Playing In The Streets
Sermon
The Word Is Life
An Anthology Of Funeral Meditations
Thus says the Lord: ''I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts shall be called the faithful mountain.'' Thus says the Lord of hosts: ''Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.''
People were bringing little children to [Jesus] in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ''Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.'' And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Zechariah's world was a terrible and scary place to be. The prophet had returned, with a few others, from exile in Babylon. But the Jerusalem to which he returned was very different from the Jerusalem he had left. Her walls were broken down, her houses vacant and destroyed, the glorious temple in rubble.
But worst of all was the loneliness and isolation. Jerusalem was no longer a friendly place to be. Most of her people were gone, scattered God knows where, perhaps to the ends
of the earth. The streets of the city, once filled with vendors and shoppers, with people sitting and talking, with boys and girls playing, were silent, eerie, and deserted. Indeed, it appeared as though God himself had abandoned his city. A terrible place to be! An awful situation to be in!
Further, Zechariah's Jerusalem was haunted by ghosts! Ghosts that plagued people by day. Ghosts that came to them in the darkness of the night, and whispered in their ears, and kept them from sleep. ''God has forsaken you. You have brought this sadness upon yourselves. There is no way out. You are doomed to live in your loneliness forever. You are trapped in our own past!''
So the ghosts spoke. And the people, try as they may, could not escape the ghosts and their terrifying voices. A terrible situation indeed!
But God always has the last Word, and he spoke that Word through the mouth of Zechariah. Yes, the people of Jerusalem were facing many difficulties - loneliness and desolation, hunger and poverty, sickness and death. And, yes, these things were the result of the people's sin. But God was bringing a new order of things! The Lord said: ''I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.'' And the loneliness and isolation will be gone: ''Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem ... And the ... city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.''
I think these words speak to us today. We have come here in great sadness. Death has broken into our lives. A child, ____________, has been born dead, and that makes us feel pain and sorrow. Like the exiles of old, we too are in a dreadful place.
And we too face the ghosts. Did we do something wrong? Is there some way we could have prevented all this? Why did this happen to us? Has God abandoned us? Is he punishing us? We carry the ghosts around with us each day. And they come to us when we lie on our beds, and sleep escapes us. They whisper the most dread accusations in our ears. They trouble us, and they try to entrap us in our past.
But we too can look to the future! The future is God's kingdom - a place where he is with us, and where there is no sin or death, and where our children are not taken away from us. In this kingdom there are no ghosts, but only hope.
This kingdom began when Jesus, who himself came as a little child, came into this world of sin and death. And, even in the midst of our sadness and isolation, we can enter this kingdom because of the One who came to drive off the ghosts of our past. In spite of our past, Jesus loves us, and he loves all children, and he bids us become like children, and come to him and depend on him for everything.
And so, because of this King, the words of Zechariah take on a new meaning. They dispel our ghosts, and they call us to a future in God's new Jerusalem. And in that holy city, there shall be no more sorrow, or sighing, or pain. For the problems that plague this world have all been destroyed in the activity of God on the cross. And in this kingdom, where all is perfect joy, unstained by isolation and tragedy, we shall be with our children. Like Zechariah of old said, we shall sit in safety in the streets of this new Jerusalem, and ''the ... city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.'' And ____________, healthy and strong, shall be there too!
People were bringing little children to [Jesus] in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ''Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.'' And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Zechariah's world was a terrible and scary place to be. The prophet had returned, with a few others, from exile in Babylon. But the Jerusalem to which he returned was very different from the Jerusalem he had left. Her walls were broken down, her houses vacant and destroyed, the glorious temple in rubble.
But worst of all was the loneliness and isolation. Jerusalem was no longer a friendly place to be. Most of her people were gone, scattered God knows where, perhaps to the ends
of the earth. The streets of the city, once filled with vendors and shoppers, with people sitting and talking, with boys and girls playing, were silent, eerie, and deserted. Indeed, it appeared as though God himself had abandoned his city. A terrible place to be! An awful situation to be in!
Further, Zechariah's Jerusalem was haunted by ghosts! Ghosts that plagued people by day. Ghosts that came to them in the darkness of the night, and whispered in their ears, and kept them from sleep. ''God has forsaken you. You have brought this sadness upon yourselves. There is no way out. You are doomed to live in your loneliness forever. You are trapped in our own past!''
So the ghosts spoke. And the people, try as they may, could not escape the ghosts and their terrifying voices. A terrible situation indeed!
But God always has the last Word, and he spoke that Word through the mouth of Zechariah. Yes, the people of Jerusalem were facing many difficulties - loneliness and desolation, hunger and poverty, sickness and death. And, yes, these things were the result of the people's sin. But God was bringing a new order of things! The Lord said: ''I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.'' And the loneliness and isolation will be gone: ''Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem ... And the ... city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.''
I think these words speak to us today. We have come here in great sadness. Death has broken into our lives. A child, ____________, has been born dead, and that makes us feel pain and sorrow. Like the exiles of old, we too are in a dreadful place.
And we too face the ghosts. Did we do something wrong? Is there some way we could have prevented all this? Why did this happen to us? Has God abandoned us? Is he punishing us? We carry the ghosts around with us each day. And they come to us when we lie on our beds, and sleep escapes us. They whisper the most dread accusations in our ears. They trouble us, and they try to entrap us in our past.
But we too can look to the future! The future is God's kingdom - a place where he is with us, and where there is no sin or death, and where our children are not taken away from us. In this kingdom there are no ghosts, but only hope.
This kingdom began when Jesus, who himself came as a little child, came into this world of sin and death. And, even in the midst of our sadness and isolation, we can enter this kingdom because of the One who came to drive off the ghosts of our past. In spite of our past, Jesus loves us, and he loves all children, and he bids us become like children, and come to him and depend on him for everything.
And so, because of this King, the words of Zechariah take on a new meaning. They dispel our ghosts, and they call us to a future in God's new Jerusalem. And in that holy city, there shall be no more sorrow, or sighing, or pain. For the problems that plague this world have all been destroyed in the activity of God on the cross. And in this kingdom, where all is perfect joy, unstained by isolation and tragedy, we shall be with our children. Like Zechariah of old said, we shall sit in safety in the streets of this new Jerusalem, and ''the ... city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.'' And ____________, healthy and strong, shall be there too!
