Haggai 1:15, 2:1-9
In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 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, Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?
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, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.
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; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. 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.
We don’t often read from the book of Haggai. You may not even remember ever having heard of Haggai before. Haggai is one of the Minor Prophets and this book is one of the Old Testament’s shortest, at only two chapters long.
The historical setting is Jerusalem, somewhere around the close of the 6th century BCE, just before the time of the beginning of the rebuilding and restoration of the Temple. Haggai’s two chapters are basically one long harangue against the people telling them that nothing will go right for them until the Temple – God’s home on earth -- is rebuilt.
In today’s reading, God – speaking through Haggai – reminds the people of their Glory Days – the days before invasion and exile – the days when Israel was a rich and powerful nation, and contrasts that memory with the present reality:
The historical setting is Jerusalem, somewhere around the close of the 6th century BCE, just before the time of the beginning of the rebuilding and restoration of the Temple. Haggai’s two chapters are basically one long harangue against the people telling them that nothing will go right for them until the Temple – God’s home on earth -- is rebuilt.
In today’s reading, God – speaking through Haggai – reminds the people of their Glory Days – the days before invasion and exile – the days when Israel was a rich and powerful nation, and contrasts that memory with the present reality:
Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?
Haggai goes on to assure the people that if they will just buck-up and start rebuilding the Temple God will restore them to those past levels of glory and riches:
“Remember when we had a powerful king with dozens of wives and a strong army and everybody wanted to trade with us and our goods sold for the highest prices and we always had meat on the table and …?”
Yes, but was it really that good? And was it like that for everyone? I wonder if the slaves there thought it was such a great time? All too often the Glory Days look so much better in retrospect than they actually felt at the time.
There is a slogan right now in our political discussions – Make America Great Again – that has a whole lot of people asking, which America is that? Maybe the America that in one year, 1919, saw 237 black sharecroppers lynched in Arkansas, for no other crime than having dark skin and wanting to be paid for their labor? (And by the way, not a single person has ever been held responsible or punished in any way for those crimes.)
Or maybe the America of the 30’ and 40’s when gay men were imprisoned for their crime of loving another man. Or maybe the 50’s when no woman could possess a line of credit without having a man sign for her. Or have a tubal ligation without her husband’s signature. Or maybe just last week when I was attacked on-line and called a name that no one has ever called me, at least not to my face – I’m not going to say it in my sermon, but it’s ugly -- by a total stranger who somehow got into an online conversation among friends and decided that I, as a woman, had no right to speak an opinion that disagreed with his. My friends and I finally had to leave that conversation because this person would not shut up or go away. He just kept on calling us disgusting names because he was so very sure that he had the right to do that.
Now, I’m not trying to take political sides here. I only used the Trump slogan because it is so apropos to my point – which is that when we look back longingly to the Glory Days, in any collective sense, they are always – always -- highly subjective. What was glory to me may have been hell to others.
We in the church often look back to the 50’s as the glory days of the church – and, yes, the churches were full, but how many of those people were in church because of a belief in God and a desire to learn and serve and how many were there because it was the center of their social life, a place to meet up with friends? How many were there because it was good for business to be seen in church? How many people of color were there? As with most “Glory Days” it was a different world back then and simply does not transplant to the present day.
What were your personal glory days? Do you ever look backwards in your life and long to return to something that is in the past? I’ve known people whose glory days occurred when they were in high school. Nothing in their lives has ever been as good as those days. I’ve always found that sad -- to have peaked so long ago. To never expect things to be that good again.
Is that what God promises us? You had your good time – it’s all downhill from here. I don’t think so. When the people heard the promises of Haggai, the promises of Nehemiah, the promises of Isaiah – what they heard was: You’re going back to what once was. But I believe that what God said to them was: I will give you something great, I will restore you – it may be like what you had before or it may be something so much better that you haven’t even imagined it yet. But it will be good.
God reminds the people through Haggai that everything belongs to God: The silver is mine and the gold is mine, it says in our reading. The blessings to come will not come from the world or from our expectations of the world, but from God. It all belongs to God to give to us as and when and if God chooses.
If we read the scripture carefully what God says at the end is NOT, I will give you what you lost. It is: 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.
What God promises us is greater than what we have yet known. We have had moments of greatness in the past, this is true, but I am looking forward to a future that is greater by far than anything we have seen in the past. I am looking forward to helping to build that better time to come. A time when we actually live in peace together and respect each other and don't feel a need to scrabble to 'get ahead of' each other. A time when the poor and the lost and the mentally and emotionally ill among us are as valued as anyone else. A time when the hungry are fed and the naked are clothed and we see each other as brothers and sisters.
It isn't just a pipe dream. This is what the God within each of us calls us to be part of - to build and grow together. God seems to think we can do it.
I don’t need to know yet how it will be. I just need to trust God’s promise.
And I do.
There is a slogan right now in our political discussions – Make America Great Again – that has a whole lot of people asking, which America is that? Maybe the America that in one year, 1919, saw 237 black sharecroppers lynched in Arkansas, for no other crime than having dark skin and wanting to be paid for their labor? (And by the way, not a single person has ever been held responsible or punished in any way for those crimes.)
Or maybe the America of the 30’ and 40’s when gay men were imprisoned for their crime of loving another man. Or maybe the 50’s when no woman could possess a line of credit without having a man sign for her. Or have a tubal ligation without her husband’s signature. Or maybe just last week when I was attacked on-line and called a name that no one has ever called me, at least not to my face – I’m not going to say it in my sermon, but it’s ugly -- by a total stranger who somehow got into an online conversation among friends and decided that I, as a woman, had no right to speak an opinion that disagreed with his. My friends and I finally had to leave that conversation because this person would not shut up or go away. He just kept on calling us disgusting names because he was so very sure that he had the right to do that.
Now, I’m not trying to take political sides here. I only used the Trump slogan because it is so apropos to my point – which is that when we look back longingly to the Glory Days, in any collective sense, they are always – always -- highly subjective. What was glory to me may have been hell to others.
We in the church often look back to the 50’s as the glory days of the church – and, yes, the churches were full, but how many of those people were in church because of a belief in God and a desire to learn and serve and how many were there because it was the center of their social life, a place to meet up with friends? How many were there because it was good for business to be seen in church? How many people of color were there? As with most “Glory Days” it was a different world back then and simply does not transplant to the present day.
What were your personal glory days? Do you ever look backwards in your life and long to return to something that is in the past? I’ve known people whose glory days occurred when they were in high school. Nothing in their lives has ever been as good as those days. I’ve always found that sad -- to have peaked so long ago. To never expect things to be that good again.
Is that what God promises us? You had your good time – it’s all downhill from here. I don’t think so. When the people heard the promises of Haggai, the promises of Nehemiah, the promises of Isaiah – what they heard was: You’re going back to what once was. But I believe that what God said to them was: I will give you something great, I will restore you – it may be like what you had before or it may be something so much better that you haven’t even imagined it yet. But it will be good.
God reminds the people through Haggai that everything belongs to God: The silver is mine and the gold is mine, it says in our reading. The blessings to come will not come from the world or from our expectations of the world, but from God. It all belongs to God to give to us as and when and if God chooses.
If we read the scripture carefully what God says at the end is NOT, I will give you what you lost. It is: 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.
What God promises us is greater than what we have yet known. We have had moments of greatness in the past, this is true, but I am looking forward to a future that is greater by far than anything we have seen in the past. I am looking forward to helping to build that better time to come. A time when we actually live in peace together and respect each other and don't feel a need to scrabble to 'get ahead of' each other. A time when the poor and the lost and the mentally and emotionally ill among us are as valued as anyone else. A time when the hungry are fed and the naked are clothed and we see each other as brothers and sisters.
It isn't just a pipe dream. This is what the God within each of us calls us to be part of - to build and grow together. God seems to think we can do it.
I don’t need to know yet how it will be. I just need to trust God’s promise.
And I do.
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