Rev. Eric Dillenbeck
Colossians 1:11-20 & Jeremiah 23:1-6
“The Return of the King”
November 24, 2013
Colossians 1:11-20
11May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from Christ’ glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12giving thanks to the Creator, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13The Lord has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins 15Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him 17Christ himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him God was pleased to reconcile all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord 2Therefore 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. 3Then 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. 4I 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. 5The 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. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
“Return of the King”
“The Game of Thrones” an HBO series based on books written by George Martin is wildly popular. The show earns huge ratings and has won many Emmy awards. It tells the story of the land of Westeros, a land of 7 kingdoms that were united under one throne, the Iron Throne, by the power of dragons.
When the story begins the dragons are long gone and only humans remain. The current king, Robert Baratheon, is a self-centered and foolish man who cares more about his own desires than the needs of his family or his kingdom. But the story proves to the reader that he is not alone. All of those around this king are desperately flawed in their own ways. After the king is killed, war rips apart the seven kingdoms. The intrigue unfolds as Cersye, the Queen Regent, tries to protect her illegitimate son’s claim to the throne.
Filled with horror, the reader can’t help but keep turning the pages as the common people in the story suffer as those who rule the land scramble to protect their own interests. The players in Martin’s books don’t know how to rule! It’s all a game of thrones to them. It’s all about collecting power and using that power to further their own purposes.
Unfortunately this kind of leadership is not only found in the pages of fiction. If you change the characters and context just a little you could easily be reading a history textbook. Something tells me that the Prophet Jeremiah knows a thing or two about the kinds of rulers found in the Game of Thrones.
Jeremiah, was a prophet’s prophet. Frederich Buechner says, “There was nothing in need of denunciation that Jeremiah didn’t denounce.” Speaking in God’s name Jeremiah confronted kings and clergy, he confronted the rich for exploiting the poor and the poor for doing nothing but complaining. He denounced the many false gods and practices that tended to distract the Israelites. And when he was tired of always being so critical Jeremiah even denounced God for calling him to be a prophet.
Like I said, Jeremiah was a Prophet’s prophet. He was a cultural critic who wasn’t afraid to hold his people accountable. I imagine he wasn’t a very popular figure in Jerusalem. When people saw him coming I bet they groaned and quickly discovered they had plans that called them to be somewhere else.
He might have made people uncomfortable, but that didn’t make his prophetic speech wrong. In today’s passage, Jeremiah once again challenges the powers of his world. By this time the kingdom of Israel has already been divided into two kingdoms:
the Kingdom of Israel which was in the North and the Kingdom of Judah in the south, which included Jerusalem.
Jeremiah was called to speak for God to the Southern Kingdom of Judah during a time when the power of the Assyrian empire was waning and the Babylonian empire was growing. In the face of these global threats the kings of Judah repeatedly demonstrated how their greed for power and wealth lead them away from their call to provide God’s Justice for their people. If you look back at chapter 21 Jeremiah clearly outlines their failures and his frustrations.
But here in the 23rd chapter it is clear Jeremiah is tired of seeing God’s people suffer as the kings of Judah play their version of the Game of thrones. “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!, says the Lord”
When you look back in the preceding chapters you can see that when Jeremiah uses the term “shepherd” he is not talking about those working the fields, he is talking specifically about the pastoral role of God’s monarchs. These leaders represented God to the people and were supposed to tend to the welfare of God’s people, but by every measure they failed.
But in the face of their failure God is faithful still. Speaking through Jeremiah, God says to the people “Don’t worry, I’ve got you! I’m going to attend to those who scattered you. Don’t worry, I will gather you home. You will once again prosper and have no reason to fear. Don’t worry, I know there all these empires that surround you, but they will mean nothing to you because the days are surely coming when a Righteous branch of David, (not these pathetic saplings you have had lately, but a good strong branch) shall reign over you and protect all my people, even your brothers and sisters in Israel.
Jeremiah, don’t forget, is talking to the people of Judah, but it is clear from his words that God has not forgotten his children in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Having grown up in the south, I can’t let it pass that these promises of God went first to those in the south, but the truth of the matter is, these promises were never limited. They were always for ALL of God’s children.
But we don’t have kings! Our world doesn’t work that way anymore, right? My guess is, we can relate more than we care to admit to the life and times of the Prophet Jeremiah.
We know what it is like to live in a time when multiple world powers are on the rise around us. We know what it is like, especially as we move into this crazy holiday shopping season, to have many different cultural powers trying to define us, trying to claim us as their own. We know what it is like to watch as powerful private interests continue to shape the public good. We know what it is like to watch as leaders forsake the call to work for the justice of all in an effort to maintain a sense of power and prestige. We know what it is like.
On Christ the King Sunday, we gather to give thanks for the Righteous Branch who came as a babe placed in a manger; we gather to give thanks for the person that baby grew to be, for the ways he embodied God’s love, for the ways we have been gathered into the kingdom of the beloved son by his life-giving death and resurrection. We gather because we know the powers of this world are fickle, not strong enough to claim us, not powerful enough to define our lives and worth. We gather to give thanks because in the person of Jesus Christ the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile all things.
Confident of Christ’s reconciling power in the world, we like Jeremiah, are called to go out to confront the powers that fail to work for Justice for all God’s people. We are called to speak truthfully to our brothers and sisters, saying, “Don’t worry, God is here! Don’t worry, God is gathering us in, as no one else can.”
We have done that in the past. When this community recognized a pressing need for a safe place of nurture for the children and youth of Cleveland Heights, we leveraged our power in Christ to create the Heights Youth Club. When powerful interests in the city were opposed to the idea, we stood up and said, “Don’t worry, God is here to gather us in.” And now we support a program that is packed with children and youth every day.
Through the Greater Cleveland Congregations we are still involved in this work. Together with other Christian, Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters we are confronting the powers of this world that seek to define us and separate us. We stand together and cry out for justice; we stand together and serve as a vehicle for the power of God to work out reconciliation and peace. We stand together, trusting that God’s promise was not only for us, but for everyone.
Let us give thanks for Christ our King, the Righteous branch of David in whom we live move and have our being.
Thanks be to God.
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