The God Who Never Lets Go Of Us
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle B
The prophets of antiquity faced problems no different from the soothsayers of today: what language can you use and what power can you muster to call people into harmonious living with God and neighbor?
When we observe Catholics and Protestants fighting in Northern Ireland, when we observe wives and husbands fighting, when we observe Jews and Arabs fighting, when we see desperately poor, famine-ravaged countries in Africa fighting with their neighbors, when we observe children smoking and taking Ecstasy, when we observe our politicians fighting, when we read of acts of abuse and murder, the prophet in all of us screams: STOP!
For God's sake, STOP!
A prophet like Joel was in the same sort of position. He saw the people participating in self-destructive behavior, and he used all the power that he could muster in his words to get the people to come to a new way of thinking, to come to a resolution of the estrangement from themselves, from their neighbors, and from their God. The prophet desired peace, harmony, and fidelity to God.
We look at our planet in a different way than we used to 2,400 years ago, when this text was written. There is a description of a locust plague in the first part of the book of Joel. We don't know if Joel is referring to a recent plague or if he is referring to former events to illustrate God's call to repentance. The wisdom back then and what Joel implied was that God sent the plague. Today, when we listen to the weather, the television announcer doesn't say that God is going to send a horrific storm up the east coast to cause millions of dollars of damage and loss of life. We say that the satellites tells us a warm front is colliding with a cold front and it's going to cause a storm and we'd better take shelter. We don't take the storm and national calamity as personal attacks by God.
When we look at ancient texts, we have to open up our modern thinking so that we might hear "the word of the Lord" speak to us from the heart of the prophet uttered so many years ago. We have to go deeper than where the rationale of our present logic might take us.
In our text today, Joel is giving us God's response to his people when they turn to God -- a picture of God's desire of what can happen between God and his people when both desire relationship. "Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things. Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield" (vv. 21, 22).
Joel opens both verses telling us, as he did the people of antiquity, not to be afraid. Did you know that the phrase, "Do not be afraid," is found 365 times in the Bible? Not only the prophet Joel, but the whole Bible is telling us that the God of peace and comfort does not want us to be afraid!
What is it that we fear?
These two verses tell us to "be glad and rejoice for the Lord has done great things." The passage even tells the animals of the field not to worry because they will have green pastures and there will be a full harvest.
In plain English these verses are telling us that God will be there for us, God will be present, and there will be plenty of food, water, oil, and wine. The abundance relayed in his prophecy is evidence of God's presence.
By deduction, what we must fear then, is the loss of God's presence: abandonment. We fear loneliness. We fear estrangement. We fear being alone. We fear being rejected by other people and by God. We fear being by ourselves.
The Bible and our own lives are full of experiences of our rejection of God and God's Word, whether it is Adam and Eve rejecting God's admonition not to eat of the tree of the forbidden fruit in the Garden, the people at the time of Noah prior to the flood, the people who constructed the tower of Babel, the people to whom the prophet Joel was speaking, the warmongers who caused the deaths of 200 million people in the last century, or the crowd 2,000 years ago that cried, "Crucify him!"
In spite of our human rejection of God, the prophet Joel speaks to us of a God who, in spite of our constant rejection, absolutely refuses to let us go!
Joel speaks to us of a God who "vindicates" our transgressions, a God who pours down the rain both for our thirst and so our crops might grow, a God who promises that our "threshing floors will be full of grain," and our "vats shall overflow with wine and oil."
It has to confound our senses and challenge our petty "tit for tat" kind of thinking to comprehend a God who, faced with the massive rejection of humanity, overlooks our rejection and in turn promises us so much abundant love and prosperity.
How are we to figure this out? God's generous love is beyond our comprehension, so how can we understand it?
Maybe what we have to do is just accept it; embrace the love of God in our hearts and in our lives, with gratitude, on this special day of thanks, for all of the blessings that we receive from God.
Joel goes on to stretch our minds about the love of God. He goes on to say that God will repay us for the losses we have suffered (the losses eaten by the destroying locusts), furthermore: "You shall eat plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame" (vv. 26, 27).
Twice in these two verses, we have God saying that he will destroy the shame of the people. Shame is a great destroyer. Shame destroys people's self-esteem, their spirit to live and love and do well in their lives. Shame obscures a person's ability to see the gifts one has been given by God to live one's life and to love other people.
What does a shamed person look like? A person who has been shamed is one who has a painful sense of having done something wrong. Shamed people often look happy and wear masks so that other people will not know the pain they carry, because they are ashamed. Shamed people's lives are determined by the secret pain they carry; they medicate it with drugs and alcohol, and all kinds of compulsive behaviors. Children are shamed when their parents divorce because they think they caused the divorce. (If only I had been a better boy or girl, Mommy and Daddy would still be together.) Shamed people think they are undeserving and unlovable and deserve to be alone.
Looks like "shame" and "abandonment" are connected, does it not?
If the prophet Joel was standing here today, and we said, "Cut to the chase! Tell us what you have to say in one sentence!" What would he say? I think he might say: "Folks, if you accepted the love of God into your lives, nobody would ever be able to shame you!"
"... if you accepted the love of God into your lives, nobody would be able to shame you!"
You would have to accept the moral and ethical imperative of your existence: since you were created by love, you are lovable. You would have to accept the fact that you are lovable.
The words of the prophet have more impact if you realize that the word "Joel" means "the Lord (Yahweh) is God." Joel is truly speaking for and as God's prophet, when he says: "And my people shall never again be put to shame."
I am going to leave you with a commandment for a successful life.
Being created by God and as "God is love," you were created for love and were never meant to be alone. You have God's promise that you will never be abandoned. And if you truly want to go in life where you were created to go, the choice is yours for an authentic life that will be all it is meant to be, so then you only need to believe in the God who believes in you and will never desert you! Amen.
When we observe Catholics and Protestants fighting in Northern Ireland, when we observe wives and husbands fighting, when we observe Jews and Arabs fighting, when we see desperately poor, famine-ravaged countries in Africa fighting with their neighbors, when we observe children smoking and taking Ecstasy, when we observe our politicians fighting, when we read of acts of abuse and murder, the prophet in all of us screams: STOP!
For God's sake, STOP!
A prophet like Joel was in the same sort of position. He saw the people participating in self-destructive behavior, and he used all the power that he could muster in his words to get the people to come to a new way of thinking, to come to a resolution of the estrangement from themselves, from their neighbors, and from their God. The prophet desired peace, harmony, and fidelity to God.
We look at our planet in a different way than we used to 2,400 years ago, when this text was written. There is a description of a locust plague in the first part of the book of Joel. We don't know if Joel is referring to a recent plague or if he is referring to former events to illustrate God's call to repentance. The wisdom back then and what Joel implied was that God sent the plague. Today, when we listen to the weather, the television announcer doesn't say that God is going to send a horrific storm up the east coast to cause millions of dollars of damage and loss of life. We say that the satellites tells us a warm front is colliding with a cold front and it's going to cause a storm and we'd better take shelter. We don't take the storm and national calamity as personal attacks by God.
When we look at ancient texts, we have to open up our modern thinking so that we might hear "the word of the Lord" speak to us from the heart of the prophet uttered so many years ago. We have to go deeper than where the rationale of our present logic might take us.
In our text today, Joel is giving us God's response to his people when they turn to God -- a picture of God's desire of what can happen between God and his people when both desire relationship. "Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things. Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield" (vv. 21, 22).
Joel opens both verses telling us, as he did the people of antiquity, not to be afraid. Did you know that the phrase, "Do not be afraid," is found 365 times in the Bible? Not only the prophet Joel, but the whole Bible is telling us that the God of peace and comfort does not want us to be afraid!
What is it that we fear?
These two verses tell us to "be glad and rejoice for the Lord has done great things." The passage even tells the animals of the field not to worry because they will have green pastures and there will be a full harvest.
In plain English these verses are telling us that God will be there for us, God will be present, and there will be plenty of food, water, oil, and wine. The abundance relayed in his prophecy is evidence of God's presence.
By deduction, what we must fear then, is the loss of God's presence: abandonment. We fear loneliness. We fear estrangement. We fear being alone. We fear being rejected by other people and by God. We fear being by ourselves.
The Bible and our own lives are full of experiences of our rejection of God and God's Word, whether it is Adam and Eve rejecting God's admonition not to eat of the tree of the forbidden fruit in the Garden, the people at the time of Noah prior to the flood, the people who constructed the tower of Babel, the people to whom the prophet Joel was speaking, the warmongers who caused the deaths of 200 million people in the last century, or the crowd 2,000 years ago that cried, "Crucify him!"
In spite of our human rejection of God, the prophet Joel speaks to us of a God who, in spite of our constant rejection, absolutely refuses to let us go!
Joel speaks to us of a God who "vindicates" our transgressions, a God who pours down the rain both for our thirst and so our crops might grow, a God who promises that our "threshing floors will be full of grain," and our "vats shall overflow with wine and oil."
It has to confound our senses and challenge our petty "tit for tat" kind of thinking to comprehend a God who, faced with the massive rejection of humanity, overlooks our rejection and in turn promises us so much abundant love and prosperity.
How are we to figure this out? God's generous love is beyond our comprehension, so how can we understand it?
Maybe what we have to do is just accept it; embrace the love of God in our hearts and in our lives, with gratitude, on this special day of thanks, for all of the blessings that we receive from God.
Joel goes on to stretch our minds about the love of God. He goes on to say that God will repay us for the losses we have suffered (the losses eaten by the destroying locusts), furthermore: "You shall eat plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame" (vv. 26, 27).
Twice in these two verses, we have God saying that he will destroy the shame of the people. Shame is a great destroyer. Shame destroys people's self-esteem, their spirit to live and love and do well in their lives. Shame obscures a person's ability to see the gifts one has been given by God to live one's life and to love other people.
What does a shamed person look like? A person who has been shamed is one who has a painful sense of having done something wrong. Shamed people often look happy and wear masks so that other people will not know the pain they carry, because they are ashamed. Shamed people's lives are determined by the secret pain they carry; they medicate it with drugs and alcohol, and all kinds of compulsive behaviors. Children are shamed when their parents divorce because they think they caused the divorce. (If only I had been a better boy or girl, Mommy and Daddy would still be together.) Shamed people think they are undeserving and unlovable and deserve to be alone.
Looks like "shame" and "abandonment" are connected, does it not?
If the prophet Joel was standing here today, and we said, "Cut to the chase! Tell us what you have to say in one sentence!" What would he say? I think he might say: "Folks, if you accepted the love of God into your lives, nobody would ever be able to shame you!"
"... if you accepted the love of God into your lives, nobody would be able to shame you!"
You would have to accept the moral and ethical imperative of your existence: since you were created by love, you are lovable. You would have to accept the fact that you are lovable.
The words of the prophet have more impact if you realize that the word "Joel" means "the Lord (Yahweh) is God." Joel is truly speaking for and as God's prophet, when he says: "And my people shall never again be put to shame."
I am going to leave you with a commandment for a successful life.
Being created by God and as "God is love," you were created for love and were never meant to be alone. You have God's promise that you will never be abandoned. And if you truly want to go in life where you were created to go, the choice is yours for an authentic life that will be all it is meant to be, so then you only need to believe in the God who believes in you and will never desert you! Amen.
