Seneca Presbyterian Church
Seneca, SC
November 6,
2016
Work, for I am with You
Haggai 2:1-9
Haggai
2:1-9 (NRSV)
1 In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say,
1 In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say,
3
Who is left among
you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it
not in your sight as nothing? 4 Yet now take courage, O
Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take
courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you
people of the land, says the LORD;
work, for I am with you, says the LORD
of hosts, 5 according to the promise that I made you when you
came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.
6
For thus says the
LORD of hosts: Once again, in a
little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry
land; 7 and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of
all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver
is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD
of hosts. 9 The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than
the former, says the LORD of
hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.
Perhaps
it hit me watching an episode of the CNN series the Sixties. Or catching a
rerun of Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, or even (my favorite) Rowan and
Martin’s Laugh-In. Perhaps it hit me even more watching the 50th
anniversary commemorations of so many momentous events. I remember being
overwhelmed with gratitude to have lived the decade of the sixties.
I
can tell you the very moment I first heard of the Beatles. I can tell you where
I was when I heard of the JFK assassination. I remember the whole world pausing
as Alan Shepard became the first American in space. And I remember hearing Neil
Armstrong say for the first time: that’s one small step for man; one giant leap
for mankind.
It
was a decade that changed the world, and I watched it all unfold from my safe
abode in suburban New Jersey. It is an abode that, to this day, even fills my
dreams.
Nostalgia.
A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s
life; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.
On this Sunday before the first Tuesday after the first
Monday of the 11th month of the final year of the presidency of
Barack Obama, I find myself nostalgic for something far more profound. I long
for a time that seems to have passed away, namely a time when government
worked. It was a time when politics embraced the art of compromise; when
reaching across the aisle was not simply empty talk. It was a time when the two
parties needed each other as ballast for conflicting ideologies. It was a time when we knew that listening to
each other was the best pathway forward toward achieving the good of all.
Today we find ourselves locked into a polarized nation. It
amazes me that too many believe the outcome of an election can be predicted based
on the gender, age, race, zip code, and educational level of the voting
population. We are in fact so polarized that, regardless of the winner, many
believe there may not be a peaceful transition of power in the coming days.
Democracy itself may be at risk.
Do you long for a time when the world was different?
In the second year
of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of
the LORD first
came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,
and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. (Haggai
1:1)
Such are
the opening words of the two chapter long book of the prophet Haggai. He is
sandwiched in at the end of the Old Testament between the prophets Zephaniah
and Zachariah. We know nothing about the prophet, yet we know exactly when he
prophesied. His “15 minutes of fame” can be targeted to three and a half months
stretching from August 29 through December 18 in the year 520 BC.
It was the
early years of the post-exilic period. The nation of Judah had fallen to the
Babylonians in 587 BC. That was the year Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem,
destroying the Temple, burning the city, and exiling most of the population to
Babylon. Yet only 49 years later, in 538 BC, the Babylonians were overcome by
the Persians. Their leader Cyrus was different. He did not believe in deporting
a population. He sent the exiles home, compelling them to rebuild their land
and restore their Temple.
Yet
the homecoming was bittersweet. The land they returned to was overcome with
poverty and desolation. The Temple lay in ruins. There was tension – even
polarization – between those who had been left behind and those who returned
home. There was little more they could do than simply survive. Work on
rebuilding the Temple was almost nonexistent. Under the leadership of
Zerubbabel, the Persian appointed governor and likely grandson of Israel’s last
King, the foundations had been laid; but there the work had stopped. Until
eighteen years later when God called forth a prophet.
At
first glance, Haggai’s message appears simple. You are not prospering because
you have neglected to build back God’s house. Put first things first, and God’s
favor will return. Yet the prophet was searching for more. Claiming the power
of memory, he summoned Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, along
with all the people and asked: Who is left among you that saw this house in its
former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?
By
the time of Haggai, it had been almost 70 years since the world had known the
splendor of Solomon’s Temple. Was there a senior adult among the crowd who had
actually seen that Temple? Or was the prophet appealing to nostalgia – to the
images of the Temple’s glory that had lived on in the memories of a captured
people who had once longed for home?
Nostalgia
can be a powerful motivator. In the face of what appeared impossible, Haggai was
seeking to ignite a vision.
Yet now take
courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD;
take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the
high priest; take courage, all you people of
the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise
that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.
I
said we know nothing about prophet Haggai, but his name does provide something
of a clue to his faith and his character. His name means “to make a
pilgrimage.” Perhaps he had been born on a festival day and his name became a
constant reminder of what that meant.
In
the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day
of the month, the word of the LORD
again came by the prophet Haggai.
We
can be grateful that whoever recorded the words of the prophet Haggai was
compelled to anchor those words in history. Thanks to that history, we know
that these specific words were spoken on October 17th, in the midst
of what would have been the Festival of Booths, or in Hebrew: Sukkot.[1]
Perhaps
you know something of the festival as it is still observed by faithful Jews
today. It tells the story of the wilderness wandering of God’s people.
Tradition calls for the building of booths (sukkah), namely simple structures
providing minimal shelter yet opening up those who enter them into the wonder
of God’s creation. The booths are reminders of how Israel lived totally
dependent upon God for the forty years of their wilderness wanderings. They
recall the power of a God who overcame slavery and formed a people. They
re-create the wonder that comes from relying solely upon the providence of God.
They reaffirm the faithfulness of a God who promises never to leave his people.
It
was then and is still today a celebration that embodies the constancy and
generosity of God. And it was precisely in that moment of celebration that God
chose to speak through his prophet Haggai.
Haggai
used the power of nostalgia – a profound longing for the past – in order to
call forth a vision of God’s intended future. There
is work to be done, he said. Work that will draw you close to the God who is
still here, who is still working, still liberating, still redeeming no matter
how foolish that work may appear. Because the promise is still sure. The
splendor that was will be nothing compared to the splendor that will be. For
God is still God and the world still resides in God’s good hands.
Nostalgia may be a wistful longing for the past, yet it
carries with it an inherent danger. It may see the past solely through rose
colored glasses. I may have watched the sixties unfold from my safe suburban
abode, but I can never forget that the same decade which brought us the Beatles
also brought us a war that divided the nation, riots that divided the races,
and a struggle for civil rights that continues even today.
I am also compelled to remember that despite our current
divisions, we are a nation that survived a civil war and two world wars. Within
recent memory, we have come through a day of terror unimagined before its time.
So the word of the Lord comes to us on this Sunday before the first Tuesday
after the first Monday of the 11th month of the year 2016: take
courage and do not fear. The world may seem out of control, but our God has not
left us. We can be united again. For no matter who wins, there is still work to
be done together.
There is still a democracy requiring our vigilant attention.
There is still reconciliation to be achieved between the races. The hungry
still need food; the homeless still need shelter; the stranger still needs
welcome. There are lives all around us still in need of transformation. As we
faithfully engage that work, it will draw us close to the God who is still
here, who is still working, still liberating, still redeeming no matter how
foolishly challenging that work may appear.
For no matter who wins, God is still God and the world still
resides in God’s good hands.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
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