Reparation Sermon, November 25, 2018, Psalm 126, Joel 2:21-27, Matthew 6:25-33 Sermon Text: Matthew 25:5-8

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1 Reparation Sermon, November 25, 2018, Psalm 126, Joel 2:21-27, Matthew 6:25-33 Sermon Text: Matthew 25:5-8 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 At midnight the cry rang out: Here s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him! 7 Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out. 9 No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. 10 But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. 11 Later the others also came. Lord, Lord, they said, open the door for us! 12 But he replied, Truly I tell you, I don t know you. 13 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour For 10 days in January 2016, The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent visited several cities in the US to answer the question of whether or not Black African Americans were facing a human rights crisis. The group in publishing its findings, expressed alarm that Black people in America continue to disproportionately face police brutality, incarceration, unemployment, housing segregation, poverty, poorly funded schools and barriers to higher education. Their proposed solution? That the US through a national commission authorized by Congress, start taking steps to repay descendants of slaves for the 350 years of free labor their ancestors performed from American independence through the Civil War (an amount that 1

2 2 University of Connecticut researcher Thomas Craemer values at about $5.9 trillion) with reparations. We read in Psalm When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. 2 Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them. 3 The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Reparation is a noun of action from a past participle stem of Latin reparare "restore, repair." It refers to compensation for damages owed by an aggressor. Of course it was Israel and it is the world that is the aggressor against God s plan and God s intention. God has broken neither covenant nor promise. What we have broken, God seeks to restore. Christ is returning to repair the relationship that we have broken and restore the earth that we have violated. We call this reparation. In fulfillment of the promise to create a new realm for humankind, God has granted reparation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 The psalm begins, "When the Lord restores the fortunes of Zion." The psalmist uses the history of Israel s return to the land from Babylonian exile and Persian captivity. This theme used by the Psalmist is not limited to that one restoration but similar to it. It is an expansive idea. The kingdom is like a mustard seed that grows into a great shrub. The phrase therefore calls many divine restorations to come, culminating in: -the birth of new hope through the birth of Christ -the reparation of life over death through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ the reparation of the kingdom, God s will on earth as it in heaven. The phrase, "we were like those who dream," has both theological and emotional meaning. Those who dream" are the prophets--those who receive visions from God (see Joel 2:28-29). The meaning, then, is that God s reparation includes re-opening the lines of communication between God and people. In terms of the emotional content, "those 3

4 who receive visions" often experience and express ecstatic joy--like David dancing beside ark as it was brought into Jerusalem. This is spontaneous and uncontainable joy: "our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy." Joy is not only for those who believe. The nations--that is, the people who worship other gods and often threaten Israel, the very people who, during the years in Babylon, looked upon God's people and "were astonished at him so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals these very nations who witnessed the restoration of the people to their land from Persia, and to their God, said, "The Lord has done great things for them!" We are reminded of the non-israelite magi coming to worship the one who was born "King of the Jews," or the Roman centurion who announced, "Truly this man was God's Son!" The nations' testimony to God's reparation, inspires Israel and should inspire us to respond with our own testimony, repeating the words of the nations verbatim: 4

5 5 "The Lord has done great things for us" (v. 3). We then with Israel are inspired this Christ the King Sunday to ask God to restore us, renew us once again, in order that we may rejoice yet again and continue our vigil until he comes in power and glory. This Christ the King Sunday, God calls us to prepare for reparation. The business of the church is reparation: restoring the relationship of humankind to God and restoring the world from its blighted, polluted and globally catastrophic imbalance with the universe, into the Garden of God that it once was. Our work is theological, relational, ecological and liberational. 6:33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (that which we worry about) will be given to you as well. The Advent season is a four-week reminder that God s unconditional, uncontested right to love us, save us, rescue us and restore what we threw away,

6 is God demonstration of sovereignty over nature and over us through unmerited favor, mercy and love. 6 Are we ready for the challenge of Advent? Are we ready for a new heaven and a new earth where Doing-the-right-Thing is the order of the day? Are we ready for God s reparation? Will it be a time of rejoicing for us, or will it be a time when we, like the five virgins are banging on the door, locked out screaming Please let us in? In the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of all life. Amen.