LWML Spring Zone Rally - April 22nd, 2023
Psalm 4; Micah 7:1-7, 18-20; Hebrews 9:24-28; Luke 2:22-38
Peace Lutheran Church
Chehalis, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Standing in line at Fred Meyers. Sitting in our car at a red light. Listening for that kitchen timer to go off when the pie is done. As the musician Tom Petty once sang, the waiting is the hardest part. We may not like it, we may grow impatient, and restless, but that will not change the fact that life is marked by waiting.
The Scriptures are full of stories of God’s people whose lives were marked by waiting. The author of Hebrews preaches hope and promise to God’s people - who, like ourselves, are eagerly awaiting our Lord Jesus’ glorious return on the Last Day. A day we long for and wait as we groan and ache and lament this fallen world we live in more and more with each passing day.
Simeon was serving in the temple in Luke 2, and was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Anna was there too, waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Isaiah and the prophets had spoken that their consolation was coming. That the true kinsman redeemer of all mankind would arrive to redeem and save. That Abraham’s seed would sprout and give life. That a new and greater Moses would arise to lead his people out of slavery in sin and death. That God would comfort his people by sending his Christ. And he did. Simeon held Jesus the Christ in his very arms that day as he waited for the Lord to keep his promise. As he waited to die. And in the Lord, his waiting was not in vain.
Psalm 4 is a psalm of waiting as well. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
That’s a good prayer to pray when we’re waiting. Waiting for test results. Waiting to reconcile broken friendships and family bonds. Waiting for discernment and wisdom on how to do the work our Lord has called us to do, whether it’s in our congregations, our LWML groups, or any other part of life.
And if we’re honest, waiting on the Lord can often feel like a lifetime. We know we ought to trust, to believe, to have patience, and yet so often we find ourselves filled with worry instead of waiting, filled with pain instead of patience, turmoil instead of trust.
The prophet Micah was waiting on the Lord as well. Micah was waiting for many things. For the people of Israel to listen to YHWH’s word and live in his ways. For the faithless shepherds of YHWH’s people to be faithful in their teaching and preaching. For the people to repent of their idolatry and return to the Lord their God. For YHWH himself to act. To hear their prayer. To be their shepherd. To come and save his people as he promised.
You can hear Micah’s lament as he waits for the Lord…
Woe is me! For I have become
as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
The godly has perished from the earth,
and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
and each hunts the other with a net.
Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together.
Sounds like Micah could have been a prophet in our day as well. Waiting in the midst of godless and wicked and evil days. Sin and death without. Sin and death within. It would be easy for us, as I’m sure it was for Micah, to look at the world around us, and our sinful flesh within us, and say to ourselves, “why bother with all this waiting. No one hears us. No one’s coming to rescue. I’m done waiting.” When we wait, sometimes it feels like that’s all we’ll ever do.
Not so says the prophet Micah…But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Micah the prophet preaches something that is more certain than our waiting: The Lord hears you. The Lord will answer. The Lord delivers.
My God will hear me. Micah speaks a sure and certain word to us in our waiting. And so we wait, not with empty promises but with eager expectation. We wait on the basis of what is sure and certain and true: Jesus’ death and resurrection. All of our waiting is answered in him who died and rose for you. We wait on him who is faithful, who keeps his promises, who hears and answers and delivers from the cross to his empty tomb. We wait on Jesus who foretold his crucifixion and rose again three days later just as he said.
We wait with Simeon and Anna for the consolation and redemption that is already ours in Christ Jesus, and will be ours when he returns in glory. And as we wait for that day of the resurrection of the body, Jesus feeds our waiting bodies and souls with his holy body and blood to strengthen us for the journey; he washes us with clean and pure water of Baptism to plant us steadfast in his love and mercy; he forgives us in our distress with his sure and certain word of forgiveness. We wait on him of whom the prophet Micah foretold…
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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