Jeremiah 33:14-16 Commentary

In Those Days…

The first Sunday in Advent welcomes us into the work of waiting.  The first Sunday of Advent can often feel like a rude awakening.  In the US context, those who hold to a no-Christmas-music-until-after-Thanksgiving have likely already heard their favorite carols blaring over the loudspeakers at the shopping mall.  They may have set up their trees at home or begun round one of festive baking.  To arrive at church only to be told, “wait!” And, more than that, as The Worship Sourcebook tells us, we are entering into a season marked by “deliberate tension” as we “remember Israel’s waiting and hoping and we give thanks for Christ’s birth, we also anticipate his second coming at the end of time.  For this reason, Advent began as a penitential season, a time for discipline and intentional repentance in the confident expectation and hope of Christ’s coming again.” Joy to the World? Well, not so fast…

Three times in three short verses, Jeremiah tells us “the days are coming” and “in those days.” This text, then, invites us into a posture of waiting to see what is around the corner, of not assuming that whatever this moment holds — be it creaturely comforts or demoralizing defeats — is the final word. God’s people live with a posture of anticipation, of hope and expectation.  Advent is our season to practice this posture for four weeks until Christmas and it begins with the first Sunday in which, according to the traditional Advent candle-lighting liturgies, we focus on the virtue and practice of hope.  Hope rooted, as the text of Jeremiah 33 suggests, the the very character of God.

To a People in Exile

The book of Jeremiah is written to the people of Israel in exile.  Most of the book is taken up with themes of God’s judgment, as demonstrated by Jeremiah’s nickname: the weeping prophet.  Indeed, as Walter Brueggemann elaborates, “While Jeremiah is given a twofold task in 1:10, ‘to pluck up and to tear down, to build and to plant,’ the negative theme is much more decisive for and prevalent in the book of Jeremiah.”

However, in the midst of that overwhelming tide, a tiny stream of hope emerges in Jeremiah chapters 30-33, from which the first Sunday in Advent draws water. The nature of these promises could easily be misconstrued as a future-looking, optimistic, “cheer up!” Or as a backward looking assessment of Israel’s history, “you have gotten out of tighter jams than this one.”  But, instead, argues Brueggemann, this text is not about optimism or history.  Rather, it is the unveiling of the character of God.  God is faithful. God is powerful and God is committed to these people. This is a steady reality in which one might hope despite all past or future circumstance, even the present reality of exile.

About a Coming King

In many ways, hoping for a king is what led Israel into perilous and contested existence for many years before the weight of corrupt and ungodly rulers tipped the nations fortunes toward exile.  Yet, we don’t always recognize the import of God’s promised restoration coming through the Davidic lineage.  God can — and does — use broken people. It’s really the only material God has to work with any way.  And God can — and does — bring life out of death, light out of darkness, hope out of despair.

These short verses in Jeremiah pick up many echoes and harmonies from other parts of Scripture, particularly the prophets.  In its immediate context, chapter 33 plays on themes already revealed in chapter 23. Note the parallels: coming days, a branch, David, righteousness, Judah and Jerusalem/Israel, safety and “The Lord Our Righteous Savior.”

“The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,

a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.”

And both of these texts work in harmony with Isaiah 11, which promises a restored Davidic dynasty through a coming king. All of this is terribly tricky for Jeremiah, though, since his primary task is to prophecy the coming end of a corrupt Davidic reign. Nothing can prevent the coming exile.  And yet, even in that exile, God will work redemption.  Even through a corrupt political system, God will wrest out a just and righteous ruler for the land.

Children’s Message:

One of the best Advent texts around is the children’s picture book, Waiting is not Easy by Mo Willems.  The book tells the story of friends Gerald (an elephant) and his best friend, Piggie (a pig.) On the occasion, Piggie announces she has a surprise for her friend Gerald.  He is excited. But then Piggie says they must wait for their surprise.  Gerald goes through all the emotions one might expect for someone eagerly awaiting a surprise: resolve, impatience, deciding the wait, being angry that it seems they have waited too long.  Until, at last, the sun sets, the sky becomes dark and Piggie points to the surprise they are to share: a beautiful glimpse of the stars.  Consider using this in a children’s message or simply as part of one of your Advent worships service or sermons.