But their obedience was short-lived. Not long after Hezekiah’s illness, foolish decisions with the Babylonian envoys, and eventual death, Manasseh comes to the throne and wastes no time in turning the people of Judah from the story that God has been telling. The narrative heads south in a hurry and the word of Zephaniah is quick to follow.
His message: T’shuvah.
t’shuvah is a word that is most often translated “repent.” The word carries with it the connotation of making a U-turn — turning away from your current path and coming back to God. It is true that in our Western culture, we often think of repentance as being all tied up in confession; while the two ideas often go together, repentance is a much deeper reality than mere confession or apology. We often think of repentance as acknowledging our sin before God and saying we’re sorry. However, the idea of repentance is much more involved. It requires a change in behavior, not just in our thinking. This difference has been talked about often amongst the discussion of discipleship.
However, t’shuvah goes even further than we think. T’shuvah doesn’t just invite us to change our path and make a U-turn. T’shuvah actually invites us to REturn, and this is an important distinction. In fact, a quick survey of the word t’shuvah in the Tanakh will quickly show that it is not uncommon for the word to be translated “return” quite often in the prophets.
God is calling the people to come back home. God wants them to return to the great narrative He’s telling in the world and decide that they want to return as partners in His great project. This is really important, because it calls us to remember the deepest truths of where we started this whole study back in Genesis. God made a GOOD world and invited us to believe it. We were a part of this good world and the idea of t’shuvah invites us to remember that. We are being invited to come back to the thing that is truest about us. This stands in such contrast to the idea of a preacher standing on the sidewalk and calling people to “REPENT!” for how horrible they are, rather than the beckoning invitation of God to come back home.
The call of repentance is a reminder of the most profound truth of what God thinks about you.
God believes you have what it takes. God believes you were made and designed for something better. God knows the plans that He has for you and this isn’t it. You’ve gotten off track and went astray. And God invites you to return. Return to the truest true about how God made you and how God sees you.
Hear the plea of the LORD through the prophet Zephaniah (chapter 3):
Woe to the city of oppressors,
rebellious and defiled!
She obeys no one,
she accepts no correction.
She does not trust in the Lord,
she does not draw near to her God.
Her officials within her
are roaring lions;
her rulers are evening wolves,
who leave nothing for the morning.
Her prophets are unprincipled;
they are treacherous people.
Her priests profane the sanctuary
and do violence to the law.
The Lord within her is righteous;
he does no wrong.
Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,
and every new day he does not fail,
yet the unrighteous know no shame.
At least somebody seems to be worried about mishpat — but His own people will not join Him!
“I have destroyed nations;
their strongholds are demolished.
I have left their streets deserted,
with no one passing through.
Their cities are laid waste;
they are deserted and empty.
Of Jerusalem I thought,
‘Surely you will fear me
and accept correction!’
Then her place of refuge would not be destroyed,
nor all my punishments come upon her.
But they were still eager
to act corruptly in all they did.
Therefore wait for me,”
declares the Lord,
“for the day I will stand up to testify.
I have decided to assemble the nations,
to gather the kingdoms
and to pour out my wrath on them—
all my fierce anger.
The whole world will be consumed
by the fire of my jealous anger.
But even Zephaniah is not without hope. He ends his prophetic message with these words:
Sing, Daughter Zion;
shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your punishment,
he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
never again will you fear any harm.
On that day
they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
do not let your hands hang limp.
The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
“I will remove from you
all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,
which is a burden and reproach for you.
At that time I will deal
with all who oppressed you.
I will rescue the lame;
I will gather the exiles.
I will give them praise and honor
in every land where they have suffered shame.
At that time I will gather you;
at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes
before your very eyes,”
says the Lord.
This isn’t about endless punishment. It’s about restoration. It’s about coming back home. It’s about remembering where you come from. And God will go to some great extremes to remind you of your Egypts. But once you’ve been reminded of what this whole narrative is about, God can’t wait to bestow upon you the gift of the second, third, and fourth chances.
He’s wanting to care for the oppressed. He’s wanting to hear the cry of the alien, the orphan, and the widow. It’s why He’s placed you at the crossroads of the earth, to be His priests and show the world what He’s like. Woe to us when we become the anti-story, giving the world an inaccurate picture of our God. Do we find ourselves in these places — bowing down to the idols of Empire and Self?
We’re invited to hear the words of Zephaniah.
“T’shuvah.”
Return. Come back home. Join the narrative.
No comments:
Post a Comment