Meditation for November 12, 2008

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Joel 2:12-19

12 Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.  Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.  14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people.  Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. 17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.  Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations.  Why should it be said among the peoples, 'Where is your God?'"

18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.  19 In response to his people the Lord said: I am sending you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a mockery among the nations.

Returning to the Lord

If you read the book of Joel, you discover a sudden shift at Chapter 2, verse 12.  The book opens with a swarm of locusts invading Israel and laying the land waste.  "The fields are devastated, the ground mourns; for the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil fails." (1:10)  The priests are commanded to put on sackcloth and wail, and to sanctify a fast; they are called to gather all the people to the temple, and cry out to the Lord. (1:13-14)  The people of the land should tremble, for the terrible "day of the Lord" is coming (1:15; 2:1), "a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!" (2:2)  In 2:3-11, we hear more details about how terrible this army of locusts is.

Then, the sudden change occurs:  "Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.  Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing." (2:12-13)

The implication is clear:  the plague of locusts has come to Israel as some sort of punishment from God, for Israel's unfaithfulness.  Israel has turned away from God in some way, and that is why the nation is now suffering.  But - and this is the change that comes in 2:12 - things do not have to remain so bleak.  The whole nation can return to the Lord.  The priests can make lament for the people.  Everyone can fast and pray and be in mourning for their sins.  Each person can turn his or her heart back to the Lord.  There is a deeper truth, deeper than the reality of the invading locusts: The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

Our country has fallen on harder times in recent years.  From what I have been reading, and from talking to many people who have traveled overseas, America has become "a byword among the nations." (2:17)  We are not exactly held in high esteem among the nations these days.  Our economy has fallen on tough times.  As I write this, the fate of the "Big Three" American automakers seems to be hanging in the balance.  Perhaps, as a nation, we need to be paying more attention to the prophets.  Besides Joel 2:12-14, here are some other words from the prophets:

"I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies... Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."  (Amos 5:21, 23-24)

"Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches... who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.  Therefore they shall be the first to go into exile..." (Amos 6:4, 6-7)

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

"Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel: for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.  There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land.  Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed.  Therefore the land mourns, and all who live in it languish; together with the wild animals and the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea are perishing... My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles.  For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore, forsaking their God." (Hosea 4:1-3, 12)

Are we too "sophisticated", in the year 2008, to make a connection between our woes and the Lord's judgment?  That is the connection that the ancient people of Israel tended to make.  If the people did not see the connection right away, then usually God would send along a prophet, who would basically say, "Don't you get it?  You have turned away from the Lord!  And look around you now, and see what has happened!  When you don't treat the poor justly, when you abuse the land or the resident alien who lives in your land, when you start pursuing other gods, and forsake Yahweh, this is what happens."  And inevitably, the people would be encouraged to repent, and return to the Lord.

That is what we hear again in today's lesson from Joel.  "Yet even now [i.e., even now, with all that has not gone right in America over the last few years], says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing." (Joel 2:12)  Why should we return to the Lord?  Well, for one thing, the Lord is the only one who can really help us, for only the Lord is God.  The other reason we need to return to the Lord is because the Lord is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing." (2:13)

As I see it, all of us - the whole country... Christian, Jew, Muslim, even those who are reluctant to believe - needs to return to the One who abounds in steadfast love.  Then we - like the ancient Israelites - will see our fortunes change.  A nation that is truly connected to God (and doesn't just claim to be)... a nation that tells the truth, and seeks the best for all of its people, and all the people of the world... a nation that seeks to do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with its God... that nation will become a leader again, and a light to the other nations.  That nation will no longer be a byword among the nations.  That nation will once again be sent grain, wine, and oil (2:19) - in other words, such a nation will once again know abundance, and will be satisifed (v. 19).  There is only One who can satisfy us.  We need to return to that One, with all of our hearts.  We need to weep and mourn, for the truth is that we have forsaken the Lord.  And then - and only then - we shall see what our gracious God shall do.