“A Righteous Branch”
Jeremiah 33:14-16
This is the first Sunday of Advent.
And Advent isn’t just about the Church getting ready for Christmas.
It is about much more than that.
It goes much deeper, all the way to our human condition, our present place in this universe and where the Kingdom of God now stands and where it is headed.
The Bible tells us that we are in the “last days.”
And “the last days” began with Christ’s birth 2,000 years ago.
The “last days” are the in-between time.
They are Advent Time.
They are Our Time.
They can seem like uncertain times, dangerous times—they are adventurous times for those of us who follow Christ as we remain in this fallen world.
We are climbing Jacob’s ladder, but sometimes we get off track, sometimes we make golden calves for ourselves in the form of materialism, prosperity, power, money, fame.
We are saved, justified but we are not yet fully sanctified.
We are saints and sinners, saved by grace.
We are in the world but not of the world.
And we wait for Christ’s return in glory to finalize God’s New Creation, His Eternal Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
In the meantime, we are in a similar situation to Israel at the end of the Old Testament: in exile, waiting and hoping in prayerful expectation for the coming of the Messiah.
Israel looked back to God’s past workings on their behalf in leading them out of Egypt in the Exodus, and then on the basis of these actions, they called for God, once again, to act for them.
In the same way, we—the Church—look back upon Jesus Christ’s coming into this world and at the same time look forward--in eager anticipation-- to the coming of Christ’s Kingdom when He returns for us.
When we think of it this way, the Advent hymn which we sang at the beginning of this service—“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”---perfectly represents our cry during this season:
“O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appears.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
This was the cry of the people Jeremiah was speaking to between 626 and 586 B.C. or at least it was the cry of Jeremiah to the people, on behalf of the people who had been taken captive, dragged from their land, and kept from their Temple.
They had been beaten, imprisoned and many faced death.
Jeremiah was in prison when he wrote the Words in our Old Testament Lesson for today.
In their exile, the people were far from their country, without hope that they would return.
They thought God had turned God’s back on them and on His Covenant with them…
…the covenant with David that promises an eternal kingship and God’s perpetual love.
But God never turns God’s back on us.
God never forgets us, and God always keeps His Word.
But we have to be reminded of this, do we not?
Have you ever been in an awful situation and questioned whether God had turned His back on you or had abandoned you?
I think most of us have in one way or another.
Oftentimes, when we humans are faced with despair we cannot imagine God’s promised alternative future.
The mother in the midst of a nasty divorce may have a hard time seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
A child who is bullied day after day after day in school may not be able to believe that this is a temporary situation—that things will get better.
A person fighting addiction may not be able to imagine a day when he or she will walk free of this demonic force.
A person who works two minimum wage jobs but still must come to the Red Bank Community Food Pantry in order to feed her children may not be able to imagine a day when she can experience the dignity of choosing her own groceries.
And the Israelites living in exile in Babylon had a hard time imagining a time when they would return to their homeland and God’s Messiah would come to usher in a new era.
It was as if the Davidic Empire had been a great big tree, like one of the Red Woods…
…but it had been chopped down…
…and all that was left was a dead stump and distant memories.
But then, in our Old Testament Lesson for this morning God speaks: “The days are coming’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’”
Is it any wonder that, as the day of Jesus’ birth approached, the people expected Him to be a king Who would rule with might and power?
Though they suffered now, they looked forward to a time when God would send someone to slay their enemies—to conquer their conquerors.
They never would have imagined a helpless child sleeping in a feeding trough or, indeed, a man who went around loving the least of these and preaching a non-violent resistance.
But when we look back on this image from Jeremiah, we might just find that it is full of hope and life rather than might and power.
Picture it: A lifeless, rotting stump is all that’s left of a majestic and mighty tree.
But then, right from the center, a green shoot starts to grow.
It’s small at first, and then it grows ring after ring until it becomes a Branch, sturdy, strong, springing up into the sky.
There is no indication that the Branch becomes the same as the tree before it.
No, this Branch isn’t the same.
God is actually quite clear about this.
This Branch, this Savior, this Jesus will appear in a surprising place.
He will be small and rather insignificant at first.
He will grow and move quietly for many years until, one day, He will be noticed.
His power will grow as He gains followers and teaches them a new way to love God and love people.
And unlike an immoveable tree, Jesus will be like a Branch, weaving and winding His way among people, touching their hearts, sharing His love and His Way throughout His ministry.
This is the justice and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And it is powerful because it achieved through love…
…love that will go all the way to the Cross in order to save those of us who cannot, in any way, save ourselves!
“The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line…’”
How impossible it seemed for those who were in exile to believe, but the Lord fulfilled His promise.
Mary’s ancestry goes back to King David.
Our Savior’s family tree sprouts from King David, from David’s line.
God fulfills His promises.
And this we celebrate.
And yet, we still live in a broken world.
And in the meantime, we are to travel with Jesus as His Church, seeking to heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the hated—helping to bring hope alive right here and now in the 21st Century!
Are we doing this?
How can we do this better?
We live in dark and unsettling times.
Many people live outside the realm of hope; their lives are scarred from hatred, bullying, beatings, imprisonment, abuse, poverty, addiction—you name it.
But each time a mouth is fed, a marginalized person is treated with dignity, and the gospel is shared through loving action—a little green sprout shoots up out of the dead stump of people’s lives.
New life awakens.
Christ takes root.
The Righteous Branch does His mighty saving work and Hope is born.
Don’t believe what those talking heads on T-V say about our future.
Listen to the Word from God.
“The days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.”
When we get home, and all through Advent, if we read Jeremiah Chapter 33 carefully we will hear over and over,
“The Lord says…”
“The word of the Lord came to me…”
“This is what the Lord says….”
In our age of the 24-hour news cycle, we need to be confronted with this question:
Who are we going to listen to?
CNN, FOX News, CBS, the pundits on Talk Radio…
…Or the God Who made the promise that a “Branch” will “sprout” from “David’s line”?
We live in the unsettling tension between what is and what will be.
Not only has Christ come as a baby in a manger.
Not only has He lived, died and been Resurrected…
…but He is coming again to judge the living and the dead.
And there will be a completely new earth.
And we will be given completely new bodies.
And no longer will there be hunger; no longer will people thirst.
For the Lamb Who was Slain will be our Shepherd, and He will lead us to Springs of Living Water.
And God Himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
This is our Hope.
This is our future.
Let us believe it.
Let us live into it.
Let us share it.
Amen.
