People Look East

People, Look East

Jeremiah 23:5-6

            Many of the newer hymnals contain the Advent hymn, People, Look East.  The words were written by Eleanor Farjeon, who is better known for the hymn Morning Has Broken.  The first verse of her Advent hymn says,

                                People, look east, the time is near of the crowning of the year.

                        Make your house fair as you are able, trim the hearth and set the table.

                        People, look east and sing today:  Love, the Guest, is on the way.

            The second verse tells us to nourish the seed which has been planted because, “Love, the Rose, is on the way.”  In the third verse the stars are asked to light the sky, for, “Love, the Star, is on the way.”  Finally, the angels are told to announce the birth of this wondrous Child, since, “Love the Lord, is on the way.”

            For centuries the prophets had been promising the arrival of a Messiah, someone who would save Israel.  It was natural for people to misread the prophetic texts and expect a military leader, one who would restore Israel to the status it had experienced under the reigns of David and Solomon.  Those were glory days indeed, when conquests and treaties enlarged the tiny kingdom—heady stuff for such a small nation to be able to play such a large part in the affairs of the region.  Who wouldn’t want to return to such a past?

            It’s no wonder that most of Israel—including most of the leaders of the nation—missed the coming of Jesus.  Who could imagine that God intended the Chosen One to live out a seemingly ordinary life, moving through all the stages of humanity from birth, through maturation, to adulthood, to an early death?  That couldn’t possibly be the path the Savior of the nation would follow!

            I believe God delights in surprising us.  How many of us have prayed for patience only to be confronted with every slow driver in town just when we need to get somewhere in a hurry?  How often has God fulfilled our prayer requests in ways we could never imagine?  How frequently do we fail to see the future that God is leading us into?

            Jeremiah prophesied during the Babylonian exile.  He spoke out against the wicked, wrong-headed leadership of his country.  He tried to speak truth to power when power didn’t want to hear truth.  For his troubles he was mocked and imprisoned.  Still, he persisted.  He had been given a message from God, and he was going to deliver it no matter what happened to him.

            “Behold, the days are coming,” he said, speaking the word of the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch.”  The tree of Jesse, which had produced David and Solomon, had been cut off and become a dead stump.  The line of Davidic kings had ended.  There was no one left to sit on the throne of David, no descendant who could be considered to be of royal blood.  Who, then, might this “righteous Branch” be?

            “He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land….And this is the name by which he will be called:  ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”

            If the people, from the leaders on down, had listened carefully to Jeremiah, they would have heard the repeated use of the word, “righteousness.”  Jeremiah did not promise a king who would make Israel and Judah powerhouses in the Middle Eastern political scene.  He foretold a different future for Israel.  The stump might seem to be dead, but a shoot would spring from it, revitalizing Israel and bringing salvation to her people and all the nations of the world.

            In a sense, Israel might be excused for not recognizing Jesus as the Messiah.  He wasn’t what they expected.  We know too much to be allowed to make that mistake.