The Promises of God and His Love Are Urgent
Commentary
Jeremiah 33:14-16
The First Lesson is drawn from a book of prophecies of the late 7th – early 8th century BC Prophet of Judah dictated to his aide Baruch during the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah through the era of The Babylonian Captivity. Some of the prophet’s criticism of the house of David and The Temple, giving more attention to the Sinai Covenant or a new covenant, may relate to his being an ancestor of one of David’s high priests, Abiathar, who lost control of the Jerusalem temple and was finally banished (1 Kings 2:27). This text is a messianic oracle which closely parallels Jeremiah’s comments in 23:5-6.
Hope is expressed in the text that Yahweh’s promise to both Israel and Judah will be fulfilled and that a righteous heir of the Davidic line will emerge. It is said that he will execute justice/judgment [mishpat] and righteousness [tsedeqah] in the land (vv.14-15). “Judah and Jerusalem will live in safety [beach]. Jerusalem will have a new name – the Lord is our Righteousness.” (v.16) It is good to remind ourselves that the concept “righteousness” even in the Old Testament is not to imply that believers live in faultless conformity to some moral law. It has to do with living in right relationship with God (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.370-371). We should remember that God’s judgment in the Hebraic sense is a word of comfort, in the sense that it can cause positive outcomes and comfort in knowing that God’s just actions against the faithful have an end in sight (Ibid., pp.343,358-359).
The Christmas season and the Advent season which precedes it is a time of preparation, promise, and hope. This lesson’s word of hope offered to ancient Judah certainly fits this set of themes.
Promises are beautiful things. They give hope and happiness. This is why there is so much joy at a wedding ceremony, as we participate in the eternal promises the couple make to God and to each other. It is why there is so much joy at a graduation ceremony, as the future for the grads seems so full of promise. In fact, there does not seem to have been much promise and joy in America during the last years, with inflation, suspicions about government, the drug epidemics, and the like. Of course, with the election results at least some of us will have more hope, and even those of us whose candidate/s/ lost historically give the new president a grace period in hopes he/she can turn things around. Our present situation as a nation, then, is another reason why this text has a word for us today. We are reminded that like the people of Judah, even in these challenging times, there is hope. God has promised to give the people (to give us) what we need, promised safety (v.15b). And God does not back down on his promises.
Reference to the gift of a righteous heir of the Davidic line, (v.15a) can of course be taken as a
messianic prophecy. This message both highlights the Advent Season and also offers the comfort that the promises of salvation and safety offered in the text are already ours now that Christ has come. It is good to stress the urgency that the faithful grab hold of this Christmas hope, not forget it as Christmas and our honeymoon with the newly elected president fades in memory as we face the many challenges which still lie ahead in 2025.
Another possible avenue for the sermon (it could be related to the preceding themes) is to focus on the themes righteousness and God’s righteous judgments (see the discussion above). It is good to be reminded that for the ancient Hebrews the concept “righteousness” even in the Old Testament is not to imply that believers must live in faultless conformity to some moral law. It has to do with living in right relationship with God. Grabbing hold of the promises of God made in this lesson puts us in the kind of right relationship with God which frees us from guilt about our shortcomings and offers the joy which comes from living faithfully in long-term commitments. Advent is all about calling us to prepare for this sort of commitment.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
The Second Lesson is drawn from a likely authentic letter by Paul writing in the early 50s to a church of mostly Gentiles in as Greek city threatened by social pressures and some persecution to return to the values of secular culture. The epistle may contain fragments of several letters.
While seeking to encourage the Thessalonians in the midst of persecution (v.3), Paul expresses his affection for them. He gives thanks to them and for all the joy they have given him (v.9), claiming to pray night and day for a reunion and that they be restored with whatever is lacking in their faith (v.10). He urges that the Lord would make them increase in love for all as Paul’s love for them abounded (v.12). By implication here, we have a testimony to grace leading to works. The lesson ends with Paul’s prayer that the hearts [kardia] of the people would be strengthened in holiness [hagios] so that they might be blameless [amemptous] before the Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all our saints (v.13). It should be noted that the “heart” in Paul’s Hebraic world of thought was regarded as the controlling center of personality, not just the organ of feelings. In developing sermons on this text we should note that the text is not just about a call to love, but to an awareness that God’s love has changed our hearts to make us more loving.
Times were difficult for the Christians of first century Thessalonica. Note how like them, those of us in the faith face social pressures to conform. Secularism is having its way with Christians. While the church continues to lose ground in Europe, a Pew Research 2024 poll found that eight in ten Americans believe religion is steadily losing influence.
Paul’s formula is love. He seems to contend that an increase in love can help the faithful withstand these social pressures. It is clear that love and spirituality make you happier, as they facilitate the saturation of the front part of the brain (the left prefrontal cortex) by the pleasurable brain chemical dopamine (Dean Hamer, The God Gene, pp.72ff.) It is important to note that Paul is not so much calling on the faithful to love, but to recognize what God has done to make it happen among us. God’s love has changed our hearts, wrapped them up in a holiness that makes the very center of our being filled with love and gratitude toward God.
There is another dimension to this love implicit in our lesson. We need to remember, in the spirit of the Thessalonians expecting the end times (v.13), that love is urgent. Put someone’s love or you own love on the back-burner, and you are likely to lose it. Stop acting on the love you say you have, and it is probably gone. Put off the shopping you do for the ones you love at Christmas, and likely that love won’t be expressed. Press the congregation to take on the love God has given them and act on it right away! This is what the end times emphasis of Paul and our Gospel Lesson urge on us today. God’s love for us and our love for others is urgent!
Luke 21:25-36
The gospel is drawn from one of the synoptic gospels, the first installment of a two-part history of the church traditionally attributed to Luke, a physician and Gentile associate of Paul (Colossians 4:12; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24). Along with Acts, the author’s intention was to stress the universal mission of the church (Acts 1:8). In this text we consider Jesus’ prophecy of the coming of the Son of Man and the parable of the fig tree, offered just prior to the last supper. The account appears in the other synoptic gospels, but not in John. Only vv.34-36 are unique to Luke, and this gospel fails to note a role of angels in Jesus’ Second Coming like the other synoptic gospels do (Matthew 29:31; Mark 12:27).
Jesus begins with references to signs of sun, moon, and stars, common features of apocalyptic pronouncements in the biblical era (see Joel 2:20-32; Isaiah 13:10; 34:4). He prophesies a cosmic distress that will confuse the Gentiles (vv.25-26). The Son of Man will then appear, he proclaims (v.27). Note the characteristic Lukan identification of Jesus with the kingdom of God at this point, specifically in line with Daniel’s reference (7:13-14) in Aramaic to the Son of Man being given everlasting dominion over all. Jesus then adds that when things happen, redemption [apolutrosis, a loosing away] (see 1:68; 238) will be near (v.28).
The parable which follows illustrates the urgency of preparation. As when the fig tree sprouts, summer is near, so as the prophecies offered transpire, the kingdom of God is near (vv.29-31). It seems that this will be a redemption for all from tribulation. Jesus pledges that the present generation will not pass away until all these things take place (v.32). Heaven and earth will pass away, but not his words (v.33). (The prophecy seems consistent with the other synoptic gospels. This will be a time of Gentiles, for the fall of Jerusalem seems prophesied in v.32.) Next follows exhortation that the disciples not be weighed with drunkenness and the worries of life (v.34). This comes upon all, it is said (v.35). Instead, we are told to be alert, praying for strength to escape all these things and stand before the Son of Man, confident about his judgment (v.36). This concept that judgment by the Lord is a word of comfort for the faithful is in line with Jewish thinking (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, p.358). New Testament scholar Eduard Schweizer claims that this point entails that the end does not come at a future time but determines life in the present (The Good News According To Luke, p.333).
At least two distinct options for sermons emerge from this text. On the one hand, we might focus on the Second Coming, on the cues this text offers regarding what it will be like. It seems from this text like things have to get worse before they get better, before Christ comes to reign. (The text is clearly a prime pillar of the teaching of pre-millenialism for those so inclined.) And that can be a comforting word for us in these challenging times to be alive (what with all the international conflicts, economic challenges, and ecological bad news). But I contend, more in the spirit of the early disciples, that Jesus’ point is to stress that the vision of the end, of God’s judgment, can determine everyday life in the here and now. We need to be prepared for Jesus’ coming into our lives. That is after all what Advent is all about.
Many New Testament scholars speak of Jesus and the first disciples believing that the end of time was on the horizon (v.32). We might say that much of what Jesus predicted as precursors to his second coming have been transpiring for the last 2,000 years (see vv.9-12,16-17,20,23b,25-26). Many scholars also agree that we have been in the end time since Jesus’ incarnation (Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology, p.81). If we are, then anytime good happens or God and Jesus have their way, we are encountering him, no less than his followers did in his first incarnation. Our Lord promises us a future that will be better than today. This is a lesson for sermons on not putting off til tomorrow what you can do today, for doing the right thing now, not tomorrow. Martin Luther King Jr. was correct when he spoke of the ”fierce urgency of the new.” (A Call to Conscience, p.162).
In this season of Advent preparation, all of the lessons stress the urgency of being prepared, but also offer the assurance that God’s promises can be trusted, and that this assurance and divine love can get us through the tough the times we now face. Preachers do well to prepare sermons on these themes.
The First Lesson is drawn from a book of prophecies of the late 7th – early 8th century BC Prophet of Judah dictated to his aide Baruch during the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah through the era of The Babylonian Captivity. Some of the prophet’s criticism of the house of David and The Temple, giving more attention to the Sinai Covenant or a new covenant, may relate to his being an ancestor of one of David’s high priests, Abiathar, who lost control of the Jerusalem temple and was finally banished (1 Kings 2:27). This text is a messianic oracle which closely parallels Jeremiah’s comments in 23:5-6.
Hope is expressed in the text that Yahweh’s promise to both Israel and Judah will be fulfilled and that a righteous heir of the Davidic line will emerge. It is said that he will execute justice/judgment [mishpat] and righteousness [tsedeqah] in the land (vv.14-15). “Judah and Jerusalem will live in safety [beach]. Jerusalem will have a new name – the Lord is our Righteousness.” (v.16) It is good to remind ourselves that the concept “righteousness” even in the Old Testament is not to imply that believers live in faultless conformity to some moral law. It has to do with living in right relationship with God (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.370-371). We should remember that God’s judgment in the Hebraic sense is a word of comfort, in the sense that it can cause positive outcomes and comfort in knowing that God’s just actions against the faithful have an end in sight (Ibid., pp.343,358-359).
The Christmas season and the Advent season which precedes it is a time of preparation, promise, and hope. This lesson’s word of hope offered to ancient Judah certainly fits this set of themes.
Promises are beautiful things. They give hope and happiness. This is why there is so much joy at a wedding ceremony, as we participate in the eternal promises the couple make to God and to each other. It is why there is so much joy at a graduation ceremony, as the future for the grads seems so full of promise. In fact, there does not seem to have been much promise and joy in America during the last years, with inflation, suspicions about government, the drug epidemics, and the like. Of course, with the election results at least some of us will have more hope, and even those of us whose candidate/s/ lost historically give the new president a grace period in hopes he/she can turn things around. Our present situation as a nation, then, is another reason why this text has a word for us today. We are reminded that like the people of Judah, even in these challenging times, there is hope. God has promised to give the people (to give us) what we need, promised safety (v.15b). And God does not back down on his promises.
Reference to the gift of a righteous heir of the Davidic line, (v.15a) can of course be taken as a
messianic prophecy. This message both highlights the Advent Season and also offers the comfort that the promises of salvation and safety offered in the text are already ours now that Christ has come. It is good to stress the urgency that the faithful grab hold of this Christmas hope, not forget it as Christmas and our honeymoon with the newly elected president fades in memory as we face the many challenges which still lie ahead in 2025.
Another possible avenue for the sermon (it could be related to the preceding themes) is to focus on the themes righteousness and God’s righteous judgments (see the discussion above). It is good to be reminded that for the ancient Hebrews the concept “righteousness” even in the Old Testament is not to imply that believers must live in faultless conformity to some moral law. It has to do with living in right relationship with God. Grabbing hold of the promises of God made in this lesson puts us in the kind of right relationship with God which frees us from guilt about our shortcomings and offers the joy which comes from living faithfully in long-term commitments. Advent is all about calling us to prepare for this sort of commitment.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
The Second Lesson is drawn from a likely authentic letter by Paul writing in the early 50s to a church of mostly Gentiles in as Greek city threatened by social pressures and some persecution to return to the values of secular culture. The epistle may contain fragments of several letters.
While seeking to encourage the Thessalonians in the midst of persecution (v.3), Paul expresses his affection for them. He gives thanks to them and for all the joy they have given him (v.9), claiming to pray night and day for a reunion and that they be restored with whatever is lacking in their faith (v.10). He urges that the Lord would make them increase in love for all as Paul’s love for them abounded (v.12). By implication here, we have a testimony to grace leading to works. The lesson ends with Paul’s prayer that the hearts [kardia] of the people would be strengthened in holiness [hagios] so that they might be blameless [amemptous] before the Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all our saints (v.13). It should be noted that the “heart” in Paul’s Hebraic world of thought was regarded as the controlling center of personality, not just the organ of feelings. In developing sermons on this text we should note that the text is not just about a call to love, but to an awareness that God’s love has changed our hearts to make us more loving.
Times were difficult for the Christians of first century Thessalonica. Note how like them, those of us in the faith face social pressures to conform. Secularism is having its way with Christians. While the church continues to lose ground in Europe, a Pew Research 2024 poll found that eight in ten Americans believe religion is steadily losing influence.
Paul’s formula is love. He seems to contend that an increase in love can help the faithful withstand these social pressures. It is clear that love and spirituality make you happier, as they facilitate the saturation of the front part of the brain (the left prefrontal cortex) by the pleasurable brain chemical dopamine (Dean Hamer, The God Gene, pp.72ff.) It is important to note that Paul is not so much calling on the faithful to love, but to recognize what God has done to make it happen among us. God’s love has changed our hearts, wrapped them up in a holiness that makes the very center of our being filled with love and gratitude toward God.
There is another dimension to this love implicit in our lesson. We need to remember, in the spirit of the Thessalonians expecting the end times (v.13), that love is urgent. Put someone’s love or you own love on the back-burner, and you are likely to lose it. Stop acting on the love you say you have, and it is probably gone. Put off the shopping you do for the ones you love at Christmas, and likely that love won’t be expressed. Press the congregation to take on the love God has given them and act on it right away! This is what the end times emphasis of Paul and our Gospel Lesson urge on us today. God’s love for us and our love for others is urgent!
Luke 21:25-36
The gospel is drawn from one of the synoptic gospels, the first installment of a two-part history of the church traditionally attributed to Luke, a physician and Gentile associate of Paul (Colossians 4:12; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24). Along with Acts, the author’s intention was to stress the universal mission of the church (Acts 1:8). In this text we consider Jesus’ prophecy of the coming of the Son of Man and the parable of the fig tree, offered just prior to the last supper. The account appears in the other synoptic gospels, but not in John. Only vv.34-36 are unique to Luke, and this gospel fails to note a role of angels in Jesus’ Second Coming like the other synoptic gospels do (Matthew 29:31; Mark 12:27).
Jesus begins with references to signs of sun, moon, and stars, common features of apocalyptic pronouncements in the biblical era (see Joel 2:20-32; Isaiah 13:10; 34:4). He prophesies a cosmic distress that will confuse the Gentiles (vv.25-26). The Son of Man will then appear, he proclaims (v.27). Note the characteristic Lukan identification of Jesus with the kingdom of God at this point, specifically in line with Daniel’s reference (7:13-14) in Aramaic to the Son of Man being given everlasting dominion over all. Jesus then adds that when things happen, redemption [apolutrosis, a loosing away] (see 1:68; 238) will be near (v.28).
The parable which follows illustrates the urgency of preparation. As when the fig tree sprouts, summer is near, so as the prophecies offered transpire, the kingdom of God is near (vv.29-31). It seems that this will be a redemption for all from tribulation. Jesus pledges that the present generation will not pass away until all these things take place (v.32). Heaven and earth will pass away, but not his words (v.33). (The prophecy seems consistent with the other synoptic gospels. This will be a time of Gentiles, for the fall of Jerusalem seems prophesied in v.32.) Next follows exhortation that the disciples not be weighed with drunkenness and the worries of life (v.34). This comes upon all, it is said (v.35). Instead, we are told to be alert, praying for strength to escape all these things and stand before the Son of Man, confident about his judgment (v.36). This concept that judgment by the Lord is a word of comfort for the faithful is in line with Jewish thinking (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, p.358). New Testament scholar Eduard Schweizer claims that this point entails that the end does not come at a future time but determines life in the present (The Good News According To Luke, p.333).
At least two distinct options for sermons emerge from this text. On the one hand, we might focus on the Second Coming, on the cues this text offers regarding what it will be like. It seems from this text like things have to get worse before they get better, before Christ comes to reign. (The text is clearly a prime pillar of the teaching of pre-millenialism for those so inclined.) And that can be a comforting word for us in these challenging times to be alive (what with all the international conflicts, economic challenges, and ecological bad news). But I contend, more in the spirit of the early disciples, that Jesus’ point is to stress that the vision of the end, of God’s judgment, can determine everyday life in the here and now. We need to be prepared for Jesus’ coming into our lives. That is after all what Advent is all about.
Many New Testament scholars speak of Jesus and the first disciples believing that the end of time was on the horizon (v.32). We might say that much of what Jesus predicted as precursors to his second coming have been transpiring for the last 2,000 years (see vv.9-12,16-17,20,23b,25-26). Many scholars also agree that we have been in the end time since Jesus’ incarnation (Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology, p.81). If we are, then anytime good happens or God and Jesus have their way, we are encountering him, no less than his followers did in his first incarnation. Our Lord promises us a future that will be better than today. This is a lesson for sermons on not putting off til tomorrow what you can do today, for doing the right thing now, not tomorrow. Martin Luther King Jr. was correct when he spoke of the ”fierce urgency of the new.” (A Call to Conscience, p.162).
In this season of Advent preparation, all of the lessons stress the urgency of being prepared, but also offer the assurance that God’s promises can be trusted, and that this assurance and divine love can get us through the tough the times we now face. Preachers do well to prepare sermons on these themes.
