After four Sundays in a short, rarely-visited book,
Haggai, today we turn to his back-of-the Old Testament neighbor, Zechariah. We don’t visit these prophets often, but
don’t overlook them. They sit right
there in our Bibles. There’s nothing minor about these prophets. We linger in
the Psalms, make seasonal stops in Isaiah, pay Jeremiah short visits every
couple of years, and then quickly, skip to where we feel at home, the
gospels. God speaks through Haggai and
Zechariah. To have a robust, Biblical faith, we need pay
attention.
We also need to
resist the urge to read Jesus back into the prophets. We believe the Old Testament points to him. He is the second person of the trinity, God
in human skin. Remember though, Zechariah
didn’t know Jesus. Zechariah didn’t know
his prophecy’s ultimate fulfillment would come when God in human flesh was
crucified on a Roman cross. Zechariah wouldn’t
have imagined the Messiah dying that way or even that God would inhabit a human
body. Zechariah probably didn’t know
Rome. Enter the story Zechariah is
telling. Follow that story.
In Zechariah 2, the prophet, has a vision of a man about
to measure Jerusalem. Then an angel
approaches the angel who has been Zechariah’s guide. The prophet watches the angels confer. That’s on my bucket list: ascend Mount Kilimanjaro,
see a Kodiak in the wild, and listen in as two angels talk.
The second angel tells Zechariah’s guiding angel
Jerusalem is too big for walls. The only
wall around Jerusalem, a wall of fire provided by God, provides unlimited
opportunity for growth in all directions.
Expansion of the city is anticipated and expected. Before addressing this idea of the Kingdom of
God expanding, we need to understand the way the power dynamic the moves the
action in Israel’s story and in ours.
The northern kingdom of God’s people, Israel, had been
defeated and deported because Assyria was more powerful than them. Assyria was overthrown by Babylon because the
Babylonians had grown more powerful than Assyria. Then, the Babylonians overpowered the
southern kingdom, Judah, and took many from there to exile in Babylon.
When Zechariah comes on the scene why are these exiles
able, after 70 years, to go back to Judah?
It’s not because while in exile they attained the power to make this
move! Another empire, Persia, overpowered
Babylon and permitted the Jewish people to return. In power dynamics, the one holding the power
permits the weaker one to do things, or, with their power, withholds
permission.
Zechariah, in the tradition of the prophets, firmly
believes that all has happened because God allowed it. However powerful Assyria, Babylon, or Persia
might appear, real power belongs to the Sovereign Lord. The Israelites held tightly to this belief in
spite of the appearance of their own impotence.
“The Nations” could only overpower God’s people if the all-powerful God
permitted such a thing.
How we perceive power plays into how we see the world and
live in it. Are we stuck in this
seemingly never-ending condition of social-distancing because of the merciless,
unfeeling power of the virus? Or, are we
dealing with curfews and mask mandates because our state and federal government
is over-reaching, inappropriately extending its power to control our lives?
Or, do we take a different tack? We’re not staying at home and wearing masks because
the virus is too powerful and malevolent, nor are we committed to
social-distancing protocols because the government is so oppressive. We’re claiming our own power. We choose to be good neighbors and good
citizens and cooperate in the fight against a pandemic. In living as we do, we’re exercising our own
power to make choices!
One of the key themes in Zechariah has to do with how we,
Zechariah’s readers, understand power. As
we enter God’s word, we accept our own powerlessness. Naked and broken is the only way to stand
before God. Confessing our sins, our
mistakes, and our weaknesses, we come hoping God will be merciful.
The people of Israel found themselves in such a defeated
state when they dragged themselves into Jerusalem in 520 BC. To these returnees, God said in Zechariah
2:10, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!
For I will come and dwell in your midst.” God calls Israel “the apple of my eye”
(v.8). In their fragile condition, God
received them with love, welcome, and grace.
On the other hand, God spoke a different word to the plundering
nations, who did what bullies do, use power to take what’s not theirs. To Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and every empire
down through history, God says, “I am going to raise my hand against them, and
they shall become plunder for their own slaves” (2:9).
A century ago, Britain’s reign as world superpower ended.
Thirty years ago, Russia made the same
exit from center stage. Like China and
Japan, these great nations are still regional powers, but today, “superpower”
is a title fit for only one people on earth: The United States of America.
Zechariah’s story should give American readers
pause. I have heard some megachurch pastors
brag about America’s might and in some twisted fashion try to tie faith in Jesus,
a crucified Jewish peasant, with American exceptionalism. In the Bible, empires run afoul of God’s
purposes. Every time. God has no interest in our
chest-thumping. Exposed, broken, and
confessing: that’s how we approach God.
Zechariah spoke God’s condemnation of the nations in
2:6-9. However, after promising to be
present with his chosen people Israel in the newly constructed temple, God then
makes this promise. “Many nations shall
join themselves to the Lord.” They come
seeking. Twice the angel says, “Then you
will know the Lord has sent me.” First,
he says it when the bullying superpowers are judged and humbled by God. That humbling confirms God’s truth. Second, when humbled nations make pilgrimage
to seek the God of Israel, and are welcomed, that also signals that God’s truth
has been spoken.
Back in verse 4, the angel said, “run!” The angel was urgent in declaring this would
be a city without walls except for those provided by God. The city needed to be able to continue to
grow in every direction.
In the final vision of the entire Bible, a picture of
God’s final victory and the salvation of all things, a new Jerusalem is
imagined. Describing the heavenly city, John
of Patmos, in Revelation 21, draws on images from Zechariah 2. To describe what he saw, John says, “I saw no
temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the
Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or
moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light. … The nations will walk
by its light, and the kings of earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day – and
there will be no night there. People
will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations” (Revelation 21:22-26).
We live between what God hinted at in Zechariah and the
final picture revealed to John. Both
show God’s power used to express God’s love.
How do we bring these prophetic portraits together?
We declare that all power and authority belong to
God. We believe this. We say it out
loud. We mean it. In this declaration, we recognize our own
vulnerability and we see all claims of power for the caricatures they are.
We name God’s power.
We also confess our sins and our desperate need for the love and new
life only God can give. Why in verse 11
did Yahweh, the Lord, accept “many nations?” Because they did not come
expressing their might. They came in humility, offering gifts, bowing before
the God of Israel. Similarly, we who
name God’s might, also name our need and come humbly, worshiping him.
Of course, in one short message I cannot cite every way
we might live faithfully in this time we find ourselves between the nervously
hopeful days of Zechariah and the picture of God’s final triumph we see in
Revelation. However, in addition to
verbal testimony and confession, one more faith expression we must note in the
here and now. We must announce and demonstrate
God’s I’ve halove.
True faith for the prophets was always tied to
justice. Justice, in God’s eyes, is the
love that allows people to thrive; in other words, it is abundance,
shalom. When you donate to the “Helping
Hand” ministry, you know your gift help someone pay their rent and get closer
to shalom. When we pray for each other,
assuring each person his or her concerns are shared by the church family, we
help the one prayed for take a step toward the abundance of shalom.
Note,
it’s not about wealth. It is life lived
in peace, safety, and right relationships with God and neighbor. We live faithfully in the time between the
resurrection and the second coming by proclaiming, confessing, and promoting
right relationships and the abundance Jesus promises in the Gospel.
This expanding Kingdom of God overtakes the shadow of
decay and death cast over humanity since sin entered the world. It’s not about counting converts or reporting
how many weekend services were so packed-out people had to be turned away at
the door. It’s about living in right
relationship with God and neighbor.
The rebuilding of the temple in Zechariah signals this
expansion of God’s people. We do too,
when we live faithfully. We’ve heard how
to do just that. Now, we must
respond. You can choose how do this in
the way you promote the Gospel and approach relationships with people you see
every day. Take a moment now to ask God
to help you respond faithfully to his grace.
AMEN
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