God goes with us.
"When
you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they
shall not overwhelm you, for I am the LORD your God (Isaiah 43:3); "And remember, I am with you always, until
the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
Let us think for a moment about home.
The exiles in Babylon, I am sure, wanted to go home. The Persians, who
defeated the Babylonians, allowed them to go home. Of course, some stayed in
Babylon, but many went on the difficult and dangerous journey home.
Yet, they did not return to any home they or the ancestors ever knew.
Israel still lived under Persian rule. It must have felt like moving from once
being a prosperous homeowner, to now being a renter of your former house.
Things had changed.
The constant in their life as the people of God was not the place. The
constant was God. They could return to the physical land, of course, but most
important to God was that they return “home” to a faithful relationship with
God. The relocation of their physical address was not near as important as
relocating their spiritual friendship with God.
As we gather on this first Sunday of the year, we may think of moving
ahead and making some changes. Some of us may be thinking about a change of
address. Jeremiah reminds us that that our first move is to rely upon the
promise of God.
Many Christians in America wrestle with an image of how Christianity
needs to relate to the increasing secularity of this culture. One possible
image is that of the exile. If so, Christianity is more like a remnant within
the culture. If so, we need to rely far more upon God than upon our culture for
help in the journey. Like the exiles, we may need to acknowledge that we have
been blind to the vision God has for us, acknowledge our attempts to do things
our way, and realize our need for new birth and the guiding hand of the
shepherd.
During this time of year, we often think of going home for Christmas. I
have not thought that for a long time, since my mom and dad died. I have not
had a Minnesota address for a long time. Still, the image is a beautiful one. What
would it mean to go home for Christmas? Home is where Christ is.
Conclusion
If we want to be better disciples in the coming year, we must begin by
relocating ourselves closer to God in believing, growing, and going forth to
witness to the love and grace of God. For some of us, the physical address
might change. More than that, as we begin the journey of yet another year, we
need to know that God is with us in the journey. When we allow God to be the
one who moves us, we properly relocate ourselves spiritually. We come home –
with God.
In
verse 11, we read that the Lord has redeemed “Jacob,” Israel, “from hands too
strong for him.” You may well face a situation like that this year. When you
have reached the end of your efforts, please remember that God is not at the
end of the power and strength that God can give you.
Going deeper
Jeremiah 31:7-14 has the theme of the homecoming and
future faithfulness of Israel. The text is part of the Book of Consolation in
Chapters 30-33.
Jeremiah 31:7-14
For thus says the
LORD:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
"Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of
Israel."
8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of the
north, [a reference to the route exiles would have to take
from Babylon]
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor,
together; a great company, they shall return here.
9 With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,[In such a statement, says Pannenberg, we find a
prefiguration of the incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus Christ. The basic
filial relationship suggested between the Son and the Father finds intimation
in the extension of the notion of son to the covenant people, such as we find
here in reference to the exodus tradition.[1]]
and Ephraim [a reference to the northern kingdom]
is my firstborn. [The role of the firstborn is one of great privilege. Here
are themes similar to that which we find in II Isaiah, especially 35, 40:3-5,
41:18-20, 42:16, 43:1-7, 44:3-4, 48:20-21, and 49:9-13. The Lord is gathering
the people from throughout the earth and is leading them on a new Exodus. All this noise and exultation is
part of a grand procession Jeremiah envisions -- a procession of triumph by the
Diaspora Israel that reverses the path taken by the Babylonian destroyers. The
march back toward Zion acts to reverse Israel's fate, undoing the conqueror's
momentary triumph.]
10 Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock."
11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. [Here are themes quite consistent with that of II Isaiah.
They could not liberate themselves! The Lord is the one who buys them back.]
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again. [The prophet shifts focus to new abundance in the
agricultural life of the restored land. The time of scarcity and poverty is
over. An emphasis we find in Isaiah 60:5 and 58:11, both from III Isaiah.]
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 [Further, the prophet
envisions restoration of their worship life]
I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the
LORD.
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