Sermon For The First Sunday of Advent: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem
by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Advent I C: Preached at St. John’s Lancaster 2^nd December, 2012
Jeremiah 33:14-16

It is fitting that we should begin our observance of this Advent Season with the Prophecies of Blessed Jeremiah. He was born in the best of times, when good King Josiah led the people to renewal and revival through the study of the Scriptures and the cleansing of the land of the outward signs of idolatry. But war clouds loomed as the instability of Assyria, the rise of Babylon, and the lawlessness of the Scythian tribes led Egypt, the great southern power, to attempt the re-establishment of stability and peace in the region she had so long dominated economically and politically. In 609 King Josiah led Judah into a disastrous war against Egypt as he sought to play the great powers against each other in a bid to increase Judean security. He was killed as Pharaoh Necho swept aside the forces of Judea and the allied northern tribes.

By the time of today’s first lesson, about 588 or 587 BC, it was obvious to everyone in the region that Babylon would be triumphant, and that Judah, already a vassal, would at best maintain that position. With the economy in shambles, civic life destroyed, and Babylonian armies ravaging the rebellious cities around Jerusalem, Jeremiah found himself imprisoned by the faithless King Zedekiah because he had denounced the false prophets who counseled alliance with Egypt, and called for submission to the Babylonians. Jeremiah, who had been reluctant to speak out at first, had ultimately been faithful to God, and as his world seemed to vanish around him, he saw through the destruction and agony and understood more clearly than ever the certainty of the promises of a loving Heavenly Father.

I have always been amused and a little bit frustrated when organizations or individuals make high sounding resolutions or statements in the face of injustice or unrighteousness, but are unwilling to risk anything but words to live out their prophetic zeal. Words are cheap, and reformers who avoid personal risk and expense are a rather piteous sight, perhaps even an embarrassment to themselves and those who care for them. Jeremiah was no such man. With the city besieged and the country in flames, he said that after the destruction and coming captivity in Babylon, God would restore his people, the people with whom he had established his everlasting covenant. He maintained against all odds that the prophesy would be fulfilled, and that a descendant of David would indeed sit upon David’s throne and reign with justice and equity. To demonstrate his faith in the fulfillment of God’s promises, he went out and paid cash for a piece of property, knowing that he would never inhabit it himself, but that those exiles would one day return, and the title and deed to that property would pass to them. They would live in this sacred land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He could have run to Egypt and cried out for justice. Many did. But he chose to stay in obedience to God. He chose to put his money where his mouth was, knowing he would in the short term lose it all. And he chose to do the right thing, even though it landed him in prison and caused his countrymen to denounce him as a traitor.

And what was this message that was so important that it was worth risking everything to proclaim it?  It was that even in the midst of our greatest nightmare. Even in the midst of our deepest loneliness. Even in the midst of our greatest uncertainty and tribulation. “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.” (Jeremiah 33:14-16)

The message of Advent is that we believe this promise to be true. The message of Christmas is that we believe that it is accomplished in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, the Word made flesh, who came into the world from God the Father, via the agency of God the Holy Ghost, through the obedience of Mary the Virgin, the God-Bearer. We believe that this prophesy, given to God’s people in the darkest of times, has been fulfilled, that it has brought to us reconciliation with God, and that in it we can see beyond the difficulties and vicissitudes of our own lives to the final consummation of his Kingdom when he comes again to receive us as his own. On that day blessed Michael will lead the armies of God. And Satan and sin, evil and injustice, rebellion and unrighteousness will be cast into the pit forever. Jesus Christ the Son of God and of Mary the Virgin, will publicly ascend the throne of David and usher in his promised reign at the end of the age. He shall wipe away every tear from our eyes. He will bring us healing and peace. And he will grant us true joy and fullness and life everlasting.

Jesus Christ has triumphed over hell and death and the grave to inaugurate his reign. He now sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding for you and for me. He demonstrated to us during the thirty three years of his life among us that he understands the burdens we bear and the trials we face. The Father has sent to us as individuals and as a Church the Blessed Holy Spirit that we might do the work to which we are called. And now King Jesus sends us into the wider world to proclaim the message of Jeremiah and of all the prophets to all who are made in the image of God. In the midst of your sorrows and your sufferings and your aloneness; in the mist of evil and rebellion and guilt and shame; in the face of sin and hell and Satan himself, we proclaim to all the peoples of the Earth that our Heavenly Father loved us so very, very much that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to offer us the free gift of reconciliation to God with all of the rights and privileges pertaining thereto. He offers to each of us, to all of us cleansing, and belonging, and acceptance as his own adopted sons and daughters. He makes it possible for all of us to be known as the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, our master and our friend.

We best proclaim this message to those who walk apart from God and the hope of his promise when we live the faith as if we truly believe it. We name Jesus as our Saviour in our words and in our actions. In our humility and by our obedience to the clear teachings of the Bible, we demonstrate the nature of the coming reign of Christ. In the love we show to others, and the forgiveness we offer to those who wrong us, we show the nature of God to those who have not yet known him. As our lives are transformed into what God would have us to be, people wandering in darkness and sin have the opportunity to see that God will transform them even as he has transformed us into the very image of Christ.

On this first Sunday of Advent, in the year of our Lord 2012, commit with me to live into this promise that God gave to all of us through Jeremiah, his prophet. Might we, like him, experience the friendship of God in spite of the difficulties around us, so that everyone we meet might find the hope, and the purpose, and the forgiveness, and the peace that we have found in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the Son of David, and David’s Lord, the fulfillment of all the prophesies and all the hopes of every nation and every tribe. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN.