Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 11/3/14
Turn on the television
in the morning, open up a newspaper, or surf the internet and we are quickly
and rudely introduced to the fact that there is so much injustice in our
world. We see that there are more and
more school shootings and yet lawmakers are too afraid to pass simple laws to
protect our children. We look and see that CEO of companies are making 273
times more money than their average worker, not the lowest paid worker, the
average worker.[1]
We look at federal prisons and see that though the United states population
makes up 5% of the entire world population,
25% of all incarcerated people in the word are in America, and that the
incarceration rate of African Americans is 6 times higher than that of
Caucasians.[2]
This kind of injustice causes us to become cynical. It causes us to cry out to
God in anger. We even see this cry on the behalf of injustice in one of the
verses from the great hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” which says, “Though with
a scornful wonder we see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by
heresies distressed, yet saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up,
"How long?" And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.”
When we see such injustice just like the saints from the hymn we cry out how
long?
![Title: Writing of the Vision of Habakkuk
[Click for larger image view]](http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/cdri/jpeg/00001270.jpg) |
| Photo courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library |
The prophet Habakkuk echoes these sentiments in his words
to the Israelites. Whereas last week we talked about Joel and how he was
speaking words of hope for the Israelites after the Babylonian captivity, this
week Habakkuk is speaking to Israelites before all of that turmoil, in fact the
Babylonians are an afterthought, the Babylonians during the time of Habakkuk
are most likely just beginning to gain power through military conquests, and
the Israelites are most likely aware of them but blissfully ignorant of what is
to come. Israel is prosperous, Israel is mighty and strong.
And yet in the midst of what seems like good times for
Israel, Habakkuk, “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?
Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-- therefore judgment comes forth perverted.” Unlike most prophets who start out by stating some decree from the Lord to the people, Habakkuk offers up his plea to God. If all was going well in Israel, what did Habakkuk have to complain out then? Well, though Israel may have been prospering, maybe even because Israel was prospering, justice was not being served. There was corruption amongst the rulers and the judges. The welfare and power of in charge was became the ultimate goal, and justice especially for the weak, the poor, the widowed and orphaned fell by the wayside. Not only were people corrupt and oppressive but so too were the economic and political systems. Habakkuk sees this injustice and cries out to the Lord how long!? How long do we have to wait for your justice, do you even care.
Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-- therefore judgment comes forth perverted.” Unlike most prophets who start out by stating some decree from the Lord to the people, Habakkuk offers up his plea to God. If all was going well in Israel, what did Habakkuk have to complain out then? Well, though Israel may have been prospering, maybe even because Israel was prospering, justice was not being served. There was corruption amongst the rulers and the judges. The welfare and power of in charge was became the ultimate goal, and justice especially for the weak, the poor, the widowed and orphaned fell by the wayside. Not only were people corrupt and oppressive but so too were the economic and political systems. Habakkuk sees this injustice and cries out to the Lord how long!? How long do we have to wait for your justice, do you even care.
It is easy for us today to feel the same frustrations. We
see the political and economic systems of injustice in our own society, we see our congress fighting for their own
political welfare instead of the welfare of the nation. We too want to cry out to God how long?! We
must be reminded of the Lord’s response to Habakkuk. “For
there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does
not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not
delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous
live by their faith.” God tells
Habakkuk I hear the cries of my people and I have not forgotten you. There is still hope, hope of a time when I
will wipe away every tear from your eyes. God gives the Israelites hope. And
then he tells the prophet a powerful phrase, that if anybody has ever heard a
line from the book of Habakkuk it is probably this, “Look
at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by
their faith.”
So what does this mean?
As is the case so often when we talk about the word faith in the Bible,
it is not referring to a belief system, but rather trust in the Lord. Habakkuk
is saying the proud do not have a right spirit, they put trust in themselves,
there will come a time in which that will fail them, but the righteous will
live by their trust in the Lord. One the one hand that is telling us that in
the midst of the turmoil, in the all of the crisis and injustice that we see we
must continue to trust in the Lord, for there is hope. However, the words of
the Lord through the prophet Habakkuk are also a call to action. That those who
are righteous, those who trust in and follow the will of God must live by God’s
will and fight the injustice. We must participate in the hope of a time with no
more tears through providing relief here and now. We must speak up about
injustice and serve the least of these. It all may seem overwhelming, we may
think to ourselves, what can I really do? We don’t even know where to start. A
good place to start, is simply to recognize the injustice and cry like the
prophet Habakkuk, how long? We can first feel, embrace, take on the pain and
injustice and lift it up to the Lord. And we can do this not in despair but in
hope, for the righteous will live by their faith, For through Christ we have
hope of a Kingdom of God in which all things are made new and God will wipe
every tear from our eyes. Earlier we looked at the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation”
and cried with the saints how long, but maybe now we can say with confidence
the verses of hope that follow, “Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her
war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore; till, with the vision
glorious, her longing eyes are blest, and the great church victorious shall be
the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union with God the Three in One, and
mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest
is won. O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we like them, the meek
and lowly, on high may dwell with thee.
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