Sermon- Thirteenth in a Sermon Series on Promises, Perils, and Possibilities.
December 8, 2024, Second Sunday of Advent
Scripture Text: Joel 2:12-13, 28-29
O. E. Rolvaag’s novel Giants in the Earth tells the story of Norwegian immigrant families who settled in South Dakota in the 1870s. In one scene three farmers look toward the sky and see a sight such that they had never seen before.
From out of the west layers of clouds came rolling—thin layers that rose and sank on the breeze;
they had none of the look or manner of ordinary clouds;
they came in waves, like the surges of the sea, and cast a glittering sheen before them as they came;
they seemed to be made of some solid murky substance that threw out small sparks along its face.
The three men stood spellbound, watching the oncoming terror;
their voices died in their throats;
their minds were blank.
The horses snorted as they, too, caught sight of it and became very restless…
Down by the creek the grazing cows had hoisted their tails straight in the air and run for the nearest shelter;
and no sooner had the horses been turned loose, than they followed suit;
man and beast alike were overcome by a nameless fear.
And now from out of the sky gushed down with cruel force a living, pulsating stream, striking the backs of the helpless folk like pebbles thrown by an unseen hand;
but that which fell out of the heavens was not pebbles, nor raindrops, nor hail, for then it would have lain inanimate where it fell;
this substance had no sooner fallen than it popped up again, crackling and snapping—rose up and disappeared in the twinkling of an eye;
it flared and flittered around them like light gone mad;
it chirped and buzzed through the air;
it snapped and hopped along the ground; the whole place was a weltering turmoil of raging little demons;
if one looked for a moment into the wind, one saw nothing but glittering, lightninglike flashes— flashes that came and went, in the heart of a cloud made up of innumerable dark-brown clicking bodies!
All the while the roaring sound continued ….
Finally, someone spoke slowly and solemnly: ‘This must be one of the plagues mentioned in the Bible.’
Do you know what it was?
It was a plague of locusts. And O. E. Rolvaag’s description, which I just read, is surely one of the most vivid in literature.
His description of locusts echoes a description found in the first chapter of the Book of Joel.
As the Book of Joel opens, a terrible plague of locusts has devastated the land.
The prophet says, “tell your children [what happened], and have your children tell their children, and their children tell their children.” (Joel 1:3)
It reminds me of the early days of the pandemic when many parents told their children, “you will be telling your own children and grandchildren about this one day.”
And likewise the Prophet Joel wants the people to tell their children how:
What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten.
And what the hopping locust has left,
the devouring locust has eaten. (Joel 1:4)
Later in the chapter the prophet says
Be shocked, you farmers;
howl, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and barley,
for the crops of the field are destroyed.
The grapevine is dried up;
the fig tree withers.
Pomegranate, palm and apple—
all the trees of the field are dried up.
Joy fades from the people.
To the prophet, the terrible plague of locusts was a sign that the “Day of the Lord” was near, which was a time or occasion when the Lord would intervene decisively in history.
It would be a day of judgment for Israel’s enemies, but the prophets also emphasized that it would be a day of judgment for Israel itself.
Don’t gloat about the coming Day of the Lord, the prophets warned, because it will be a day of darkness and not light, gloom with no brightness in it.
Centuries later, John the Baptist would appear on the scene, eating locusts and wild honey, and proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!”
Why do you think John the Baptist was so fond of eating locusts?
Were they his favorite protein source?
I have it on good authority that roasted grasshoppers taste a bit like roasted pumpkin seeds.
But I digress …. There’s more going on here than a simple culinary choice.
You see, every time John the Baptist popped a honey roasted locust into his mouth, he was reminding his followers of the Prophet Joel and the promised coming of the Day of the Lord.
For both Joel and John the Baptist, the appropriate response to the promised coming of the Day of the Lord was to repent, or turn back to God.
But what about the people whose lives have been ruined by the locusts? For them, the terrible devastation has already happened! Would there be any point to repenting now? They’ve already suffered the horrible consequences that the prophets warned them about. Surely, it’s too late to repent now. Isn’t it?
Listen again to the response in Joel 2:12:
Yet even now, says the Lord,
Return to me with all your heart . . .
Did you hear that? “Even now.” It’s not too late. It’s never too late.
An 81-year-old walks into an AA meeting for the very first time. Is it too late to begin a new life of sobriety? No, it’s not!
A 66-year-old contemplates a change of career. Is it too late? Not necessarily. Professional sports might be out of the question but there are thousands of other potential opportunities. Many callings do occur later in life. Follow your heart. Go in the direction you believe God is leading you. It’s not too late.
Someone has been estranged from family members for decades. Is it too late to reconcile? It doesn’t have to be. I’m certainly not advocating for victims of abuse to make nice with their abusers unilaterally, but in many instances it may yet be possible to navigate the complicated emotional landscape and reconcile with estranged family members. And if circumstances are such that you are the one who is in a position to reach out, it’s not too late!
For those who feel like they are lost causes, you are not a lost cause! It’s not too late to begin again, no matter how many discouraging false starts you’ve had. You’ve learned something from each of those false starts and stumbles, and it’s not too late to begin again!
God’s invitation to us begins with the words, “Even now.”
. . . even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. (Joel 2:12-13a)
To rend or tear one’s garments was a powerful expression of grief or terror or horror at some misfortune.
And many people in Joel’s day might only own one garment.
So, it’s not as if they are simply ripping apart something they were planning on giving to Good Will anyway.
To tear the only garment that you own is a powerful statement of lament!
And yet Joel suggests that more is required …. Rend your hearts and not your clothing!
Conduct a deep inventory of your thoughts, feelings, desires, priorities—and all of these things are included in what the Hebrew prophets meant by the heart.
Tear open your heart and expose that part of yourself that aches for a return to God.
One preacher tells the story of a business executive who had a reputation for being ruthless. He relished putting smaller competitors out of business, and his management style vis a vis his own employees was that it’s always better to be feared than loved.
He traveled to attend a family funeral, and when they were gathered at the cemetery, he caught a glimpse of his grandmother’s grave. On her grave was an epitaph, a quotation from Proverbs 31:26
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
That one phrase captured his full attention. The teaching of kindness. He kept saying that to himself over and over again. The teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Memories of his grandmother came rushing back, and he remembered her efforts to teach him kindness, and how he had spent the better part of his adult life ignoring those lessons, and it tore at his heart. (story told in a sermon by Thomas G. Long)
When our hearts are torn, they become open vessels for receiving God’s Spirit. And God’s Spirit gives us a vision for where we need to go next, whether we need to do a complete 180 degree turn or whether we need to move a few degrees to the right or the left in order to see what God wants us to see.
Tear open your own heart, and expose that part of you that aches for a return to God. Pay attention to your own heartache and to the heartache of others.
And here’s the good news for all the brokenhearted . . .
The Lord says ….
I will pour out my spirit on all people
your children shall prophesy,
your old shall dream dreams,
and your young shall see visions.
All glory and praise be to our God. Amen.
Please note: Each week I try to write a complete sermon manuscript in advance, but in the preaching moment I often use an outline or sparse notes. Accordingly, this written blog post will likely differ slightly from the sermon as actually preached.
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