The Lord our justice
Behold the days are coming when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David. This is the name they give him: “The Lord our justice.” The days will come, says, the Lord, when they shall again live on their own land. – From Jeremiah 23
Our grandkids are moving mountains. Among a thousand other things, Miles is pronouncing the letters of his name with great joy.
Jack will be the youngest participant at an all-school geography bee tomorrow. Years ago he annihilated his high school competition in a state capital naming contest. Now he’s nine. Here we go!
And Aly is making sentences, having all kinds of fun as her first grade reading improves daily. On the way to Chris’ birthday party she sat in the back seat of our car and made sentences up for us. Sentences are everywhere, right? But we have to reach up and grab them. Write them down. And look and see what they might mean.
Jeremiah names God, “The Lord our justice.” Just as John said “God is love,” so Jeremiah says, “God is justice.” The Hebrews looked far and wide for justice, and Jeremiah looked farther than anyone. But in these future days, they will need to look no more. “They shall again live on their own land.”
The Old Testament is laced with sentences like this. The future holds great promise. We can bank on that. And then the next Testament pronounces the reign of Jesus in the kingdom of God. God “will raise up a righteous shoot to David,” and his name shall be called Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Almighty God:
“You are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
More now than ever in the year, kids look toward what will be. Christmas hopes, Christmas dreams. Rushing around in pajamas with energy to burn. Curling up in bed to wait for Christmas morning. Singing under their breath, listening for reindeer on the roof and … in a flash … unintentionally … asleep.
Then suddenly, morning has broken.
And me, can I look at what will be? It’s easier to see what IS with my lazy eyes. But there are consequences to my tired tunnel vision. I lose track of God. In his Advent sermon, Karl Barth cries out: “We must once and for all give up trying to be self-made.”
God wants to do all, yes through us and with us and never without us, but always out of his power and not ours.
Pastor Barth cuts to the chase: “Will I place myself next to the truth or in the truth?” If I I choose to live in the truth, then Advent is a good time to begin.
Lord, make me like a child, ready for the morning, looking through the dark to what you have for me tomorrow. And show me again and again how to let you lead me, and how to follow.
 Karl Barth, “Lukas 1:5-23,” from Predigten (Sermons), 1917, pp. 423-431, translated by Robert J. Sherman. Included as entry for December 13, in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas, 2001, Plough Publishing House
http://www.davesandel.net/category/advent-and-christmas-devotions-2018/
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archive.php?year=2018
