Calamity And Hope
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series II, Cycle C
The little book of Joel has a big part to play in the overall story of the Hebrew Scripture. Its purpose is to warn of God's impending judgment against the people of Judah because of their sins, and to urge them to turn back to God. The book is written by Joel, the son of Pethuel, and it is directed toward the southern kingdom, and God's people everywhere.
The book itself is one of the literary gems of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is written and built up with care and dramatic effect. There are surely other prophets who write with greater passion and greater power; but there is hardly a writer in the Hebrew Scripture who shows proof of such careful and detailed and exquisite pains to give his work literary polish as does Joel.
We know very little about Joel. We know, as mentioned, that he was a prophet and the son of Pethuel. He may have lived in Jerusalem because his audience was Judah, in the southern kingdom. Whoever he was, Joel speaks forthrightly and forcefully in this short and powerful book. His message is one of foreboding and warning, but it is also filled with a sense of what might be, a real sense of hope. Joel states that our Creator, the omnipotent judge, is also merciful, and wants to bless all those who put their trust in God.
Joel begins this book by describing a terrible plague of locusts that covers the land and devours the crops. He warns that what the locusts will do is nothing compared to what will happen before the coming judgment of God, or as Joel puts it "before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes." The prophet, therefore, urges the people to turn from their sin and return to a place that is proper in God's presence. Implicit within this message of judgment and the need of the people to repent is an affirmation of God's kindness and the blessings God promises for all who follow. In fact, "Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (2:32).
The people of Judah had become prosperous and complacent. They were taking God for granted, they had turned to self-centeredness, idolatry, and sin. Joel warned them that this kind of lifestyle would inevitably bring down God's judgment. Of course, they, like us, fail to adhere to the warnings that tell us that we should slow down and take the time to reconnect with God. We are in so much of a hurry in our day-to-day living that we not only take God for granted, we fall into the mistaken notion that we are gods in and of ourselves. We can get along just fine without God, we don't need the bother of wondering what God would have us do, and we will do what we want!
Prior to the verses in today's reading, the people have been called to repent and return to God. Superficial emotionalism will not suffice as a way of getting God's forgiveness. God is seeking those who truly understand what is wrong and who are willing to sacrifice a part of their lives in order to find forgiveness and fulfillment in their lives. God will restore their harvests, making it possible for them to bring a proper offering when it is called for.
In verse 15, a new call goes out for a fast and solemn assembly. Old and young are called to gather together. These earlier verses are needed if we are to truly get the scope of what is happening. Repentance brings its promised reward. God rehearses those blessings with which God will empower the returning people.
It is useful to look again at our opening verses as a way of recognizing the importance of being called to gather as God's people. When we get together we will be happy because, "he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before" (2:23). Remember, in a land not blessed with large bodies of water; the promised rain is truly a gift from above, but it is more than that. It is the promise of life itself. We cannot live without water, we cannot live without God. The following verse (24) tells of the consequences of that rain, full vats of food.
Once we are filled with the goodness that only God can provide to us we will have no excuse for not being the people God has called us to be. Imagine in our twenty-first-century world, with all of the enormous benefits we enjoy, how much easier it is for us to ignore these verses and relegate them to the storehouse of history. It is so easy to forget who and "whose" we are. We live in a time when the world is smaller than it has ever been. News comes to us spontaneously, there is no delay. We have at our fingertips the most cutting edge technological advances ever conceived.
A bomb explodes in Iraq; a terrorist takes hostages in the middle of a major city; rockets take off from countries from around the world. Space exploration is commonplace in our time.
Power, strength, and might, and we stand in awe at the natural and man-made display, but these forces cannot touch the power of the one who created the creation. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and tidal waves unleash uncontrollable and unstoppable force. Every day we are reminded of the power of nature. But these forces, as powerful as they are, cannot touch the power of the omnipotent God. Creator of galaxies, atoms, and natural laws, the sovereign Lord rules all there is and ever will be. How foolish of us to live without God; how foolish of us to think we can run and hide from God like we could from our human parents. How utterly ridiculous to disobey God -- but we do. Like the people of Joel's time, we have sought independence from God, as if, through our own methods, we can do what God can do. It is in the midst of all of this rebellion on our part that God still gives us an opening.
You see, it is about this day of reckoning that Joel is writing. It is the theme of this timeless little book. There will come a time when God will look us over. There will come a time when God will decide if we have measured up. It is so easy to think only of the immediate time in which we live. Joel is reminding the Hebrew people that God will take notice of what is going on. It is through Joel, to us in our own time, that this same message comes. A day will come for us, for all of us, when God will judge all unrighteousness and disobedience, all accounts will be settled and the crooked made straight.
It is so hard for us in our world to conceive of a God with whom we will one day have to reckon. It is God with whom we must settle accounts; not with nature, not with the economy, and not with a terrorist. We cannot ignore God forever. We must listen and pay attention to what God says through people like the prophet Joel, or we will face the kind of calamity that is outlined for the people to whom Joel was historically writing.
Within the Christian community, it is very important that we make the connection between these verses in Joel, and the New Testament message as it comes to us in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Contained in verses 28 and 29 we have this message, "Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit." The promise made in Joel comes to new life in Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 14 when Peter brings to fulfillment the promise of Joel.
This is no small thing. The early church ran the risk of forgetting who it was and what it was to do. With Jesus no longer there to guide and instruct, the people, much like their ancestors before them, needed to know that they were not going to be left defenseless as they began to put together what we now know as the church. Peter connects the older tradition with the newer one. Peter, like Joel before him, understands the warning signs of history. He knows that the people need reassurance, need direction. Joel's prophecy reaches across time and Peter becomes for Joel a voice of one crying out from history that God will not leave the people alone.
In the final analysis, Joel presents us with a vision of the blessings that we can expect as God's children. We have a promise of immediate relief from trouble. God loves us and will not leave us to our own devices. God will not allow us to be forever afflicted with doubt and uncertainty. God will intervene as happened on the day of Pentecost. Joel had no way of knowing that his prophecy would be linked to a fisherman by the name of Peter, but God did. Joel takes up his stand as if some of his prediction had already taken place. Only a confident person can do such a thing.
We are to find that same confidence in Joel's message and, of course, in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter stands in the book of Acts and speaks about Joel's prophecy, Peter becomes an eternal link in our personal relationship with Jesus.
It is so hard sometimes for us to grasp the incredible importance of a timeless message like this one from Joel. Indeed, in closing let us be reminded that we, that is the church, are related in a very real way with Joel and his contemporaries. They, like John the Baptist, were a voice crying out in the wilderness. In this case, that voice traveled through times of extreme oppression and extreme joy. Joel predicts the time when God will pour out God's Holy Spirit on all people. It will be the beginning of a new and fresh worship of God by those who believe in God, but also the beginning of judgment on all who reject him.
We are reminded once and for all that God is in control. Justice and restoration are in God's hands. The Holy Spirit present in Peter's life and message confirms God's love for us just as it did for the people of Joel's time.
My sisters and brothers in Christ, we must be faithful to God and do as Joel and Peter did before us and place our lives under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The book itself is one of the literary gems of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is written and built up with care and dramatic effect. There are surely other prophets who write with greater passion and greater power; but there is hardly a writer in the Hebrew Scripture who shows proof of such careful and detailed and exquisite pains to give his work literary polish as does Joel.
We know very little about Joel. We know, as mentioned, that he was a prophet and the son of Pethuel. He may have lived in Jerusalem because his audience was Judah, in the southern kingdom. Whoever he was, Joel speaks forthrightly and forcefully in this short and powerful book. His message is one of foreboding and warning, but it is also filled with a sense of what might be, a real sense of hope. Joel states that our Creator, the omnipotent judge, is also merciful, and wants to bless all those who put their trust in God.
Joel begins this book by describing a terrible plague of locusts that covers the land and devours the crops. He warns that what the locusts will do is nothing compared to what will happen before the coming judgment of God, or as Joel puts it "before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes." The prophet, therefore, urges the people to turn from their sin and return to a place that is proper in God's presence. Implicit within this message of judgment and the need of the people to repent is an affirmation of God's kindness and the blessings God promises for all who follow. In fact, "Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (2:32).
The people of Judah had become prosperous and complacent. They were taking God for granted, they had turned to self-centeredness, idolatry, and sin. Joel warned them that this kind of lifestyle would inevitably bring down God's judgment. Of course, they, like us, fail to adhere to the warnings that tell us that we should slow down and take the time to reconnect with God. We are in so much of a hurry in our day-to-day living that we not only take God for granted, we fall into the mistaken notion that we are gods in and of ourselves. We can get along just fine without God, we don't need the bother of wondering what God would have us do, and we will do what we want!
Prior to the verses in today's reading, the people have been called to repent and return to God. Superficial emotionalism will not suffice as a way of getting God's forgiveness. God is seeking those who truly understand what is wrong and who are willing to sacrifice a part of their lives in order to find forgiveness and fulfillment in their lives. God will restore their harvests, making it possible for them to bring a proper offering when it is called for.
In verse 15, a new call goes out for a fast and solemn assembly. Old and young are called to gather together. These earlier verses are needed if we are to truly get the scope of what is happening. Repentance brings its promised reward. God rehearses those blessings with which God will empower the returning people.
It is useful to look again at our opening verses as a way of recognizing the importance of being called to gather as God's people. When we get together we will be happy because, "he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before" (2:23). Remember, in a land not blessed with large bodies of water; the promised rain is truly a gift from above, but it is more than that. It is the promise of life itself. We cannot live without water, we cannot live without God. The following verse (24) tells of the consequences of that rain, full vats of food.
Once we are filled with the goodness that only God can provide to us we will have no excuse for not being the people God has called us to be. Imagine in our twenty-first-century world, with all of the enormous benefits we enjoy, how much easier it is for us to ignore these verses and relegate them to the storehouse of history. It is so easy to forget who and "whose" we are. We live in a time when the world is smaller than it has ever been. News comes to us spontaneously, there is no delay. We have at our fingertips the most cutting edge technological advances ever conceived.
A bomb explodes in Iraq; a terrorist takes hostages in the middle of a major city; rockets take off from countries from around the world. Space exploration is commonplace in our time.
Power, strength, and might, and we stand in awe at the natural and man-made display, but these forces cannot touch the power of the one who created the creation. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and tidal waves unleash uncontrollable and unstoppable force. Every day we are reminded of the power of nature. But these forces, as powerful as they are, cannot touch the power of the omnipotent God. Creator of galaxies, atoms, and natural laws, the sovereign Lord rules all there is and ever will be. How foolish of us to live without God; how foolish of us to think we can run and hide from God like we could from our human parents. How utterly ridiculous to disobey God -- but we do. Like the people of Joel's time, we have sought independence from God, as if, through our own methods, we can do what God can do. It is in the midst of all of this rebellion on our part that God still gives us an opening.
You see, it is about this day of reckoning that Joel is writing. It is the theme of this timeless little book. There will come a time when God will look us over. There will come a time when God will decide if we have measured up. It is so easy to think only of the immediate time in which we live. Joel is reminding the Hebrew people that God will take notice of what is going on. It is through Joel, to us in our own time, that this same message comes. A day will come for us, for all of us, when God will judge all unrighteousness and disobedience, all accounts will be settled and the crooked made straight.
It is so hard for us in our world to conceive of a God with whom we will one day have to reckon. It is God with whom we must settle accounts; not with nature, not with the economy, and not with a terrorist. We cannot ignore God forever. We must listen and pay attention to what God says through people like the prophet Joel, or we will face the kind of calamity that is outlined for the people to whom Joel was historically writing.
Within the Christian community, it is very important that we make the connection between these verses in Joel, and the New Testament message as it comes to us in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Contained in verses 28 and 29 we have this message, "Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit." The promise made in Joel comes to new life in Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 14 when Peter brings to fulfillment the promise of Joel.
This is no small thing. The early church ran the risk of forgetting who it was and what it was to do. With Jesus no longer there to guide and instruct, the people, much like their ancestors before them, needed to know that they were not going to be left defenseless as they began to put together what we now know as the church. Peter connects the older tradition with the newer one. Peter, like Joel before him, understands the warning signs of history. He knows that the people need reassurance, need direction. Joel's prophecy reaches across time and Peter becomes for Joel a voice of one crying out from history that God will not leave the people alone.
In the final analysis, Joel presents us with a vision of the blessings that we can expect as God's children. We have a promise of immediate relief from trouble. God loves us and will not leave us to our own devices. God will not allow us to be forever afflicted with doubt and uncertainty. God will intervene as happened on the day of Pentecost. Joel had no way of knowing that his prophecy would be linked to a fisherman by the name of Peter, but God did. Joel takes up his stand as if some of his prediction had already taken place. Only a confident person can do such a thing.
We are to find that same confidence in Joel's message and, of course, in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Peter stands in the book of Acts and speaks about Joel's prophecy, Peter becomes an eternal link in our personal relationship with Jesus.
It is so hard sometimes for us to grasp the incredible importance of a timeless message like this one from Joel. Indeed, in closing let us be reminded that we, that is the church, are related in a very real way with Joel and his contemporaries. They, like John the Baptist, were a voice crying out in the wilderness. In this case, that voice traveled through times of extreme oppression and extreme joy. Joel predicts the time when God will pour out God's Holy Spirit on all people. It will be the beginning of a new and fresh worship of God by those who believe in God, but also the beginning of judgment on all who reject him.
We are reminded once and for all that God is in control. Justice and restoration are in God's hands. The Holy Spirit present in Peter's life and message confirms God's love for us just as it did for the people of Joel's time.
My sisters and brothers in Christ, we must be faithful to God and do as Joel and Peter did before us and place our lives under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
