2 April 2014
Text: Isa 66:10-11, Ps 122
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
This
week in Lent is known as Laetare, that is “Rejoice!” –
which
is one of the last messages the prophet Isaiah has for us in the sixty-six
chapters of His book. “Rejoice with
Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her.” For Isaiah has written prophetically,
proclaiming good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Isaiah informs the children of Israel of the
promise that their time in exile will end, and the blessings of eternity, as
conceived as a New Jerusalem, an Eternal Zion, the City of God, is coming upon
the Lord’s beloved chosen people as the Messiah is coming. And He comes not to punish sin, but rather to
forgive transgression. Not to seek justice against Israel, but to atone for
her.
“Rejoice
with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her.”
In
this week of Laetare, the prophet’s call to rejoice is woven together as an
antiphon with King David’s great hymn to the New Jerusalem, the Eternal Zion,
the City of God – the 122nd Psalm, which was sung as the people of
God ascended higher and higher as they walked to the House of God to worship.
“I
was glad when they said to me,” says King David, says the people of Israel, say
the Church of every time and place and age, singing with great rejoicing: “Let
us go into the house of the Lord.” For
here, dear friends, in this holy house, we experience this New Jerusalem, this
city of peace where God and man have been reconciled, where our sins have been
forgiven, where God Himself has given us hope, joy, and a reason to live. God Himself has poured out upon us His grace,
His mercy, His peace – through the atoning blood of our Lord upon the
cross. And what’s more, dear friends,
this peace, this atonement, this life itself is here fed to you, as a mother
satisfies her children “with the consolation of her bosom” in a holy meal of
the Lord’s body and blood.
“Rejoice
with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her.”
For
the name Jerusalem, symbolic of our New Jerusalem, our Eternal City, our City
of God is embedded in the name of our own congregation, Salem, chosen by our
forbears as a reminder that we are part of this New Creation undertaken by God
in Christ, a city not built on a river but on a baptismal flood, a city not
protected with walls, but shielded by angels, a city not governed by a mayor,
but overseen in love by the King Himself.
Salem is Shalom, Salem is peace, Salem is that reconciliation between
our righteous God and us poor, miserable sinners, a reconciliation based solely
upon Christ, given to us by grace, through faith, and secured by the Word of
God and His holy sacraments.
“Rejoice
with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her.”
King
David implores us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” not only the earthly
city of brick and mortar, but the eternal city of the living stones of the
people of God. We wish to have peace
among those here in this sanctuary, peace between all those who are members of
this congregation, peace between all of our brothers and sisters in Christ
across the globe, peace between all people of every land and language, and
peace between God and man in the cross of Christ. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they
prosper who love you. For the sake of my
brethren and companions, I will now say, ‘Peace be within you.’”
That
peace, dear friends, that reconciliation, the ending of the war that we started
with God in the Garden of Eden, the endless bloodshed between brethren of the
human race, the interminable squabbles between brothers and sisters within the
Christian Church, that peace that passes all understanding, is indeed what our
Lord won for us at the cross, and what He has given us at the font, at the altar,
and at the pulpit. It is that Word of
reconciliation that makes Jerusalem not only the great city, but the very city
of peace, a peace which has no end.
So
let us rejoice, dear friends. Even in
the midst of our sorrows, even as we still live in a world riddled by sin, a
church torn by schisms, a planet ablaze in conflict, a body still plagued by
death, and a life on this side of the grave still suffering the effects of
sin. Even in the penitential season of
Lent, let us rejoice, dear friends. Let
us rejoice because we know where we are headed – to the cross and to the empty
tomb. Let us rejoice like the ancient
Jewish pilgrims making their way with gladness to the City of Jerusalem,
knowing that they were going to the house of the Lord to find eternal
peace. Indeed, let us rejoice in the New
Jerusalem, the Eternal Zion, the City of God.
“Rejoice
with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her.” Amen.
In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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