Thursday 9th December - The branch of David

Jeremiah 23:1-8

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

A turn of the page, and time has moved on 150 years or so from our last reading into the world of Judah’s last kings, just before their exile in Babylon. (Assyria itself has now been overrun)

The promise of a second Davidic shepherd-king, a Branch of Jesse’s tree, is still fresh, though, on the lips of the prophets. Such a long-term hope could easily lead to a sort of passive pietism; but Jeremiah is too much of a politician himself to leave it at that. The Lord gathers the people; but he appoints others to be shepherds under him who have very real responsibilities and will be held to account for them.

The challenging target for these under-shepherds is that none of the flock will go missing. Put together the inseparability of faith and society, and God’s way of using not just great leaders but small players like you and me, and suddenly we ourselves are in the world of targets and accountability. Then the alarm call. It’s not one that always sits easily with us – There is important work to be done for God, and many of the opportunities lie in our hands. Resistance feels like excuse-making.

There are caveats though, and we see three in today’s reading. First, the work is God’s before it is ours, he is active in it, and we need to look to him and trust him for it together. We may be significant, but we are still small. Second, since God’s whole purpose is the safety of his sheep, we have no business conducting his in ways which scatter the flock. His reign is wise and just, and our actions must be the same. Third, this is a long-term project and we should not demand short-term fixes. ‘The days’ that are coming are the end-times, not the year end.

Today, commit to God your hopes and wishes for your community, society and the church. Be as bold as you like, hope long-term and big scale. Bring together the list you made yesterday and these hopes and ask God to show you how to be part of your hope ‘in your generation’.

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