Last week, we entered into a new section of Zechariah that runs from chapter 7 through chapter 8. It's often described as a prophetic sermon. Today's verses directly build off of last week's, and the simplest way to launch today, is just to reread our verses from last week. So let's read Zechariah 7:1-7:
(1) And then, in the fourth year of King Darius, the Word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the fourth day, of the ninth month, in Kislev,
(2) and Bethel sent Sharezer, and Regem-Melech and his men, to ask a request before the presence/face of Yahweh,
(3) saying to the priests who were at the house of Yahweh of Armies,
and to the prophets, saying,
"Shall I weep in the fifth month [on the anniversary of the first temple's destruction],
doing acts of self-denial just as I have done already for so many years?,"
(4) and the Word of Yahweh of Armies came to me, saying,
(5) Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying,
"When you fasted, and grieved, in the fifth and seventh month these 70 years, did you actually fast [toward/for] me?,
(6) and when you are eating, and when you are drinking, is it not [for] you, the eating, and [for] you, the drinking? ["you" is focused]
(7) Are [these] not the words that Yahweh proclaimed by the earlier prophets, while Jerusalem [was] inhabited and at ease, and its cities around it, and the Negev and the Shephelah [were] inhabited?"
The city of Bethel sent this group of people to Jerusalem for two reasons: to seek God's favor, and face, and to ask a question. At a surface level, their question revolved around whether they should practicing acts of self-denial-- and specifically, giving up food during the fifth and seventh months, as way to remember the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. At a deeper level, their question reflects an awareness that God seems to be ushering in a new age. The time of judgment and suffering seems like it's over; a time of God's blessings and favor seems to be emerging. And so they are also asking, if they're understanding the situation correctly.
So they send people to the priests and prophets in Jerusalem, to get their answer. And God responds to this request, by giving Zechariah a word for everyone. God wants everyone to know how this particular question should be answered.
But God answers their question indirectly, by asking three questions of them. First, when they fasted, did they actually aim that fasting toward God? And the answer seems to be no. Second, when they ate and drank, didn't they just focus on themselves, rather than eating and drinking toward God? And the answer seems to be "yes." They ate and drank without any thought of God. Third, isn't all of this the type of thing that the earlier prophets had talked about? Is there an answer to their questions, in the old words of prophets like Jeremiah, or Amos, or Micah, or Isaiah?
If you know the old prophets, you should find yourself able to give a beautiful Sunday school answer to all of this. God's people have always seemingly struggled to understand God's priorities. God's people focus on the outer forms of religious practice-- sacrifice, prayer, worship, fasting, weeping. They get this sense that when you do Sunday morning worship type stuff, that you are giving God what He wants most. They think that God must be happy with them, that they must be living in a place of God's favor. They think that when crazy prophets come and warn them about God's coming judgment on them, that those words must be nonsense. Doesn't God love us? Isn't God slow to anger, rich in love, abounding in mercy? Don't we worship God at his temple, the place where He has put His Name, the place where He dwells among us?
Last week, we read a sample from Jeremiah 14, where God addresses this. Let's read a different one this week, from Jeremiah 7:1-15 (NRSV updated no reason):
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah, you who enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you[a] in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is[b] the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.”
5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, 7 then I will dwell with you[c] in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.
8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? I, too, am watching, says the LORD. 12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors just what I did to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.
What we see in Jeremiah 7, is the starting point for a relationship with God doesn't start at the temple. It's not about sacrifice, and prayer, and worship. God seeks two key things: (1) An exclusive commitment to God. Yahweh is your God, and you will no other gods, except for him. (2) In Jeremiah 7:5-7, we see that God demands that his people act rightly toward each other. And the easiest way for God to tell if you're doing this, is by how you treat the people who have no honor, or power, or protector. How do you treat people, when you know you can get away with treating them however you want? What do you do with widows, and the fatherless, and resident aliens? Do you exploit them? Do you neglect them? Those groups of people are the litmus test, that reveal your heart to God. He didn't have to peer inside of you, to see your heart. He just has to look at how you treat people on the margins.
This message in Jeremiah 7, is the same one we find all across the prophets. As long as you've spent a little time in any one of the prophets, you'll know the answer to question #3.
But, God's people have always been a little dense. We struggle with hard heart, and stubborn foreheads. We always tend to think we are okay, that God is pleased with us, that we have God's favor, that God welcomes our prayers, and sacrifices, and praise. It's always other people that God has an issue with.
And so the Word of Yahweh comes to Zechariah a second time, presumably because God knows He can't just ask a question, and expect his people to come up with the right answer, and to change what needs changing.
So God has asked these three questions, and now He puts the answer on a silver platter, making his expectations as clear and straightforward as He possibly could. Let's read Zechariah 7:8-10:
(8) and the Word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,
(9) "Thus has said Yahweh of Armies, saying:
"Honest/truthful judgments, make, ["honest judgments" is focused]
while loyalty and compassion, show, each one to his brother,
(10) while the widow and the fatherless, the resident alien and the needy/poor, you shall not oppress,
while evil, each one toward his brother, you shall not plan/consider in your hearts,"
This is a summary of what God had said through the earlier prophets, to the earlier generations. Love your neighbor as yourself, basically. And you do this in four ways. First, "Make truthful judgments." This is courtroom language. When two people have a dispute, and one person who feels wronged takes their case to a judge/town elders, the judge has to make a legal decision based on the actual facts. If someone's innocent, they need to be declared innocent. If someone's guilty, they need to offer compensation, and make up for what they've done. You might not like the innocent person. You might be scared of the guilty party because they have incredible influence, and power, and wealth. But judges have to judge righteously. The idea that you can tell how a judge will rule, based on which president placed them in power, should be unthinkable.
Second, show loyalty and compassion to each other. In some ways, this softens the idea of the first one. Life isn't about making sure that everyone treats you exactly right, and you get exactly what you deserve. God wants us to stick with each other, and be loyal, and compassionate. Friendship isn't always easy. There's a cost to loving your neighbor as yourself. Keep soft hearts; help your neighbors when they're in need.
Third, don't oppress the widow, the fatherless, the resident alien, or the poor. Same thing we just read, right? How you treat the vulnerable members of God's people, in God's kingdom, is the litmus test God uses to see your hearts. You might not care about a poor blue collar worker who's barely scraping by, or the recovering drug addict, or the gas station attendant. But those are the people God is laser focused on in Israel, and in his church. How you treat those people sets you up to receive God's blessings, or his judgment.
Fourth, don't plot evil against each other in your hearts. God's people are supposed to cooperate with each other, and not compete (*Scot McKnight, 1 Corinthians). We aren't supposed to fighting each other to try to win scraps of wealth, or power, or honor. There should be no bruising church fights over stupid things, no behind the scenes scheming to make sure you win, and someone else loses.
So those four things were all areas where the earlier generation failed, and those four things are what the earlier prophets had challenged them to fix.
And how did that generation respond? (It's important here to understand, this is a recital of the past, exactly as in Zechariah 1:1-6, and not a description of the present; "they" is their ancestors). Verse 11-12:
(11) and they refused to pay attention,
and they gave a stubborn shoulder,
while their ears, they caused to be too heavy from hearing,
(12) while their hearts, they made a diamond/flint/tough stone from hearing the instruction ("torah") and the words that Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit, through the hand of the earlier prophets,
and there was great fury from Yahweh of Armies,
(13) and then, just as He called, and they didn't listen, so also they would call, and He wouldn't hear-- said Yahweh of Armies--
(14) and I scattered them among all the nations which they hadn't known,
while the land was made desolate behind them, so that no one could cross through or return,
and they made a fruitful/desirable land into a wasteland.
What we see here looks like an exact echo of Zechariah 1:1-5. This is a recital of the history of God and his people. God's people refused to listen to the prophets, because God's people struggle to believe that they aren't doing the right thing. They hardened their shoulders, and ears, and hearts, and refused to listen.
It was at that point, that God became really, really angry, and punished them in three specific ways. (1) He refused to listen to them, when they prayed; (2) He scattered them across the Babylonian empire; (3) He turned the promised land into a total wasteland.
Why does God tell them all of this? Why do they need the history lesson? (the NT parallel is 1 Corinthians 10:1-14).
The people have been fasting, and practicing self-denial, but it's not at all clear that they understand how they ended up in this position. And if you don't understand how God relates to his people, and what He expects, it's easy to walk the same path your ancestors walked-- the path of sin, that leads to judgment. There are consequences to taking that path. God has high expectations for his people, and He's serious about them. He expects his people to obey.
So what would God like us to learn from this history lesson?
It's easy to think that our relationship with God revolves around core spiritual disciplines-- prayer, sacrifice, worship, fasting, reading the Bible (Matthew 23:23). It's easy to think that things are good between us and God, when we are doing those things. We feel close to God. We feel like God is close to us, and that we must surely be living in a place of favor. We feel like we are on the right path. And there's something about fasting, in particular, that's like especially true about this. This past year, I fasted for four days, for the very first time in my life. Partly, I fasted out of curiosity, to see what it'd be like. And partly, I was doing so for health reasons. I'd heard that after a few days of fasting, your body starts to go through a process of detox, where it starts to eat up harmful things it stores away. I didn't fast, at all, to seek anything in particular from God. I didn't resolve to spend the extra time with God, or seek favor with him, or seek some type of spiritual gift. My fast really had nothing to do with God. But I tell you what. I walked around the next four days, feeling like I was on this incredible spiritual high. My piety, and holiness, felt off the charts. My wife would tell you, I was never less help than those four days. I slept a lot, and my body almost completely shut down. It couldn't handle the lack of caffeine and sugar. But I felt, spiritually, like I was doing fabulous. All of the spiritual disciplines are great. It's good to intentionally spend time in prayer, worship, reading your Bible, and fasting. But if we don't do those things out of a starting point of commitment to God, and a commitment to acting rightly toward people, the reality is that we are totally failing.
God is slow to anger, but when we fail to love each other, God does eventually move to a place of great and terrible and scary anger. Churches can very easily become battlegrounds. People give in to selfishness, and insist on getting their own way, and doing things their way. They view positions of authority as the chance to win. They view people in authority, as a threat to winning. God expects his people to be loyal to each other, and compassionate. God expects his people to show particular concern for the weaker members of the church. And when one Christian wrongs another, God expects us to be able to resolve this. We are to get to the truth of the matter, and make sure that the one who did what was wrong, makes it up to the other. And that's true regardless of who that person is-- whether they are rich, and powerful, whether they are a big fish in our little pond, whether they are the biggest giver in the church.
God's favor and blessings come to churches who act rightly, showing loyalty and compassion to the whole church. Those are the churches He's pleased with.
So, in every church, there will be moments where we become very aware that we are not going to get our way without a fight. There are moments where our voice isn't the one people listen to. And there are moments where loving each other is a costly thing-- loyalty and compassion come at a personal price. Those are the moments that define who we are as a church. They also define how God views us, as a church.
My wife had a roommate once, who wasn't the world's greatest Christian. Not the nicest person in the world, either. This roommate was a worship leader at her church. We visited that church after we got married, church shopping I'd guess you'd say. And when my wife saw her up front, arms up, worshipping God, it was just too much. The incongruity between her life, and her worship, was stomach churning.
What my wife experienced, was what God experiences. When God sees us worshipping, praying, and fasting, He also sees how we've lived, and how we've treated each other. And there are clear moments where God's stomach churns, so to speak, and He just can't (Isaiah 1:14-15).
This is the type of passage where I always preach with a sense of shame, and embarrassment. Historically, I'm the kind of person who has toughened my shoulders, and ears, and heart, so that I fight off God's words about all of this. Some of you might be in that same boat. But we can learn from the failures of our spiritual ancestors. We can learn from our own failures. And we can resolve, from this day forward, to remember that church is not about me. It's about God, and you. I am more interested in living in peace, and cooperation, than I am in getting my way or winning. And I will choose to be loyal and compassionate toward you, partnering with you. This is the right thing to do. This is also the path to living in God's favor. And so that's the path I need to take.
Translation:
(8) and the Word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,
(9) "Thus has said Yahweh of Armies, saying:
"Honest/truthful judgments, make, ["honest judgments" is focused]
while loyalty and compassion, show, each one to his brother,
(10) while the widow and the fatherless, the resident alien and the needy/poor, you shall not oppress,
while evil, each one toward his brother, you shall not plan/consider in your hearts,"
(11) and they refused to pay attention,
and they gave a stubborn shoulder,
while their ears, they caused to be too heavy from hearing,
(12) while their hearts, they made a diamond/tough stone from hearing the instruction ("torah") and the words that Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit, through the hand of the earlier prophets,
and there was great fury from Yahweh of Armies,
(13) and then, just as He called, and they didn't listen, so also they would call, and He wouldn't hear-- said Yahweh of Armies--
(14) and I scattered them among all the nations which they hadn't known,
while the land was made desolate behind them, so that no one could cross through or return,
and they made a fruitful/desirable land into a wasteland.
