PROPERS: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C
TEXT: JEREMIAH 33:14-16
PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2021.
ONE SENTENCE: Jeremiah is a herald of the overarching trajectory of God’s rule in creation.
We are here at the dawn of a new year – this being the First Sunday of Advent.
Scripture is the lens through which we view sacred history – what German theologians called Heilsgeschichte. The term differentiates holy history from run-of-the-mill history; God’s movement through history, as opposed to the day-to-day events reported on the news.
There are different ways people view and understand scripture. Many see a highly-complex text that is best understood by respecting and applying every single detail – from the details of Levitical and Deuteronomic laws, to the ethical teaching of the New Testament, both from Jesus and Paul. And where there is conflict between the sources, various factors come into play determining the ultimate understanding.
It can result – not necessarily does result – in walking through an ethical minefield. It resurrects for Christians a modern halakah, the Jewish legal interpretation with which Jesus wrestled throughout his ministry.
The result can be a complex ethical or moral menu from which we make our choices.
Our presiding bishop, Michael Curry, argues for a much more simple approach, a Law of Love, which says that if our decisions and actions are not about love, they are not about God.
No doubt, history – whether sacred or not – is very complex and poses conflicts to the best-intentioned person. That is the nature of being human.
I would argue that sacred history – the story of God’s movement in history as described in scripture – is pretty simple. It is this: Scripture is the recounting of God’s movement throughout time; calling to people, making covenant with people, showing his relentless love, calling to us again and again, even when we rebel and seek to do our own will. For sure, the Bible tells of twists and turns, but that is the overarching narrative.
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The ancient prophet Jeremiah saw that trajectory from the darkness of imprisonment.
The setting of the first lesson today was Jeremiah’s confinement inside the walled city of Jerusalem. His captivity was the price of his critique of the king and ruling class which dominated Jerusalem and the land of Judah.
Jeremiah had not pulled his punches. He was a critic of the king, of the government, of greedy priests, and of the religious hierarchy.
The city in which he was captive was surrounded and besieged by the armies of Babylon. In a short time, the armies would attack. They would lay waste to the Holy City. Blood would run in the streets. Solomon’s Temple would be razed to its foundations.
These were portentous days for Jerusalem. But in the dankness of his cell, Jeremiah saw hope:
“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.’"
What the prophet Jeremiah saw from the darkness of that experience was a new day somewhere over the far horizon. That new day would come centuries later. After Jerusalem had been laid waste. After the Temple had been destroyed. After the city’s inhabitants had been taken into exile.
His own life would face upheaval. He would be taken into Babylon – and treated kindly. He would ultimately be taken to Egypt, where he would die. He would not realize his own prophecy.
Jeremiah may not have known it, but his vision was more than 500 years away. The fulfillment of his vision’s promises is the reason we observe Advent today. The promises were coming, are coming, and are here.
“O come, o come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel…” and all of creation.
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