Joel
2: 1–2, 12–19 / Psalm 103: 8–14 / II Corinthians 5: 20b – 6: 10 / Matthew 6: 1–6,
16-21
This is the homily given
at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Wednesday,
February 26, 2020.
“A SEASON OF ATONEMENT”
(Homily
text: Joel 2: 1–2, 12-19)
God’s people in ancient times observed a regular
schedule of worship. Theirs was – and is – a liturgical life, that is to say,
their worship of God involved not just the priests who led their gatherings,
but the people themselves had an active role to play, as well.[1] Festivals were appointed to be kept
under the provisions of the Law of Moses, as were times for repentance. A day
was set aside for the confession of sin and wrongdoing, a day known as the Day
of Atonement (Hebrew: Yom
Kippur), which falls in September
or October of the Jewish calendar as it is observed today.[2]
Times in the Jewish liturgical calendar were set
aside to give thanks for God’s saving acts: Passover is one example. A time was
set aside for remembering the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. Times were
set aside to circumcise baby boys, and to offer the first-born to God in the
rite of presentation. (We recalled our Lord’s presentation a few weeks ago on
February 2nd.) These are just a few examples of what constituted a
rich variety of worship events.
Though we know a good bit about the structure of
the liturgical calendar as it was practiced in the Temple, we know relatively
little about the actual rite that was used. (When we use the word “rite” in
this context, we are talking about the actual words, the actual text of what is
said and sung during worship.) The first seven chapters of Leviticus spell out
in detail how worship was to be conducted. (Today, we would call these
directions rubrics.)
But let’s return to the matter of the Day of Atonement,
or Yom Kippur, since we are at the beginning of a season of
atonement, known as Lent.
Atoning for sins for God’s people who worshiped
according to the requirements of the Law wasn’t just a matter of doing undertaking
the rigorous work of self-examination and confession on one day. A brief review
of the liturgical requirements of the early chapters of the book of Leviticus
reveal that recurring offerings were required for all sorts of sins. A call to
repentance, to amendment of life, and to a renewal of a close relationship with
God could come at pretty much any time throughout the year
So it is that the Old Testament reading appointed
for this day, from the prophet Joel, begins with these words: “Blow a trumpet
in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the
land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming near.” And a little later, Joel
makes clear what is needed in connection with the sounding of this alarm: “’Yet
even now,’ declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting,
with weeping, and with mourning…”
This business of self-examination, of trying to see
ourselves in the way that God might see us, isn’t for the faint-of-heart. The
blunt and ugly truth is that, if left to our own devises, we’d just as well
hide our shortcomings, or ignore them. (We act as is God behaves like we’d like
to.) To begin the process of self-examination, we are called to admit that our
ability to see ourselves clearly is hampered by the sin that resides within, so
we’ll have to begin by admitting our own spiritual myopia, and to ask for the
help of the Holy Spirit to sharpen our vision.
The more I think about it, the more I have come to
believe that the design of the liturgies of the Law of Moses where sin was
concerned was to make an object lesson about the ways of sin. Sin quite often
has an attractive leading edge to it, something that seeks to capture our
attention and interest, something that we might like or want to do. But if we
succumb to such impulses, the outcome is often destructive and ugly. So it was
under the Law of Moses that the offerings for sin were repulsive and ugly, for
they entailed the slaughter of an animal.
If you and I loved and served a God who was holy
and righteous, but who was not loving and merciful, we’d want to hide from such
a God. We’d want to burrow under as much cover as we could find, in hopes of
escaping God’s judgment. But the wonderful truth is that God is both righteous
and holy, and who is loving and merciful, all at the same time. Thanks
be to God!
Moreover, God stands ready to hear our prayers of
confession, much more so than we are to offer those
prayers. A wonderful prayer (collect) in the Prayer Book [3] states this truth quite well:
“Almighty
and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art
wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the
abundance of thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is
afraid, and giving us those good things which we re not worthy to ask, but
through the merits of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; who liveth and reigneth
with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
[1] The basic meaning of the word liturgy
derives from two Greek words which mean “the work of the people”.
[2] In former times, the Jewish new year was
observed in the spring, Nowadays, the new year (Hebrew: Rosh Hashana) begins
in September or October.
[3] This is the Collect of the Day for
Proper 22, which falls in early October each year. It may be found in the Book
of Common Prayer, 1979, on page 182.
