Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Reign of Christ/Christ the King Sunday - 11/20/16 Sermon - “What did Jeremiah mean?"

Sunday 11/20/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “What did Jeremiah mean?”

                            

Old Testament Scripture: Jeremiah 23:1-6

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Colossians 1:11-20

Gospel Lesson: Luke 1:68-79

          My friends, my sisters and brothers, welcome again on this the Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday. For many weeks up until this Sunday, we have been in the season after Pentecost, or common time, or ordinary time. This season comes to end today. Next Sunday we will begin a new season, as we will enter the season of Advent. Yes, if you can believe it, next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent! Soon then, it will be the season of Christmas.

          In this Sunday being our Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday, and in it being the end of the season after Pentecost, I want to give us a definition of what this Sunday is. Essentially, this is a Sunday that we honor and praise our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here is one definition: “The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly referred to as the Feast of Christ the King, is a relatively recent addition to the Western liturgical calendar, having been instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI for the Roman Catholic Church. In 1970 its Roman Catholic observance was moved to the final Sunday of Ordinary Time. Therefore, the earliest date on which it can occur is 20 November and the latest is 27 November. The Anglican, Lutheran, and many other Protestant churches adopted it along with the Revised Common Lectionary. It is also observed on the same computed date as the final Sunday of the ecclesiastical year, the Sunday before the First Sunday of Advent, by Western rite parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_Christ_the_King). Did you get all that? So given this, many churches celebrate Jesus Christ, the king, the savior, the prince of peace on this Sunday.

According to a United Methodist Church website, it says: “We observe Christ the King on the last Sunday after Pentecost, which is also the last Sunday of the Christian year and the Sunday before the new year begins with Advent. According to our Book of Worship (page 419), traditionally Christ the King is set aside as a celebration of the coming reign of Jesus Christ and the completion of creation” (http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/a-service-of-song-and-worship-for-christ-the-king-sunday).

So this Sunday then is about the preparation for entering into a season of hope, joy, anticipation, and wonder, as prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas. This Sunday is also about the work that we continue to do, and the world that Christian Church is still trying to build together.

With season of Advent beginning next Sunday, I will be beginning a preaching series next Sunday, called “The Messiah is coming” series. This will be a five-week series, although week two of this series on Sunday December 4^th will be interrupted, as our district superintendent, the Rev. Jeff McDowell will be preaching on another topic. I will therefore in week three of series, catch you all up on week two.

Of the three readings that we have read for this morning, from Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, and Luke 1:68-69, they are talking about the one who is to come, or the one who has come.

Of all of the people that have ever walked this earth, it would seem that most people would place Jesus Christ as the most famous person that has ever lived. Why is this the case?

 Well, this morning we have some scriptures that speak prophetically. When I say prophetically, I mean that some of our readings this morning speak about future events that have yet to occur, and then some that have occurred. 

What I want to focus this morning then, is our scripture from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah 23:1-6. I want to look at this scripture, discuss what it means, and then thread it together with the other two readings from this morning, in an attempt to connect all three of these readings together.

In looking at Jeremiah, he was a prophet called by God, as were all of the other prophets of the Old Testament, like Isaiah, and Nehemiah, and Ezekiel, just to name a few. These prophets were called at different times in the Old Testament era to speak God’s truths, love, power, justice, and hope to the Jewish people. Through the tumultuous history that Jewish people have had, they have had periods of joy and prosperity. The Jewish people have also had periods of captivity, great suffering, and anguish. In this midst of these different periods of time joy and suffering, many of these prophets discussed the one who was to come. These prophets discussed a person that would come and save Israel from its misery, from its bondage, from its suffering, from its captivity, and from itself. This is why we sing every Advent “O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel” (https://www.carols.org.uk/o_come_come_emmanuel.htm).

This hymn that we have sung for centuries is about the promised messiah. This messiah, this “mashiach” as he is called in Hebrew, was the promised one. Some said that this messiah would come in and save the Jewish people, as a conquering king, like the great King David. Many hoped that “mashiach” would kick out the Roman Empire who controlled and ruled Israel, or just save them from hardship, oppression, and misery.

The idea of a savior, or messiah, or “mashiach,” is an idea that some branches of Judaism believe in, and is spoken of through the Old Testament. Who is this “mashiach,” and how do we know he has come?

In looking at our scripture reading from the prophet Jeremiah from this morning, we have a prophecy from Jeremiah about messiah, about “mashiach”. 

Jeremiah begins this reading by talking about what messiah will not be. Jeremiah says, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of pasture! Says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people; It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord” (Jer. 23:1-2, NRSV). I believe that Jeremiah is talking about failed kings and leaders here. I believe that Jeremiah is saying, messiah will not ignore and harm the people, but that he will love and unite the people.

Jeremiah then writes, “Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD” (Jer. 23:3-4, NRSV).

Jeremiah is saying that God will raise up righteous and just leaders. Jeremiah also discussing how righteous and just leaders should live and should lead.

Jeremiah then goes even further and says, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (Jer. 23:5, NRSV). What do you think that Jeremiah meant when he said this? God will “raise up for David a righteous branch” (Jer. 23:5, NRSV). What does that mean?

For the majority of Christian scholars and many Jewish scholars, they would say that Jeremiah is speaking prophetically here. Many scholars would say that Jeremiah is speaking of the coming messiah, or “mashiach”.

Jeremiah then concludes by saying this, “In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will called: “The LORD is our righteousness” (Jer. 23:6, NRSV). It is pretty clear to me in this last verse that Jeremiah is saying that the messiah is coming. Jeremiah tells us what messiah, or “mashiach” will be like, and what he will do. As Christians, we believe that the fulfillment of the messianic and prophetic promises in the Old Testament have come true in Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the promised messiah, “mashiach,” the savior.

In 2 Samuel 7:16 Nathan tells King David that God said to tell him this, “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16, NRSV). This means that the messiah, “mashiach” must be a descendent or relation of the great King David. This is true, because Nathan told King David that God promised that King David’s throne would be established forever.

The prophet Micah tells us in 5:2, that messiah, “mashiach” must be born in Bethlehem, or the “City of David”. The first chapter of the gospel of Matthew in fact, is a lineage that connects and proves that Jesus Christ was a decedent of the great King David.

Christians my brothers and sisters, are claiming that this Jesus is “Emmanuel,” or “God with us,” and that he is the promised one of old.

In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians from this morning, the Apostle Paul says that Jesus is indeed the messiah, “mashiach”, God in the flesh. The Apostle Paul says speaking Jesus that, “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin” (Col. 11:13-14, NRSV). This sounds similar to what Jeremiah prophesized to us this morning.

The Apostle Paul then tells us that Jesus, “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, thing visit and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers of powers—all things have been created through him and for him” (Col. 11:15-16, NRSV). Friends, sisters and brothers, the Apostle Paul is saying that Jesus is messiah, “mashiach,” the decedent of the great King David himself.

In the gospel reading for this morning, we have the prophetic words of the great prophet Zechariah being retold in Luke 1. In verse 1:69, the prophet Zechariah had said of God, “He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, and he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from old, that would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us” (Luke 1:69-71, NRSV). Luke goes to talk about other aspects and ideas of this messiah, “mashiach,” the coming savior.

The big question for me then, is that when Jeremiah said what did this morning, was he talking about Jesus, or was he talking about someone else? You see we still have suffering in the world. We still have great poverty, inequality, war, strife, hatred, and sin. How can this be so? Further Jesus didn’t turn out to be a conquering hero that kicked the Romans out of Israel, as some Jews had hoped.

I believe, along with the majority of Christian that Jeremiah was eluding to Jesus Christ this morning. I believe that when Luke quoted the messianic prophecy of the great prophet Zechariah in Luke 1, that he did so because he believed that Jesus was the messiah, “mashiach”. I also believe that the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians from this morning was also talking about who Jesus is, and that he is the messiah.

I mean we even have pictures of Jesus all over. If Jeremiah is saying what I think he is saying then, how does this change us? Do we simply accept Christ as messiah, as savior? Or we try to see the world as he saw it? Do we seek to go out there and change it?

If we still see a world that has so much brokenness therefore, and if Jesus has commanded us to do something about it, then how can we use the power of the messiah to change the world? How can we created a world of love, peace, mercy, and justice? How messiah, “mashiach,” change us from the inside out? Asking Jesus into your heart and into your life is one of the most freeing and incredible things that you will ever do. Be ready though, because Jesus will then call you to join us and change the world together.

So friends, what did the prophet Jeremiah mean with what he said to us this morning? This Sunday is after all, the Reign of Christ, or Christ the King Sunday, which means that we are declaring that not only that Jesus is the savior, but that he is our Lord and our King. This is why we have Christ the King Sunday, because to us as Christians we celebrate the Jesus is our Lord and our Savior.

Next week when we begin the season of Advent, we will continue to follow the story that leads up the birth of the one we call messiah, “mashiach,” our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.