Jeremiah 23:1-6
Today is the last Sunday of Pentecost, the season that begun on June 5th in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, ends now with Jeremiah speaking of God “raising up for David a righteous Branch, who will reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
Today, we are celebrating Christ the King Sunday. This is the last Sunday before the beginning of Advent; this is the last Sunday of dressing our communion table and pulpit with green vestments. We are on the verge of Advent, but before we can get to all our favorite Advent stories, we have to hear Jeremiah complaining about the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of God’s pasture and prophesying better times, with this scripture is how the lectionary bridges the season of the Spirit and the announcement of the soon-to-be-born infant Jesus.
In our passage, God issues judgment to those leaders or shepherds who have not fulfill their responsibilities to care for their flock. Jeremiah is not talking about actual livestock or real shepherds. He is using a very well-known metaphor from the ancient Near East to speak of human kings and leaders as shepherds to the people. The metaphor is appropriate since the duties and responsibilities of shepherds would be well-known to ancient readers. Shepherds are supposed to take care of their sheep. Feed them, protect them, and guide them.
However, we can conclude that the kings in Israel were not good shepherds given that the sheep now find themselves in exile, scattered among the nations. God blames these leaders for destroying and scattering the sheep. Given the use of the plural, shepherds, we are to assume that a whole Judah’s kings were responsible, not just a single figure.
Jeremiah proclaimed to Israel that God has a solution for this poor leadership. The prophecy of judgment issued in verse two, becomes a prophecy of salvation in verse 3. God takes the initiative; God will gather the flock from their scattering, and he will bring them back to the fold of the land of Israel, and raise up new shepherds, new leaders, for them.
In verses 5-6 Jeremiah speaks of a righteous branch and says that God will raise up a Branch who will reign wisely so that Judah and Israel will be saved. Jeremiah has in mind an earthly king, a future Davidic monarchy. Jeremiah provides us with a glimpse of the characteristics of this new leader. In verse 5, he says, “He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Justice and righteousness is what God expected of every King in Israel. Justice and righteousness had to be the pillars of their Kingdom. Psalm 72:1-2 says, “Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.”
God himself was going to raise up this king, “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.
The days are coming says the Lord… next Sunday the season of Advent begins. Advent means, the “coming.” The coming of a notable person, thing or event says the Oxford Languages Dictionary. For us Christians, Jesus is the king prophesied by Jeremiah, he is the one announced during Advent; Jesus, the one born in Bethlehem. And we celebrate Jesus’ Kingship at the end of our Christian Calendar because everything we, pastors preach from the beginning of the Liturgical year to the end has one purpose and one purpose only, declare that Jesus is our King, the fulfillment of all the prophesies.
Luke chapter 1 verses 32 and 33 as part of the announcement of Jesus’ birthday says, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” There is no doubt, Jesus is the King prophesied in the Old Testament. The one described by Jeremiah as wise, just, and right and Isaiah 9 as “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The description of both prophets does not fit with the Kings of this earth. Jesus made that clear when he told Pilate, my kingdom is not from this world. God’s Kingdom is different.
What does it mean for us to confess Jesus as our King? To begin with let us remember that his kingdom is not from this world, he is a king who left everything and came to serve.
According to the world the definition of a king is a male monarch who rules a kingdom or the person who is considered most important. Therefore, if we proclaim Jesus as our king, he must be the most important person in our life, and we must surrender our life to him. Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” What Paul is reminding us of is that we must follow Jesus’ example, he surrendered all, including his life for us, then, we must surrender all for him. Jesus our king must be our paradigm.
When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet he told them, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” I believe this example is not limited to the washing of the feet, his whole life. Our King came to love, heal, forgive and to serve; our King came to look for the lost and that is what we have to do too. Therefore, today when we celebrate Christ as our King, we celebrate the power of love, forgiveness, healing, service, and hope. We celebrate the power that is to be found in forgiven and receiving forgiveness even in the midst of chaos and turmoil. The Gospel scripture for this Sunday is Luke 23:33-43 in which Jesus is being crucified among two thieves. Do you remember the “Good thief” crucified with Jesus, he found forgiveness and salvation, and the promise of eternal life in the midst of death.
Today we also celebrate love in the face of hate. Jesus the God of love made flesh was killed by his people, therefore, in the midst of this hate Romans 12:21, asks us not to be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good and Jesus the crucifies in Luke 6:28 asked us to bless those who curse us and pray for those who mistreat us. Forgiveness, life, healing, overcoming evil with good, praying for those who curse us, those are signs of God’s kingdom, the kingdom stablished by the one whose coming we will announce next Sunday and the Kingdom we are called to continue. And everything begins surrendering our life to Jesus and living as he did. Brothers and sisters, we have a new King, we are part of a new kingdom therefore, let us live a life worthy of both. God bless you.