14The 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. 15In 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. 16In 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 NRSV)
The days are surely coming… I’ll bet you’ve heard that one before… The days are surely coming… when no child in Australia will live in poverty. The days are surely coming… when Iraq or Afghanistan will be a functioning, democratic state. The days are surely coming… when poverty and disease are no more. Of course, it’s not just the positive promises that begin with that tag…
The days are surely coming… when the world will be destroyed by nuclear war. The days are surely coming… when climate change will have so affected the earth that it will be inhabitable. The days are surely coming… when the world will be so overpopulated that there will not be enough resources to feed and clothe and house everybody. And whether we want those things to happen or not, whether we think those things are going to happen or not, whether we even have half a clue of working out what is actually going on or not… we are caught up in the waiting to see if the days might surely come sometime, before we get to old or tired, or stop waiting altogether, or simply give up and die. Those words can place us in a pretty powerless, liminal, nebulous situation: the days are surely coming…
The days are surely coming… is it really worth getting up in the morning? The days are surely coming… is there anything that we can do to change it? The days are surely coming… is there any possibility that the inevitable might be prevented, or the ideal might be achieved? What on earth is the point? Why bother with such statements, such predictions, such portents and omens and signs? Why not just continue on our merry way without any thought for the future or the past? I’m okay, we’re okay, what’s the big deal?
The big deal of course is that it’s not okay. We continue to witness enormous turmoil in our world, in nations, in our communities, in ourselves. There are wars and rumours of wars. There are droughts and there are famines. There are epidemics. There is significant climate change. There are clear needs for water, for food, for medical assistance, for health care and nutrition, for education… for hope.
Even when human beings have everything we need, we cannot survive without hope. Especially when human beings do not have the things they need to survive, we cannot live without hope. Although human beings have many, many competing needs, if hope is not in the equation, then life is diminished and may even fade away…
The need for hope is fundamental to the human condition. We are aware of the past, we operate in the present and we have an eye towards the future. We gather knowledge that informs predictions. We notice signs and we analyse them. We are creatures concerned with meaning and process. We witness ourselves and the world around us; and we make judgements and decisions. But we cannot and do not make judgments and decisions for life and future without a sense of possibility or hope.
That’s why Jeremiah is concerned with giving the people a vision of something beyond where they are. The book of Jeremiah comes out of the context of exile. It’s the 6th century BCE. The temple at Jerusalem has been destroyed. The people have been scattered. Nations and communities have been broken and taken under the dominion of a superpower. It seems like God might have forsaken the people, because didn’t God give the people of Israel a promise, several promises in fact? Didn’t God make a covenant with them? Didn’t God promise that they would belong to God?
Oh the people don’t get off scot-free. This great calamity is seen very much in the context of the Covenant, and for such a momentous event to have occurred, surely the people have shown that they have strayed from their responsibility to God. There’s an awful lot of lament and judgment and weeping and gnashing of teeth in Jeremiah, but there’s an awful lot of hope too.
And the hope largely arises from the commitment of the people to God despite the great calamity, despite what is happening around them, despite any evidence that might suggest that God may have abandoned them. Their hope is founded in their faith; and their faith is founded in God. The God in whom they believe is known to be trustworthy, to be faithful, and to be powerful, to be bigger than any calamity that might afflict them as the people of God, even as the chosen people of God. God is still expected to be faithful, to be powerful, and God is expected to be just. And justice demands restoration and renewal: restoration to covenant relationship and renewal of the signs that attend that: the Temple, the city, the nation, the promise.
14The 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. 15In 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. 16In 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 NRSV)
For the people of the exile, it is the Word of God that sustains them: the remembering of God’s promises; the reciting of the covenant; the recording of the tradition. And the tradition is one of hope. God chose us. God lived with us. God is in covenant with us. God is faithful. God is powerful. God is just. Therefore there is hope. What has been before will be again. Therefore it is worth living, and acting in faith and for justice.
Hope is pretty much Luke’s concern too. At the time that Luke is writing this account of Jesus, it’s the late 1st century. Another temple has been destroyed. A different super power is in control. And worse, the promised heir of David has been identified, crucified, and destroyed. Again it is the Word of God that sustains: the remembrance of the hope proclaimed by Jesus; the remembrance of the hope proclaimed in Jesus; the vision of the kingdom offered through him; the promise of resurrection in Christ. God chose us. God lived with us. God is in covenant with us. God is faithful. God is powerful. God is just. Therefore there is hope. What has been before is but a foretaste of what will be in the fullness of God’s realm. What has been before is but the inauguration, the beginning of what will be the culmination, the final effect of the promises of God. It is worth living. It is worth acting in faith and for justice.
In the very next chapter of Luke, Jesus gathers the disciples in an upper room, and we are reminded that for us too in the midst of our world’s turmoil and upheaval, it is the Word of God that sustains, the Word of God in Jesus. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper we are brought once again into a foretaste of the fullness of God’s promises. We are caught up into Christ, the sign and seal of a new covenant with all people. We are re-made as the Body of Christ. And we are reminded of our hope. God chooses us. God dwells with us. God is in covenant with us. God is faithful. God is powerful. God is just. Therefore we have hope. What we share in the meal of Christ is but a foretaste of what will be in the fullness of God’s realm. What we share in the great thanksgiving is but the inauguration, the beginning of what will be the culmination, the final effect of the promises of God. It is worth living. It is worth acting in faith and for justice. In this context, and only this, we are called to be alert to the signs of the times, but not alarmed because it is God who is coming to enfold all things into God’s very being.
Faith, hope and love: this is what we long for.
Faith, hope and love: this is what we need.
Faith, hope and love: this is what we long for.
Oh, teach us how to live. (Trisha Watts
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