Joel 2:12-13, 28-29
(sermon note:
Yet 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.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
Then afterwards
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a duck who walked into a store one day. He shouted at the manager, “Hey! Ya got any duck food?” The manager answered, “No, we don’t.” The next day, the duck returned and asked, “Hey! Ya got any duck food?” The manager said, “I told you yesterday, we don’t have any duck food. Now please leave.” The next day, the duck returned and asked, “Hey! Got any duck food?” The manager angrily responded, “For the last time, we don’t have any duck food! And if you come back here and ask again, I’m gonna nail your feet to the floor!” The next day, the duck returned and sheepishly asked, “Hey! Ya got any nails?” The manager answered, “No, we don’t.” The duck eagerly replied, “Good! Got any duck food?”
That duck sure had a determination to get some food! You’d think he hadn’t eaten in days and that store was the only store to presumably have any food. Surely there was another manager at another store he could have tried his luck with, but he was determined to get his food from that manager at that store. Maybe that manager and store had a reputation for giving out food to ducks. Regardless, the persistent duck kept returning day after day and was able to at least call the manager’s bluff if not get any actual food. But he deserved a little food for his determined efforts….
Lucky for us we know a God who does reward determination. Our God is not only pleased by determination but actually rewards it. What does Scripture tell us? Jesus says in Matthew, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8) Jesus said it himself, those who ask, seek, and knock will be rewarded. And though he doesn’t say it outright in that passage, I believe he was presuming that we wouldn’t just ask once, seek once, knock once. No, there is an implied persistence in his teaching. We have to persistently ask, seek, and knock before God will answer. Don’t ask me why that is…God’s busy? God wants to know we’re committed? God wants an ongoing relationship? I don’t know why God tends to reward those who are persistent and determined. He just does. That duck may not have received any food by the end of that joke, but I suspect that if he were to keep coming back to that manager, day after day, he’d eventually find some food to give to that duck if only for the sake of maintaining his sanity! Perhaps that’s why God rewards the persistent and determined…to maintain his sanity. Probably not! We’re the crazy ones and He has all the time to wait for us to get un-crazy.
Our reading for today is short one, just a mere 4 verses. But nestled in the middle of it is a key verse: “Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” Several times throughout Scripture we hear how our God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,” but it’s those opening words that have stuck with me throughout this week: “return to the Lord.” What a powerful proclamation to make! Return to the Lord! In some ways, it’s much more friendly than “Repent!” Who likes being told to repent? We have to acknowledge our sinfulness in order to truly repent and who likes doing that?! No, I like the invitation, “return to the Lord.” Sure, we are returning to the Lord when we repent but it just sounds more friendly and inviting. No matter where I find myself in life, no matter what I’ve done in life, I’m more eager to return than to repent. And not just once but persistently return to the Lord! We are encouraged to persistently return to him, day after day, year after year, however long it takes to get him to feed us. Much the same way that that duck went back, day after day.
Now then, why are we being reminded of this invitation in the second week of Advent? For many of us who have been faithfully following Jesus for many years now, it’s hard to get excited about Christmas anymore. We know the story of Jesus’ birth like that back of our hands. It’s a familiar, almost routine story. We return to it, year after year. How can it possibly feed us anymore? Well, that’s the beauty and mystery of it. It somehow does feed us anew each and every year! It feeds those who have yet to hear the story, and it feeds those who have heard it dozens of times. It’s a powerful story of birth and renewal, of hope and new possibilities. In telling and retelling it, year after year, we are, in a sense, returning to the Lord. No matter where the year has taken us, we can end the year by returning to the Lord. We can be replenished and restored in the hope of the season for a new year ahead. God IS gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love! Just hear how he came to us through Jesus! Pure love, pure forgiveness, pure joy! Friends, return to the Lord and all that comes with the birth and rebirth of Christ.
Replenishment and restoration are both fine and good in returning to the Lord. But there is even more in returning to the Lord! Jesus tells us, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:32) There is great freedom in Christ! And even more from that old familiar verse, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Yes, it’s good to be replenished and restored for the new year ahead but it’s GREAT knowing we are freed and blessed with eternal life by returning to the Lord through Christ! What a blessing indeed!
So as we continue through this Advent season, let us be encouraged to return to the Lord yet again. God is good and loves us and for that we give thanks…thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
