It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Preached at Christ Church, Billericay at 8:00 on 18 September 2022

Introduction

This morning we're going to think a little about the Queen's reign and how her death has affected us. We will then move on to the writings of Jeremiah – our OT reading, and lastly to our Gospel reading from John.

QEII

During the last few days, I've been listening to and reading things that have been written about our late Queen.  Every one seems to agree that her life was dedicated to her duty and that she carried out that duty in an exemplary way.  Many times I have seen “well done good and faithful servant”, which I assume comes from Matthew 25:23.  It is well known that she had a strong Christian faith and that she was not shy of talking about it.  That was true to the extent that someone said of her that “The greatest evangelist of our generation has died”.  She didn't strike me as an evangelist, but it's clear that she made a connection with people, and that is certainly a first step.  There was an interview on the radio of various people who had met her. One man told of the conversation he had, and how she had been interested in what he was doing – that was one of her traits.  The conversation ended, and she was directed to the next place she had to be.  As she went, she turned back to him and said, “keep up the good work”.  That was completely unnecessary, she had already done her job, but that's the sort of person she was.

Her Reign

She reigned for nearly seventy years – that's a whole lifetime.  Psalm 90:10 says:

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away

It's also long enough that only a few of us will remember the former king, so the only head of state that we have known is Queen Elizabeth.  It's not surprising then that her death has come as quite a shock and has unsettled many.  Kier Starmer described her as our country's “stillest point, its greatest comfort”.  And now that comfort has gone.  It's happened at a difficult time politically, and her wisdom will undoubtedly be missed.  She was seen as a settling influence on a number of Prime Ministers, I'm led to believe.  We are worried about what will come next.

Succession

England has almost 1000 years experience of managing successions, this one is one of the most straight forward there has ever been, so we shouldn't have any worries there. But we might be concerned about the new King and how life will be under his influence. Things will be different. Despite his pledge to carry on his mother's legacy, he will have his own style and his own emphasis on different things.  He will not have years of experience to call on, either. So we may have some concerns there.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah lived at a very unsettled time in his nation's history.  He had been warning the powers that be for ages that they were going against God's ways, they did not listen.  Here's what one commentator wrote about the book of Lamentations.

“Written as a series of dirges, elegies, and laments following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Lamentations attempts to put into words the heartache and despair of the prophet Jeremiah, who had survived the siege of Jerusalem and subsequent captivity at the hands of Babylon. If Jeremiah’s first book (Jeremiah) was the prophetic warning anticipating the fall of Jerusalem; its sequel (Lamentations) was Jeremiah’s reflection upon it.”

Our Old Testament reading for today, is, apparently, one of the most hopeful passages in the whole book – such was the pain that Jeremiah felt.  His country, his people, are gone.  Everything about the way society was organised has changed.  His homeland is no longer his, but belongs to others, to the conquerors, the Babylonians.  In Chapter 29 of Jeremiah, he writes to the exiles, encouraging them to live in the new society in which they find themselves.   To establish families and to make a positive contribution to the Babylonian world.  He knows their exile won't last forever and is looking to future generations who will one day return.  

Alive – so loved

At the start of the exile, though, it is enough to be alive.  To be alive means that the Lord still loves His people.  They have not been consumed, they have not been annihilated.  The Lord's compassions are new every morning. He recalls how the promised land was established.  Each tribe was given a territory, 'a portion' of the new land that they were to occupy.  The portion they were given would support them and allow them to put down roots (real and metaphorical), to establish their families, to produce future generations.

Levites

One tribe, though, was not given any land.  The tribe of Levi – the Levites – were told the Lord would be their portion.  Their life would not be dedicated to agriculture, husbandry, or mining, their life would be dedicated to the Lord, and the Lord would provide for them.  He would do this by providing them with a share of the surpluses that the other tribes created.  It had worked very well, and no doubt by Jeremiah's time, it was the way the prophets were supported.  So Jeremiah, as he is reflecting on the disaster that has overtaken his people, knows that the Lord will look after him – although he may not have a clear idea of exactly how that would work.

Cast off

So he will wait for it to happen: “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”, he says.  He is waiting because he believes that the Israelites have been cast off by the Lord.  He cannot see how this disaster can be anything but the Lord letting go of them.  That view may be partly, at least, generated by his grief and his shock, but even in this emotional state he cannot help but know that the Lord still loves them. So, He could not have brought this disaster on them willingly.  The only thing to do is wait.  Waiting quietly does not mean sitting still and doing nothing. As we have already seen, Jeremiah wanted the Israelites to be a part of their new world.  If they wait quietly and patiently, one day the Lord will rescue them.

Same Message

Jesus's words, in our reading from John, echo the same message.  "I am the bread of life", is the equivalent of "the Lord is my portion".  Jesus is promising to sustain those who come to Him and believe in Him.  His promise goes further than the promises that Jeremiah understood and relied on.  Jesus promises that none of those who follow him can be lost, and that they will be raised up from death to eternal life on the last day.

Rely on

It's the promise that we all rely on, it's the promise that our late queen relied on, and that, so many have relied on through the ages.  With her and all the saints we wait quietly because as Jeremiah said "It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Amen.

 

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cnJP_jSXA4