H. Michael Brewer
Crescent Springs Presbyterian
30 November 2003
THE RETURN OF THE KING
Jeremiah 33:14-16
You may not remember Tom Southerland but you know his story. Several years ago Shiite Muslims in the Middle East held Tom Sutherland captive for
four years. Much of his time was spent solitary confinement. In a speech after his release he asked an unforgettable question. He asked, “Do you know what
it’s like to be in prison? To be held hostage? To be a captive? It’s very lonely and you worry that people will forget you. I felt abandoned. I didn’t think
anybody even knew I was in prison.”
During his imprisonment, Tom Southerland could hear a radio that the guards had. It was tuned into the BBC and every day Tom Southerland would listen
intently to the newscast hoping and praying that he might hear his name, hoping and praying that the newscaster would talk about him on the air and tell the
story of his imprisonment and his innocence. But his name was never mentioned so he assumed that nobody even knew that he was being held hostage. Or
worse, nobody cared.
That’s how the Jewish people felt after the Babylonians invaded and carried the conquered Jews into exile in a foreign land. God’s people felt forgotten.
Abandoned. Written off. God forsaken.
Sure, God had promised to preserve them, but it looked as if God was busy with other things. The covenant people were finding it almost impossible to
trust the covenant. Their past had been swept away. Their future was dark. And in the present moment they had no leadership, no identity, no Temple, no
king, no hope.
In the midst of this despair God’s word arrives through the prophet.
I have not forgotten you, says the Lord. I made a promise to my servant David. I promised that his descendants would reign forever. I promised that
someone from his line would always sit on the throne and rule my people. Did you think I would forget? Did you believe I would turn away from my
promise? Did you think I would forsake you? It may seem to you that David’s line has been chopped off just like a tree that is cut down, but I promise you
that I will raise up a new branch from that tree, a living branch who will be your king.
In these weeks of preparation for Christmas, we will look together at four Old Testament prophecies that help us understand who Jesus is and why he has
come into the world. We start with Jeremiah and the prophecy of a king.
We Americans have trouble figuring out this kingly stuff, but I’m going to make a stab at this. In this passage from Jeremiah, the king has two great tasks:
justice and righteousness.
Has anyone seen the 2003 Stella Awards? These annual awards recognize the goofiest lawsuit verdicts of the past year. They are named after the woman
who successfully sued McDonald’s after she spilled hot coffee on herself.
One of this year’s Stellas went to Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, who was awarded $780,000 by a jury of her peers after she tripped over a toddler
in a furniture store and broke her ankle. The owners of the store were surprised at the verdict, since the misbehaving child who tripped Ms Robertson was, in
fact, her own son.
Another Stella went to Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania. Mr. Dickson had just robbed a suburban home and was exiting by way of the garage.
Unfortunately, Mr. Dickson was not able to raise the garage door because the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. Nor could he re-enter the house
because the door behind him had locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation and the poor burglar found himself locked in the garage for eight
days, subsisting on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food. Mr. Dickson sued the house owners’ insurance company claiming the situation caused him
undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.
This year's runaway first-place Stella winner was Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. Merv purchased a brand new Winnebago motor home. A short
time later, while driving on the freeway, Merv set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of
coffee assuming the cruise control would safely steer the vehicle. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and then overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued
Winnebago because the owner’s manual didn’t tell him that the Winnebago would not drive itself. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a brand-new
Winnebago.
I call stories like that “head-shakers.” You shake your head and ask, “Where’s the justice?” That’s the great question for our times, isn’t it? Where’s the
justice? And often it’s much more serious than a frivolous lawsuit. Sometimes it’s O.J. Simpson or Kobe Bryant. Sometimes it’s a custody battle or a
corporate lay-off. Sometimes it’s whether or not to topple a foreign government. Sometimes it’s what to do when another country is committing genocide
within its own borders. Sometimes it involves fair treatment for minorities or fair pay for women. Sometimes it’s about capital punishment or human rights
or two ancient peoples laying claim to the same piece of blood-soaked land. Sometimes it’s as simple and close to home as getting blamed for something you
didn’t do or getting cheated of the credit for what you did do.
Where’s the justice? That’s our question, and God’s answer is, I have not forgotten you. I have raised up a king from the line of my servant David, and he
judges not by appearances, but by the heart. He achieves perfect equity. He rules with righteousness.
“Righteousness” is a tricky word in Hebrew. Some Bibles translate that word as “salvation” or “vindication.” Maybe the simplest definition is this:
righteousness means setting all things right.
In a world where so many things are not right, in a time when justice eludes us and when the little people—the children, the poor, the broken, the hurting,
the old, the disadvantaged, the outsiders—in a time when the little people seem to have been utterly forgotten, God says to us, I never forget. I have sent you
a king who stoops to gather the little people, who judges justly, and who sets all things right. Your king will set right all that is in your heart and all that is in
your life and all that is in your world. I have kept my promise. I have sent you a king who will come again to finish what he began.
A few verses later, God says, Do you think I might forget my promise? Have I ever forgotten to raise the sun in the morning? Have I ever forgotten to bring
the nightfall at the right time? Not once, in all these tens of thousands of years, not even once. If someday I forget the sunrise, then you can worry that I
might forget you, but that has never happened and never will. I am not a forgetful God.
I began today by talking about Tom Southerland. After four years in captivity, Southerland was finally released. Our government flew his wife Jean to meet
him, and a few days later they flew home together to San Francisco. As they were getting off the plane in the United States, Southerland was amazed to see
lights and television cameras, reporters and people holding signs at the airport. Tom turned to his wife and said, “Jean, look at all these people. There must be
a celebrity on the plane with us. Look around and see if you can spot who it is.” And Jean said, “Tom, they are all here for you! This is all for you!”
When his wife told him that, Southerland started crying and he couldn’t stop. He sobbed like a little boy. He couldn’t believe it. He said, “I didn’t think
anybody cared. I didn’t think anybody even knew I was a hostage. I thought I was forgotten. But I was wrong, thank God.”
Beyond the Christmas sales and the tinsel angels and the blinking lights, this is what the birth of Jesus means to us. Christmas proves that God does not
forget. God promised a king, and God sent a king, a king who will return, a king who fulfills every promise of the God who remembers. That king is our king.
Even when cannot see beyond this present darkness, we trust his justice, we rely on his righteousness, and we count on his presence to turn our tears of
despair into tears of joy.
Soli Deo Gloria!