October 6, 2013
Pentecost 20
Habakkuk 1:1-4 & 2:1-4
Luke 17:5-10
(prayer)
I have to admit, that there was a time
- long after I had been active in church, after I had been confirmed, after I
had served on a church board - that I don’t think I had ever heard of Habakkuk.
I remember ‘talking bible’ with some
friends and someone was looking in the table of contents of their Bible and
said why don’t we study about “Habakkuk”.
I thought they were (either), making up the name to be funny or mispronouncing
it.
But apparently, there really was an
Old Testament prophet named “Habakkuk”.
It is not a common name - in fact it
only appears twice in the whole Bible - both times in the book of Habakkuk. Scholars aren’t event sure what the origins
of the name are: it could relate to a
certain fragrant plant or perhaps the verb ‘to embrace’.
And there is almost no biographical
material in the Bible about this prophet - other than describing him as ‘a
prophet’. Some people speculate that
because the last section of the book is a hymn, that Habakkuk may have been a
temple musician (of the tribe of Levi).
The text of the book is made up of
three sections - the final one is that hymn or psalm of praise for the signs of
God’s actions in the world, the middle part is a series of condemnations for
wicked nations and their behavior (Alas
for you who heap up what is not your own; Alas for you who build a town by
bloodshed and the lile.); the
first part is a conversation between God and Habakkuk. It was from that section that we read today:
HABAKKUK:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you
will not listen? Or cry to you
‘Violence!’ and you will not save?
GOD: Look at the nations, and see! Be astonished! Be astounded! For a work is being done in your days
that you would not believe if you were told.
//
From the content of his words we can
tell that Habakkuk likely preached these oracles in the early 7th
century BCE - at the time of the rising of the Chaldeans as a world power, who
were beginning to take over from the Assyrians who had control of the region
for 300 years (the Chaldean people would eventually found the Babylonian
Empire).
Habakkuk may have been active long
enough to be a contemporary of other 7th century prophets like
Jeremiah and Zephaniah, but it is possible that (along with the prophet Nahum),
Habakkuk was one of the first Judean voices of the early Babylonian era.
//
During the era of the Assyrians, Judah
had enjoyed relative autonomy. They
maintained their kingdom, their rulers, their temple. This is in stark contrast to the northern
Hebrew Kingdom which was overrun by the Assyrians in 721BCE. After that, the biblical record goes practically
silent on what happened to the people of northern Israel, their culture, their
religious practices. The next time we
get a hint as to what happened to them is when we read about the people of
Samaria in the New Testament. You may be
familiar with some teachings of Jesus where he assumes his audience see the
Samaritans as irreconcilably separated from the Hebrews of Judea and Galilee.
But that is all an aside to the story
of Habakkuk. He writes to southern
Israel - the people of Judah, maybe even more specifically to the people of
Jerusalem.
//
It was clear to the prophet that the times they were a-changin’. And he was not convinced that the people, nor
their leaders, were prepared for what might be coming their way.
You see, after the Assyrian
experience, there was an arrogance within Judah - that they were somewhat
invincible. After all, the Lord of Hosts
resided in their temple - Yahweh, the
creator of heaven and earth was their
God.
And yet it is not the emerging empire
that concerns Habakkuk, it is the lacklustre faith of the Judeans - when he
complains about ‘violence’ and ‘wrongdoing’ and ‘destruction’ and ‘strife’, he
is speaking about problems at home, not abroad.
The ‘law is slack - justice never prevails’ Habakkuk says.
After lamenting that God has been
silent, the prophet finally understands God wanting him to speak to the people
(write things down, share the words far and wide). God says: look
at the proud, (aka arrogant) their
spirit is not right in them. God
asks for the prophet’s patience: if a
[clear vision] seems to be delayed... just wait for it. It will come at the appointed time.
//
Every person who has felt the draw of
the social gospel (everyone who desires peace and justice in the world), knows
how Habakkuk feels waiting for what is
right to prevail.
When God finally speaks to Habakkuk,
he is not told to wait quietly, but to take action - write, speak, tell people
what they need to hear to live well and faithfully. The patience was needed to wait for the
fruits of his prophetic labours to be seen.
//
In our time, the work of social
justice is not just about humanitarian aid, but also about proclamations
against the systems that perpetuate the problems.
The United Church of Canada is
involved in an ecumenical (inter-church) social justice organization call
KAIROS - that for decades was supported in its work by the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA).
That is until four years ago, when the federal government abruptly
cancelled the funding.
You may remember the controversy where
the grant application was approved by the department and signed by Kairos
officials, but someone in the Minister of International Cooperation’s office,
hand wrote the word “not” before the word approved on to the already signed
document. The reasoning (Kairos was
told) was that priority was being given to efforts that had easily trackable
results - like... How many people did you feed? How many women took the course
of good parenting? How many AIDS victims did you treat? How many are still alive?
Kairos does that kind of work, but
they also advocate for changes to the patterns of systemic injustice. And that often means pointing out to people
that governments are sometime complicit in those systems. Not a great way to apply for a government
grant.
Fear not, the CIDA funding was only
part of the resources Kairos has, so they have continued their work all
throughout the world in the name of the social gospel - including hands on work
on the ground AND work to change systems.
//
My point is that, when injustice needs
to be faced, it takes work. And sometimes that work includes patience
waiting for the tangible results.
//
//
Jesus taught his disciples to expect
resistance in their work – he said that there would be occasions when
‘stumbling’ would happen. In this
context, Jesus (like the Apostle Paul would later) is specifically talking
about things that get in the way of living faithfully – even within the group
of believers. The passage we heard from
Luke 17 is an instruction manual for resolving conflict. If,
Jesus says, one of you sins, point that
out to the person, if they recognise the error of their ways and pledges to
correct the behaviour, you MUST forgive them and move on! Even if the person
re-offends, but repents again, you MUST forgive again. Jesus makes his point almost comically by
saying that even if this happens seven
times a day, if there is a desire to change, forgive and let the change happen.
Jesus is teaching about doing the work
of forgiveness, but also about being patient for results to become known.
The disciples knew that this kind of
patience would test the limits of their patience, so they ask Jesus to gift
them with a stronger faith –
“Increase
our faith [so that we can do what you ask].”
“Do
you think that forgiveness requires a lot of faith? No! If
you have just a ‘mustard sized’ amount of faith, you could do this and more.”
In other words, I think Jesus was
telling them that they already had the faith they needed – the simply needed to
do the work of living it out.
//
Aye,
there’s the rub,
isn’t it. When faced with a challenge of
faith, one reaction can be to throw ones arms up and say, I can’t do this. Jesus is saying: trust the faith you have...
and just continue do the work. Don’t let
the lack of immediate results discourage you.
//
//
As of last week, the peewee football
team which I help coach had not won a game.
In our eight team division, we were second last in the number of points
our opponents had scored against us. But
we were third in the number of points we have scored.
In our last two games, we had averaged
32 points, but lost them both because the other team scored more.
So this past week, the team worked
really hard on our defense. We did drill
after drill that focused on every player doing their small part of the bigger
job (you see our problem has been that too often, players played like they were
a team of one and everyone tried to be the one who made the tackle, even if it
meant getting out of position and ignoring their part of the larger defensive
plan.
So we worked hard in that this week,
knowing that it will take a few weeks for us to know the fruit of our labours
because the next two games were against the top two teams in our division.
Yesterday, the 0-4 Leduc Peewee
Wildcats beat the 3-1 Sherwood Park Bulldogs 48-8.
Hard work, pays off (eventually).
//
Our scriptures today are calling us to
trusting the faith that we have. We are
invited to use that faith to make a difference in our world. And most importantly to not give up, just
because the change takes longer to see than we would like.
//
That was a challenge for Jesus’
disciples in the 1st century and it may even be more of a challenge
for us in the 21st century, where our culture is obsessed with quick
results.
//
This will take work.
Let us pray:
Holy Spirit, who kindled the faith of our ancestors,
light our faith as well. Give us the
patience we need to let this faith do its work.
Amen.
***offering***
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