The Days Are Surely Coming

Here we are, at the end of one year and the beginning of the next. For the Christian year begins with the Season of Advent/ expectant coming, and thus this last Sunday after Pentecost/the Reign of Christ, brings us full circle. Scriptures to be heard this weekend remind us that this part of life has to end before another (better) chapter can begin. The Community of Believers, the Church, is the group that stands between Earth and Heaven, celebrating that which was and pointing to our expectation of what is yet to be.

JEREMIAH 23:1-6 speaks of NEW shepherds who will better care for the flock, that there will be no dismay or those missing from the fellowship. These shepherds will gather the dispersed individuals from their sordid pastimes and bring them to a safe spot. To be sure, we know-it-alls have messed up the Garden of our origins and we NEED One in the visage of David to “execute justice and righteousness in the land”. Will we value all of God’s Creation?

The author of COLOSSIANS 1:11-20 contrasts the Old with the New, a fitting take on this Reign of Christ worship. God is transferring us from the Land of the Trite, the Tired and the Tawdry to a renewed venue of redemption and forgiveness in Christ. The “Power of Darkness” is our own fear and insecurity. Specters and demons vanish in this Light of Christ. Here the rules and assumptions are all different. We don’t fit Christ into ourselves, rather we are moved from one state of being to another. (per Neta Pringle in FESTING on the WORD)

Why do we retell the Crucifixion story at this point? LUKE 23:33-43 is included here because it brings the Gospel to fulfillment: we’ve begun–and will again–with hearing the human experience of the anticipated birth; and now, what some perceive to be the “end” of the Jesus-tale. Even here, the Good News extends to the least-valued as shown in the Christly forgiveness of the admittedly guilty thief. Even those who live remotely from God are included in this projection of God’s Reign!

Eberhard Busch reminds us (in FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:336) that “…the coming kingdom of God is the great help and rescue for common people. In this kingdom they are no longer forgotten, but come to light. And still more: this kingdom of God will not come in a remote future; it dawns already, now, “today”. “The 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.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we examine lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend. Please join us at horacebrownking.com