Pentecost 22C

Haggai 1:15b-2:9

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¹⁵ In the second year of King Darius,

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¹ in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: ² "Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say: ³ 'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?'

⁴ "Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel," says the Lord; "take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you," says the Lord of hosts, ⁵ "according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear."

⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts: "Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, ⁷ and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with splendor," says the Lord of hosts. ⁸ "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine," says the Lord of hosts. ⁹ "The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I will give prosperity, says the Lord of hosts."

Haggai

Another writer from the Book of the Twelve or minor prophets whose words and work may be relatively minor in length, yet major in import and influence, Haggai ministered after the Babylonian exile. "Back home" in Jerusalem, leaders and regular people sought to rebuild a semblance of life as they'd known it, a tenuous new normal that included a new temple. Haggai was especially concerned about the physical temple with the liturgical and revelatory cult surrounding it; "house" refers both to the first temple the Babylonians had destroyed and to the new one on the way.

Two decades into return to Judah, through Haggai God promises restoration so full and complete this new House of the Lord would be even more splendid than the previous one. Given that the second temple never was as opulent as the first, this sounds contradictory, but for Haggai, the overall well-being of the people, of their political, social, and economic life together was closely tied to acknowledging God's primacy and ownership of everything.

Putting God first by looking after the needs of our neighbors means to know God in the biblical sense of caring for what the late Robert Farrar Capon describes as the least, last, little, and lost. (And isn't every individual and every group in those categories now and then?) Post-resurrection followers of Jesus extended God's charge to loving neighborology by creating egalitarian communities. Although we follow Jesus by affirming every individual, group, and aspect of creation a neighbor, it's usually best to start with those who are physically and geographically nearest us. Who wants to be like an ultra-rich who sends millions to overseas causes and concerns they've never met or maybe even seen pictures of, yet who ignores obvious needs next door?

"…all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you," says the Lord of hosts, "according to the promise that I made you [the word that I covenanted] when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear." vv.4-5

The temple is gone, yet God is with the people. God is never confined to a particular place. Referring to "out of Egypt" reminds the returned exiles that despite precarious wilderness conditions, God provided for their real needs and will continue to do so.


Where We Live

Two more Sundays, and we'll have walked, prayed, studied, and worked through another year of grace. Bringing its words alive in our own context is one of the outcomes we seek from scripture, yet every passage won't apply to every contemporary situation.

The past few months of Jeremiah, Lamentations, Habakkuk, and now Haggai have been about people in fear of exile, then actually displaced to a strange country, later back in the land God first promised Abraham and Sarah. But the place they returned to was very unlike the turf that had yielded plentiful crops amidst fairly healthy political, religious, economic, and social life.

As concerned and prayerful as we must be for situations like those in Syria, Ukraine, and other countries around the world, just as when we seek care for our neighbor, we need to begin with the nearby and closest at hand.

Covid has caused changes, displacement, disappointment, and unexpected outcomes worldwide. Our old normal is gone; we're chasing after a future new normal. Will we know it when we see it?

Every scripture doesn't necessarily apply to where we are, but can Israel's and Judah's experience of exile and homecoming, hope for rebuilding and the reality of God's presence be instructive for us? Can some of the texts we've recently looked at help us move forward? I don't know.

However, in three weeks, on 27 November, Advent begins again with songs and scriptures specifically addressed to people who feel homeless, have been exiled from old normals, who long for and need meaning, structure, and stability. God is God of History, and not a distant deity who vaguely observes the endless recycling of the same thing. God is involved in history, in our lives and our dreams as we seek to rebuild a semblance of life as we'd known it, that tenuous new normal.