First
Sunday of Lent, February 21, 2021
watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3iTC7PjH28
Lent begins today. Lent
is the season of 40 days leading to Easter.
Moses and the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years,
learning to trust God and live under God’s law.
Of the exodus community, only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land. All others died in while wandering and their
offspring made up the chosen people of God.
Sin was rooted out during the 40 years.
At the beginning of the Gospels, Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40
days. He resisted the devil’s
temptations and did not sin. He who was
without sin, God’s only Son, died for us.
Thus, for 40 days during
Lent, we commit to spiritual disciplines designed to help us turn away from
sin, turn toward God, receive forgiveness, and acknowledge our dependence upon
God. Disciplines are things we do to
condition ourselves. We fast, journal,
pray, confess, practice periods of silence, and commit to other disciplines in
order to present ourselves to God, contrite, and grateful for his grace.
Zechariah, who we’ve read
these past three weeks, contributes to our Lenten worship, but we need to
understand one important way he fits in God’s big picture and to do that we
have turn back to the law and then forward to the Gospels.
The law of Moses, the
Torah, is given in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, as the people move
throughout the Sinai Peninsula. Then the
law is restated in Deuteronomy.
‘Deutero’ means ‘second,’ and ‘nomos’ means law. Deuteronomy is a second rendering of the
law. Moses does not repeat every word he
said in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
He restates it. In Deuteronomy,
the people are no longer on the move.
That generation has died off, and their children will settle the
land. So Moses restates law as it is
fitting for that next generation.
This restating, not
repeating, happens throughout the writings the Psalm and the prophets. They reach back to the law and the later
prophets allude to the earlier ones, but do so in a way appropriate and needed
in their context. Jesus does the
same. His “Sermon on the Mount” in
Matthew is similar to his “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke, but he changes things
up in those different settings. So too
do the Gospels writers change up how they write Jesus’ story based on the needs
of their readers.
The foundation of God’s
word remains consistent from law to prophets to Gospel. Leviticus 19:2: God speaks through Moses to
the people; “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” This is restated in Deuteronomy 14:2a: “You
are a people holy to the Lord your God.”
Jesus has holiness in mind in the Sermon on the Mount when he says, in
Matthew 5, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets;
I have not come to abolish but to fulfill.
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter,
not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished”
(5:17-18). Holiness is God’s standard.
When Haggai and Zechariah
prophesy to the people who have come out of exile, they don’t give a new
law. They call the people back to the
law that the nation had violated for the centuries leading up to the
exile. God is a “start-over” God. After the flood, with Noah’s family, God
started over. After using the Babylonian
exile to punish His people for generational, systemic rejection of his will and
his way, God started over, through the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, and
the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel and Joshua the high
priest.
A cornerstone of the
ethical system that guided the people in how to be holy is compassion
for the neediest in society. Again, we
see this in Leviticus, restated in Deuteronomy, and then re-emphasized by
Jesus. Leviticus 19, “When you reap the
harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field or
gather the gleanings of your harvest.
You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes; you
shall leave them for the poor and the alien.”
Why? Because, God says, “I am the
Lord” (19:9-12).
In several places,
Deuteronomy re-asserts this emphasis on kindness to those who need
kindness. Chapter 24 is an example. “You shall not withhold the wages of poor and
needy laborers, whether Israelites or aliens.
… You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are
poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise, they might cry out to the
Lord against you, and you would incur guilt” (24:14-15). Did you catch that? In disputes of justice between the haves and
the have-nots, God is not impartial. God
is on the side of the poor. If that
makes you uncomfortable, take it up with Deuteronomy.
If you don’t like
Deuteronomy’s answer and want to appeal to a higher court, take it with
Jesus. Throughout the Gospels and
especially the Gospel of Luke, he teaches and enacts mercy for the poor and
those at society’s margins. He makes a
place in his circle for those rejected by the temple and the king’s court and,
today, some churches. “Blessed are you
who are poor,” he says, “for yours is the kingdom of God. … Woe to you who are
rich … and full … for you will be hungry; … you will mourn and weep”
(6:20-26). I’ve been criticized for
preaching too much ‘social justice’ and not enough ‘gospel.’ This morning, I have just read straight from
the law, the prophets, and the gospels.
Social justice is the Gospel; critics can take their complaints straight
to the source.
Zechariah’s instruction to
rebuild the temple helps the people to once again “be holy” as God commanded
them to be. In chapter 7, the prophet highlights
God’s emphasis on social justice. A
delegation made up of Israelites who stayed in Israel during the exile and of
Israelites who returned from Babylon approach the prophet. In verse 3, they ask, if should they continue
to practice fasting and lament as they have been doing for years.
It would be like us having
a prophet present and asking, should we keep on observing spiritual disciplines
as we have for so many years. Now that
exile was over and work on the new temple had started and communal life in
Jerusalem has begun anew, should they carry on the same religious
disciplines? In a few months, we might
ask, now that most people have received vaccines and cases are way down and
things are opening, what do we do? What
do we do now? That’s essentially what
this delegation in Zechariah 7 asked and their question pertained specifically
to spiritual practices.
Through his prophet God responds
to a question with a question, a penetrating question. When you fasted, was it really for me
(v.5)? Does God need us to fast? When you feasted, wasn’t that for yourselves
(v.6)? Much like us, the ancient
Israelites found the communal feasting easier and more enjoyable than the
communal fasting. In answering these
questions, God connects the importance of worship at special times with the everyday
necessity of justice for the poor, widow, and orphan. Both the prophets Amos and Isaiah reject the
ritual of fasting when the worshipping community neglected the poor.
Zechariah alludes to this
disconnect and failure by the people in verses 11-14. When we neglect the poor, God refuses to hear
us. The call to justice, voiced by the
prophets, is a call that comes from the Spirit.
To ignore it is to ignore God and God won’t be ignored. God won’t hear our prayers or empower us in
our practice of spiritual disciplines if we neglect the things God values.
The threat of God’s anger
only becomes punishment and a break in the relationship with God if the people
revert back to the selfish ways that cut them off from God before the
exile. There is an opportunity for hope
in verse 9. The temple is being built,
the community is being restored, and in the tradition of Leviticus and
Deuteronomy and Amos and Isaiah and Ezekiel and to be later taken up by Jesus,
Zechariah re-issues the call to justice.
Verse 9: “Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another;
do not oppress the widow, the orphan, or the poor.”
Just as the building of
the temple sets worship at the center of community life in Zechariah 1-6, this
response, tying the post-exile community to the teachings of Moses and the
previous prophets sets justice for the poor as a top ethical principle for the
people of God. Jesus does the same in
his practices and in his teaching. And
the call to holiness and the prioritizing of care for the poor are central for
us, a community of his followers.
Fasting, confession,
prayer, journaling – I support all of these as spiritual disciplines for you to
undertake during Lent. I propose that
working for social justice and a concrete commitment for how you will show
compassion to the poor must be regular, not an occasional, part of a disciple’s
life. We commit to advocate for and care
for the neediest in our society, and like Zechariah, we find our place in the
tradition of God’s people. If, on the
other hand, we try to practice a faith that’s strictly individualistic and
utterly separated from loving our neighbor and helping people who need help,
then we’re living a lie, proclaiming a faith that’s not Biblical, and God says
in Zechariah 7, he will not hear us.
It’s Lent, time to
appreciate the grace God has shown us in Jesus.
We cannot live in harmony with God or neighbor apart from him. So, take up disciplines, practices that will
turn your mind, body, and heart fully to Jesus.
Make sure care for underprivileged, underserved, and disadvantaged is
included in your Lenten practice.
AMEN
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