O God, Our Help in Ages Past<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nScripture Reading: Zechariah 7-8<\/h1>\nZechariah\u2019s Gospel [OR] God\u2019s Kingdom\u2014Are We There Yet?<\/h1>\nIntroduction<\/h1>\n
The child is in the back of the car on a long hot day. The tablet is on the blitz, the snacks are eaten, and the road goes on and on. You have been in that car, haven\u2019t you?\u00a0 \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d How many times can one child ask the same question? “Are we there yet?” It is the constant question of a people traveling on a journey. \u201cAre we there yet? What town is this? When will we get there?\u00a0 How long has it been?\u201d<\/p>\n
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The exile of Israel ended with the return of God\u2019s people from Babylon. Soon afterwards, when the temple was being reconstructed, Zechariah received night visions full hope and promise.<\/p>\n
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The riders of the horses proclaimed, \u201cWe have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and peace.\u201d And God declared, \u201cI will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt \u2026 my towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.\u201d \u201cJerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,\u2019 declares the Lord, \u2018and I will be its glory within.\u2019\u201d \u201cShout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,\u2019 declares the Lord.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n- But the question persisted, WHEN<\/u>? Are we there yet? When will peace and prosperity come again to the land?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- The tension of WHEN\u2014 runs throughout Scripture: In the life of Abraham and Sara wondering about not only when would their offspring be like the stars of the sky, but when would they have just one child. And in the days of Judges as they asked when will we get a king? Prophets know the tension of WHEN. The Psalmist and Habakkuk both sing the chorus, \u201cHow Long O Lord, How Long?\u201d The woman at the well expressed the tension when she said, \u201cI know the Messiah\u201d (called Christ) \u201cis coming. When he comes, he will proclaim everything to us.\u201d And in the early church, they heard scoffers saying, \u201cWhere is this \u2018coming\u2019 he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.\u201d The tension of WHEN is felt when those under Roman persecution cry out \u201cMaranatha, Come Lord Jesus!\u201d \u2014Are We There Yet?<\/li>\n
- And today we know the tension of WHEN\u2014<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n- Each time a baby cries in a neonatal intensive care\u2026<\/li>\n
- Each time a husband calls the shelter stalking his wife\u2026<\/li>\n
- Each time a mother receives a visit from the White House about her child who died for peace\u2026<\/li>\n
- When hospice takes up residence in the next room\u2026<\/li>\n
- Job contentment, marriage satisfaction, rebellious child, etc.<\/li>\n
- And in the church, when the gospel falls on deaf ears, when a community suffers a natural disaster and the church has no hands to help, when one speaks falsely about another, or when grumbling overtakes rejoicing.<\/li>\n
- We know the tension of WHEN. When will rest, peace, and the joy of our salvation return?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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\n- When? Such a simple question\u2014The question of when was also asked in Zechariah 7:3 \u201cShould I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?\u201d\n
\n- According the 2 Ki 25:8-9, Jerusalem fell in the 5th<\/sup> For 70 years, the lamentations and fastings have beseeched the throne of God on behalf of the land, Jerusalem, and the people. And during their exile, the prophets proclaimed a coming age of grace, a time when a remnant of the people would return to the land. Now with the return of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the temple itself was being reconstructed. And in the second year of that reconstruction process, about half way through, a delegation came asking, \u201cShould I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?\u201d Or deeper still, \u201cIs this the dawning of a new age?\u201d If the temple is being rebuilt, then why are we still suffering the consequences of God\u2019s judgment \u2026\u00a0 shouldn\u2019t this be \u2026 but we see no evidence \u2026 \u201cHow long, O Lord, how long?\u201d Such a simple question, \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d WHEN? But lingering underneath the surface, a complexity of issues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- When we ask the question “WHEN?” we need to realize that God\u2019s word still speaks. The oracles of Zechariah refer repeatedly to the \u201cformer\u201d or \u201cearlier\u201d prophets.\n
\n- In the former days, during days of prosperity, when Jerusalem and the surrounding towns were at rest, the prophets spoke.\n
\n- However, the people did not listen in those former days. The God of the past who had brought prosperity also brought judgment. Consequently, the land of prosperity became desolate. [READ Zech 7:11-14]<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
- They rejected the instruction of grace that would have created a healthy and whole community\u2014A community of shalom. Why? Why would they reject instructions concerning compassion, hospitality, fairness, and mercy? Incredible! Both then and now. Concern for the widow, the orphan, the poor, anyone should be able to recognize that a community’s well-being is dependent upon the health of all its residents, from the least to the privileged. It\u2019s incredible that people both then and now reject Justice, mutuality, and forgiveness. That\u2019s what makes it all the more reprehensible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- And often that word creates tension between grace and judgment\n
\n- On the one hand, God\u2019s judgment comes as a response to our actions. On the other hand, our actions of truth and righteousness overflow from our response to God\u2019s grace.\n
\n- And to become such a community of renewal, we come to understand that God\u2019s requirements are gospel. They come to us as gift. God\u2019s requirements for just and faithful living make for peace that leads to our communal well-being. As such, God\u2019s requirements are a response to his grace and are not a burden but a joyful possibility given to us by our God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- So the people sought to return to God during the exile. Primarily, God desired to return, to restore Zion, and to prosper his people again. \u201c The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. \u2026 Just as I had determined to bring disaster upon you and showed no pity when your fathers angered me, so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and to Judah. Do not be afraid.\u201d [Vv. 8:12; 8:14-15.] <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- The word of God by the former prophets continued to speak to them about what God had done, was doing, and will do. Zechariah preached the word of the former prophets because that word was still alive. Their words still had power. It still spoke to his people.<\/li>\n
- So when we ask, when? \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d We recognize we are asking the question that people in covenant community with God, who have been traveling that road, on that journey, have been asking a long time. And his word of grace and judgment still speaks authoritative words to us. It is a word that is still living, active, and speaking today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Therefore, as a response to God\u2019s grace, \u201cThis is what the Lord Almighty says: \u2018Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.\u2019 \u2026 These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this, declares the Lord.\u201d [Zech 7:8-10; 8:16-17]\u00a0<\/strong>That Word still speaks!\n
\n- A response to God\u2019s grace creates a community that practices authentic justice, exhibits mutuality and compassion, does not defraud the socially vulnerable, and does not plot each other\u2019s harm.\n
\n- \u201cLove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.\u201d Love does not discount people because of the language they speak or the gray in their hair. Love does not honor one gender over the other and keeps no record of one\u2019s economic value. Love protects the child and the disabled. And love is strong. Strong enough to bend at the knees and strong enough to extend the hand of welcome and of grace. Love never fails.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- God\u2019s grace calls us \u201cto be strong.\u201d [V. 8: 10, 13c.] <\/strong>As Zechariah calls his people \u201cto be strong and not afraid\u201d and not to interrupt the journey of rebuilding the temple but to continue to strive to join with God\u2019s salvation, so too, God\u2019s word calls us to partner with God\u2019s activity in the world to bring about his kingdom reign on earth as it is in heaven.<\/li>\n
- These social practices give us, the community of God, the opportunity to respond in kind to the grace God extends to us. As God\u2019s community, the church, we become a neighbor, mother and father; brother and sister, to the citizens of this larger society. However, if we reject practicing shalom, peace, we reject the grace that lies at the heart of God and in so doing become a people of desolation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n- So finally comes the answer to the question asked by the delegation, or in reality not an answer but a reversal. Fast days of mourning will become seasons of celebration. \u201cOnce again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem \u2026 The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there. \u2026 The fasts \u2026 will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.\u201d [8:4-5; 18-19] <\/strong>In the past, God\u2019s word involved a reversal from prosperity to adversity, but now the future involves a reversal from fasts to feasts. God\u2019s return to Jerusalem inaugurates the beginning of the future now. Can you imagine what such a community would look like? How would the people around us respond if they saw? A vision of God\u2019s coming kingdom will be like a public park, where old men and women can sit together, talk, and bask in the sun. And little children can play in safety with nothing to threaten them. No one lurking in the shadows to lure one of them with candy; no drug dealer waiting to peddle his poison to innocents; no child bruised or warped by abusive parents or stunted by poor nutrition or inadequate education; not even a bully among the group to terrorize the younger and weaker.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Children peacefully at play in a park\u2014of such is the Kingdom of God. \u2026 This is a picture of this world made new by the coming of God\u2014its goodness confirmed and restored to that wholeness that its creator intended for it from the beginning. \u2026 And when we think to join cause with God\u2019s purpose for his earth, we need to ask ourselves if we are constructing a place where little children may play. \u2026 God\u2019s Kingdom will not have come on this earth until its streets are fit for its children. But by the same token, it will not have come until its children are fit for its streets.\n
\n- Maybe, just maybe they would join us on the journey. Listen to Zechariah envision what God\u2019s kingdom would look like in the future. [READ Zech 8:20-23]<\/strong>. Imagine people coming to us \u2026 As a result of God\u2019s restoration in Christ, we are renewed, and we become the light unto the nations. A true sign of the age to come is for a people who love truth and live for peace to be a blessing to the nations. And those about us would know we are Christians by our love as we live such inviting lives that people long to receive with us the blessings of the kingdom. And as they see us traveling the roads of the Kingdom, they will want to travel with us. Not to be with us, but to \u201centreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty.\n
\n- And no one will ask, \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d For the road itself will be a kingdom journey. And we will realize that it has always been more about the journey than the destination. Eternal life is an ongoing life, not a stopping place. The Kingdom to come, is already coming, and is now here\u2014a dynamic place open with possibilities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n- Concretization of an act of justice. [I knew a church once\u2026 a church that participates in feeding homeless folks and victims of HIV \u2026a church that nurtures and challenges through support groups those addicted to the clutches of sin \u2026 a church that provides shelter to unwed mothers and to families without a place to lay their head \u2026 a church that cares for children from MOPS to scouts; from clubs to classes \u2026 a church that reaches out with the gospel on mission trips, to prisons, apartment complexes, and by the air waves \u2026 a church that provides mentoring couples to newlyweds, pastoral care in abundance and prayer everywhere you turn \u2026 a church that gathers each Sunday to praise God, bless children, baptize believers, and feast at his table.]\n