Proper 27 Year C 11/9/2025
Haggai 1:15b-2:9; Psalm 98; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17; Luke 20:27-38
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
Although there is not a formal transition, we have entered a new season in the church year…
A new theme, a new feel…
The end of the church year has similarities with the beginning of the church year…
The theological overtones at the end of the church year point toward the return of our Lord Jesus…
Hope and faithfulness are key words…
It culminates with Christ the King Sunday, which we will celebrate on November 23rd.
The beginning of the church year begins with the four weeks of Advent…
Once again, hope and faithfulness are key words.
And we look for the coming of the Messiah…
Both in the first coming and the second coming…
It culminates with our Christmas worship.
The Sunday readings from here to Christmas are full of hope…
Full of faithfulness in the waiting…
Full of preparation for the coming of the Lord.
And we get these overtones in our first reading today from this little Old Testament book called Haggai.
Haggai is a prophetic book in the Old Testament.
It is one of the 12…
The 12 Minor Prophet books that comprise the 12 last books of the Old Testament.
Last week we heard from another one of the 12 minor prophets… the prophet Habakkuk.
Deacon Dan talked about lament, the importance of lamenting, and the hope that is present when we cry out to God.
Today we have Haggai…
A small book of only 2 chapters.
And today is the only day in the Church Lectionary where we hear from this prophet named Haggai.
Haggai lived in Jerusalem about 80 years after Habakkuk.
Habakkuk prophesied that the Babylonians were coming to wipe out Judah… which they did in 586 B.C.
Destroying the temple that King Solomon had built.
The Babylonian Empire did not last long…
And when the Persians came to power… they sent the Jewish people back home to Jerusalem and the surrounding area.
And this is when Haggai comes on the scene…
He speaks to the Jewish exiles who have returned to Jerusalem…
Around 516 B.C. …
And the task of the people was to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
But it wasn’t easy…
They came back to a devastated city…
A destroyed temple…
With all its gold and precious metals stolen…
With all its glamour gone.
With just a few of their oldest members remembering what the Temple looked like in all its glory.
They started to rebuild…
but they knew it wasn’t going to be as nice as the former temple.
They were discouraged…
The task seemed insurmountable…
Their enemies still attacked them…
And they questioned whether God was still with them.
To this setting Haggai prophesied.
And three times he uses the word “courage”
He says to the leaders and the people:
Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord;
take courage, O Joshua, …the high priest;
take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord…
And then Haggai gives the origin of this courage…
Now, the courage does not dwell up in faith in their own abilities…
It’s not in their hard work…
It’s not in their unity, or discipline, or good will…
It’s not courage in their patriotism, nor is it in their might…
Haggai gives a different reason to have courage, saying:
…for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts,
according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt.
My spirit abides among you; do not fear…
In their trouble and despair, their courage comes because they are not alone…
Because the presence of God…
The presence of Yahweh is with them.
And then our reading concludes with an eschatological providential hope…
God who sovereignly works together his purpose in this world…
God who shakes the heavens and the earth…
the sea and the dry land…
will shake all the nations,
so that the treasure of all nations shall come
That treasure… is the messianic hope…
The one who is to come…
The Son of God…
Jesus the Messiah.
Haggai prophesies of the One to come…
That God is orchestrating the times toward his ultimate purpose…
Toward the fullest expression of the presence of God…
God incarnate…
Jesus Christ.
The one who came as a child…
Lived and died…
Rose from the grave…
Ascended to the heavens…
And will come again to be fully present with his people forever.
And just as the promise of the presence of God (in Haggai’s time) was the source of courage to live faithfully the hope that these returning exiles had in rebuilding the temple…
So the promise of the presence of God in our life…
Is the source of how we live faithfully.
How we live out this hope that we have while walking in this world.
We, like the people in Haggai’s time, might look at the problems in our world as insurmountable…
We might look at the difficulties we face in life today and say:
“How God?” or “Why God?”
The challenges we face in life might feel impossible.
The abuse…
The sickness…
The financial difficulties…
Whatever it is, it can be overwhelming.
But the prophesy of Haggai is for us today too.
Take Courage…
Take Courage…
Take Courage…
He says three times…
Not because we can do this in our own power…
We can’t just pull up our bootstraps and get it done…
Not because we have faith in humanity…
Or that we need to find some form of unity, or discipline, or goodwill.
The promise that Haggai gave the people in his day was that God’s presence was with them.
…for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts,
My spirit abides among you; do not fear…
And this promise is for us all the more…
As we say:
Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.
The presence of Christ Jesus is with us…
And he has sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter, our protector…
The truth is this:
We are never alone as the people of God.
The presence of Jesus Christ is with us…
Through all of life…
The ups and downs…
The challenges…
The difficulties…
Our courage comes from knowing Christ Jesus is with us, always.
As Jesus himself said:
I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
This is why St. Patrick could form his famous prayer saying:
Christ with me,
Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
St. Patrick knew that he was never alone.
And he took courage in that presence.
The presence of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is the courage to walk out the hope that is in us.
The hope that Jesus Christ is coming again to set the world at rights.
As we say in our creed:
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
And his kingdom will have no end.
And again…
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the world to come.
Come Lord Jesus, Come!
The early church had an expression for this…
They prayed the Aramaic word – Maranatha!
Which means Our Lord, come!
They so longed for the fullness of the presence of God…
In the person of Jesus Christ…
Prompted by the presence of the Holy Spirit within them.
The collect for today…
The collect we prayed at the beginning of our worship points toward this same truth…
The same promise of hope and courage…
We prayed:
O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure;
that, when he comes again with power and great glory,
we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
My prayer for you today…
Is that in all the pains of this world and in our life…
That we would remain faithful and true…
Because we know that God is always with us.
We are never alone.
And that even when we die, we will be with Christ Jesus forever.
Amen.
