PENTECOST

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: June 24, 2001

TEXT: Zechariah 12:8-10, 13:1 – On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

See also: Galatians 3:23-29 – But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

ISSUE: Zechariah brings a message of hope to a people who think that the future is grim, if not hopeless. Their lives have been very hard, and it has seemed as if God may have abandoned them in their hopes of rebuilding their lives and land. The prophet looks forward to a fountain that shall refresh them. It is the fountain of grace revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Who do you say that I am? . . . You are the fountain for life!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Last week we wrestled with the story of King David and noted some of his great weakness. Yet in spite of those weaknesses, by God’s grace, the shepherd boy became a strong leader and builder of a small nation that stood tall among the other nations of the time. He was seen as a great messianic figure even with his weaknesses. However the greatness of David’s Kingdom did not last. Eventually the nation divided in two again, and Judah and Israel were controlled by other greater nations. Probably one of the most devastating things that happen was the conquering of God’s people by the Babylonians. The nation’s leadership was destroyed and the Jewish people were sent into exile, forced to live in foreign nations. After the fall of the Babylonian Empire, the people were allowed to return to their homeland, and would hopefully rebuild the land and the Temple. Under the leadership of their Governor, Zerrubbabel, an all out effort was begun to restore the nation. It wasn’t easy. Re-organization was hard. There were droughts that caused new crops to fail. There was privation and insecurity. A long extended period of time went by and only the foundations of the new Temple were finished. You might well imagine what it would be like to have been evacuated caused by a nuclear accident, or even a house fire, to have to start all over again. For the Jewish people returning from exile it may well have seemed overwhelming.
To a people in great distress, the prophet Zechariah speaks. In this passage this morning, he is hardly a prophet of doom. He sees a day when Israel shall be raised up again like the house of old King David. Even though they shall mourn for the one who was pierced and taken from them, probably Zerrubabbel, they will know hope. On the day of the Lord, the age to come, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity. Remember that the people of this period perceived misfortune to be a result of sin, of unfaithfulness. But hope is given, a fountain of cleansing renewal and hope shall come and the nation will be restored. While we Christians are often inclined to think of the many of the Hebrew Scripture prophets to be prophets of gloom and doom, that belief is not accurate. Here is Zechariah is the glorious hope of a new day of the Lord. Such prophecies tell of the continuing presence of God with his people in compassion. God’s redeeming grace is present, and the people of God are called to renew their covenant of faith.
While in our own time, we Americans have not experienced being taken away in exile, yet we have often been exiled from a state of real and genuine peace. We’ve lived under many threats. World War II, it was thought, was the war to end all wars. Yet shortly thereafter came the cold war with the nuclear threat with Russia. We fought in the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. We live today with a threat that is hard to handle, the threat of terrorism. There are significant concerns about American safety around the world and at home from terrorist bombs and biological threats. We also live with the war frequently called the war on drugs, which has had devastating effects on many people and families in this country. I would presume that all of us gathered here this morning are aware of people whose lives have been destroyed by the drug culture. It is a hard war to fight. While we may not have been removed from our homeland, we have been exiles from world peace. We struggle and battle with the ecological issues and global warming issues among nations and politics. And we might ask, can there ever be hope for peace. Hopelessness is for some folk a reality: “Peace, peace, when there is no peace!” (Jer.6:4, 8:14)
Within our personal lives we know the battles of doing what is right, when we lean more heavily to doing what is convenient or easy but wrong. Even St. Paul wrote he often knew what he should do, but was far more likely to do the opposite. We live with our own failures in relationships and in marriages. We lose loved ones, which can have a depressing and anger producing effect on our lives. All the hopes and dreams we had for one of the children doesn’t work out. What of the tragedy inflicted on so many by Timothy McVeigh, or of a mother who drowns her five children? The human condition is frightening. Sometimes our hopes and dreams simply do not come into reality, through the uncontrollable circumstances of our lives, or through our own inability or apathy at pushing forward.
I suppose that there is a sense of being in exile, when we lose sight of, or feel alienated from the Realm of God. We are truly alone and without hope. So unable to be in control of others, and more frequently ourselves and change the human condition where do we find hope? Where is Zechariah’s fountain that cleanses and renews the world? Where is the opening to the Realm and Kingdom of God?
Hope is linked to God’s grace. Zechariah’s message to a hopeless and discouraged people is the fountain. God will provide refreshment that purifies and renews, and his people will carry on. For the Christian Community, the fountain of hope and renewed life in the midst of despair and discouragement has been and always will be Jesus Christ. The life and the ministry of Jesus Christ was a giving of undeserved refreshment. To the 5,000 who followed him to a green hill, there was more than enough nourishment. To the wedding feast where the wine gave out, there was water changed to wine. To disciples uncertain about the future he poured out water and washed their feet. To the lepers and the sick and the dying, to the alienated, disenfranchised, the hopeless expendable folk, came a refreshing forgiveness and restoration. To so many who came to him with despair, discouraged, hopelessness came an unmerited, undeserved, unwarranted refreshing love and forgiveness. Even at the cross, comes the words to a thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
For Zechariah, there is a trust, a confidence, and an unwavering loyalty that God will not leave God’s people in despair and overwhelmed. Jesus raised the question among his disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They answer that some of the people say that he is Elijah the prophet come back to life again, or John the Baptist raised to life again., or one the ancient prophets risen again. These are all highly honorable suggestions. When specifically asked, Peter claims that Jesus is The Messiah of God. “Who Jesus is” is a question that all of us have to answer in our lives and in our world. Perhaps, he is the fountain of life, the visible expression of God’s love and forgiveness. He is the gracious fountain and the grace and hope we need in our despair, discouragements, and dismal moments. To find the peace we long for, to find the encouragement we need in life, to find meaningful lives we look to him and join with him taking up with him the cross and prevailing in trust and loyalty with confidence that the day of the Lord is coming. The hope of the world has come and continues. We trust that in Christ and through Christ the world will come to know peace, and that we will know encouragement always.