Surely The Days Are Coming
Rev. Dr. Mark Porizky
Jeremiah 33:14-16
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring forth for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: `The LORD is our righteousness.'
As a child at Christmastime, no song brought more terror to the dark recesses of my heart. No song created more trepidation than this:
He's
making a list,
Checking it twice,
Gonna find out who's naughty or nice.
Santa Claus is coming to town!
He sees
you when you're sleeping,
He knows when you're awake.
He knows if you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!
Oh! You
better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
Santa Claus is coming to town!
It's a song we all know by heart, but
it's a secular song that still sounds strange when we sing it in church,
especially during a worship service. Today I use it as an introduction
because I believe this secular song captures the spirit of the Advent season
that we celebrate in the church. After all, the song speaks about the
coming of an important person, a person who knows all about us, a person who is
good and loving and who expects us to be the same. All that we have to do
is to substitute the name of Jesus for the name of Santa Claus, and we have the
essence of Advent. We also have the theme of Jeremiah, which is, "We
must repent to get ready for the coming of the righteous Branch."
The four weeks before Christmas is the
time that the Church sets aside to celebrate Advent. The word
"advent" means "coming." Christ came into the world in
the little town of
Advent helps us prepare for the coming
of Christ at Christmas. We spend these four weeks preparing ourselves,
reliving the anticipation of that first Christmas, and looking forward to that
last fateful return of Christ in the heavens.
Hear again those words from Jeremiah:
"The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the
promise I made to the house of
Jeremiah was one of the most colorful
and dramatic prophets in the Old Testament. He came on the scene during
the darkest days of the history of
Jeremiah had the difficult challenge
of delivering God's warning and judgment to the people during the trying times
just before and after the fall of the Southern Kingdom. He began his
ministry during the encouraging times of the good King Josiah. Josiah
restored the temple, found the book of the law, and called the people to a
renewal of their covenant with God. He re-instituted the observance of the
Passover, which at the time had not been observed for several hundred years.
The people had wandered far from God.
In 2 Kings 23, we find an amazing litany of the items that Josiah had to destroy
in order to make things right with God. There were vessels made for Baal
and Asherah being used in the
The problem, according to Jeremiah,
was that God’s people had combined the true faith with myths about other gods
from their culture. Jeremiah called them to repent of that assimilation
and return to a pure faith in God. The people who were called "the
people of God" had forgotten what God was all about!
In similar ways, today's people of God
often forget the real meaning of Christmas. We confuse the celebration of
the coming of Christ with harmless legends of Santa Claus, jingle bells and the
Grinch who stole Christmas. In the cloud of activity, legend and cute
children's stories, we sometimes forget the reason for the season - the coming
of the Savior of the World. Jeremiah would not let us do that.
Christian Century magazine published
an interesting commentary on the secularization of Christmas in 1986. In
the article, the author, Michael Martin, asked, "What if most of what
people knew of Christmas was what they heard in Christmas songs and in fables
told to children? Worst of all, what if all they knew about the Christmas
celebration was how we actually live it? What might the Christmas story
sound like if it were told incorporating all the various myths,
misunderstandings and attitudes that in fact permeate our celebration?"
Then he suggested that it might sound
something like this:
"Once upon a time, a decree went
out from Caesar in August that everyone should be taxed so that the deficit
would not get too big. Joseph and Mary traveled to
Upon arriving at
Meanwhile in a field nearby, seven
dwarfs who were shepherds were startled to hear a group of angels singing
Handel's Messiah. At the end of the concert they were told to stand up?
and to go to
This hybrid story demonstrates that it
is easy to blend secular myths with the sacred story. The author suggests
that we mistake the true meaning of Christmas with the "Celebration of
Santa Christ," the "Sweet Baby Syndrome," or, possibly, the
"Mercantile Messiah Motif." (Repeat)
There are problems with all three.
The Santa Christ is the jolly god who lives far, far away, and is only mentioned
once a year. Actually, all mature people know question his existence; but he's a
convenient excuse for celebration. Jeremiah would not let us get away with
that.
The Sweet Baby Syndrome celebrates the
lovable infant in his crib, smiling and cooing. He doesn't make any
demands on anyone; he just lies there and looks sweet. He spends most of
the year in the closet with all the other Nativity scene paraphernalia.
But once a year, we get him out and say, "What a sweet baby." Of
course, we always put him back in the closet when the New Year begins.
Jeremiah would not approve.
The Mercantile Messiah proclaims that
Christmas is all about giving. "Christmas is all about giving, so let us
sell you something that you can give to somebody else," say the
advertisements. What would Jeremiah say?
The problem with Santa Christ, Sweet Baby and the Mercantile Messiah is that they come and go, and everything is the same as before. They don't change anyone. They don't reveal anything about God. They don't make demands. They are meaningless, thus implying that Christmas is meaningless.
When we look carefully at our
practices surrounding Christmas, we realize that we are not much different than
the people of the Southern Kingdom during Jeremiah's time. We too have
imported foreign gods and strange theologies.
Jeremiah proclaimed a resounding
message of judgment, righteousness and hope. Our text says, "He shall
execute righteousness and judgment in the land." Jeremiah knew that
the people needed to repent. The coming of the Righteous Branch would
require that they examine themselves and repent of their sinful ways. He
proclaimed a costly coming of the Messiah.
Deep down we seem to know that
Christmas is a time for repentance. Even that our secular song about Santa
includes a call to repentance and righteousness though the idea is expressed in
much simpler words, the words that terrified me as a child, even as I knew they
were true:
"He's making a list, checking it
twice, gonna find out who's naughty and nice? He knows if you've been bad or
good, so be good for goodness sake!"
Jeremiah says it this way, "He
will execute justice and righteousness in the land." Same concept.
What the song says about Santa may not be true, but it is certainly true of
Jesus.
I read an interesting story a few
months ago.
The party on
The party itself went just fine. The problem came when it was over. All the children and adults climbed into three different vehicles and headed home. Everyone, that is, except Michael.
Apparently, the 6-year-old returned to
the play area, and when the party-goers departed, he was left behind. Employees
found Michael wandering around the restaurant at
Michael's mother had assumed that her
son was staying with his grandmother, and didn't even realize he was missing
until the next morning. Unfortunately for Michael (and his mother), it is
possible to have a joyful celebration and still forget the guest of honor.
So let us not have a joyful
celebration and forget the guest of honor. How
will you do that this Christmas?
Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church,
Web Site: SAPC-CT.HOME.ATT.NET
Office Email: SAPC-CT@ATT.NET
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