Joint Thanksgiving Service, Romulus Methodist Church:

Tell the Nations Our Joy

24 November 2009


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Scripture reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

Sermon text: Psalm 126.


When I graduated from the University of Alabama in 1989, I heard the commencement speaker say, “You can go home again.” I remembered that line as I read the sermon text  to prepare for this sermon, and then realized the commencement speaker left out something: Sometimes, going home brings major problems.


The psalmist who wrote Psalm 126 would have understood.


This psalm was written after the Jews returned home following the fall of Babylon to Persia in 539 B.C. The Persian king, Cyrus the Great, allowed all the conquered peoples of the Babylonian Empire to return to their homelands from their imposed exiles. Unlike the Assyrians and Babylonians who preceded them, the Persians didn’t believe in forced relocations of the nations they conquered. The Persians rarely even killed the conquered monarchs; Belshazzar, in fact, was Cyrus’ only exception. Cyrus issued a decree allowing everyone to return to their native lands and rebuild the temples of their gods. The Jews saw Cyrus as a great liberator who fulfilled the prophecies decreeing their return to Jerusalem.


As we read this Psalm, we need to recall the Jews had lived in Babylonia for nearly 70 years. Nebuchadnezzar took the first group captive in 605 B.C. after he destroyed the last Assyrian army at Carchemish in 609 B.C. The Jews remembered the prophecy of  Jeremiah in 605 B.C.:


  1. “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them,’ declares the LORD. ‘For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”


The exiles took the LORD at His word. The Jews settled in throughout the Empire and began building lives for themselves. The Jews began establishing businesses, synagogues, and communities in Mesopotamia. After the Persian conquest, Jews moved to Persian cities. You can read the books of Daniel and Esther to see how well the Jews integrated into the elites of the empires in which they found themselves.


This was all well and good, but the time came for the Jews to remember their true purpose for existing as a nation. God didn’t call the Jews to counsel emperors and marry kings; God called the Jews to serve as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, to declare His message to the nations.  In 539, the time came for the Jews to decide whether they would fulfill this calling or walk away from the command of their God, the Creator of all that exists.


Psalm 126 tells us that some Jews chose to obey. The books of Haggai, Ezra, and Nehemiah tell the stories of some of those who returned. Only a few thousand left their comfortable lives in Babylon and Persia to return to Judea. The returnees found a devastated land surrounding the ruins of the City of David. They looked to Mount Moriah, the site of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, the place where David sacrificed to stay the angel of death, and the site of Solomon’s Temple — only to see nothing but foundation stones. Five decades had passed since the Babylonians had torched the city, pulled down its walls, and took its citizens over 1,000 miles into captivity.


The Jews who returned may have found nothing but toil and hardship, but they set about rebuilding the city and their Temple. It took them over 20 years, but they finally finished a smaller Temple.


The Jews then set about re-instituting their worship. Part of the worship involved writing songs that reflected their joy in returning to worship God as He had commanded. Psalm 126, one of the Songs of Ascents, reflects that joy.


Psalms 120-134 compose the Song of Ascents. Pilgrims sang these songs as they ascended up the hill to Jerusalem to attend the festivals. Psalm 126 reveals the joy of God’s people as they remembered God’s fulfillment of His promise to restore His people to their rightful land.


The Psalm opens, “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” Can you remember a time when you received a gift you had greatly desired but never thought you’d receive? The Jews lived for decades with the memory of their sins. Every day in Babylon reminded them their sins had forced God to rip them from the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and drive them into exile. When we look at the map, we see that God reversed the journey of the nation; as Abraham had traveled from Mesopotamia to Canaan in 2091 B.C., God had taken the Jews back to Mesopotamia in the waves between 605 and 586 B.C.


Now, God had restored the Jews to their promised land. Sometimes when we hear extremely good news, we say, “Pinch me so I know I’m not dreaming.” The Jews would have understood. When they first heard the news of Cyrus’ decree, some people would have wondered, “Is this true?” When they verified the truth, the Jews knew God had truly “restored the fortunes of Zion.”


“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” We often laugh when we hear good news; then, we can’t wait to tell someone what we’ve learned. The cultures of the Middle East don’t believe in restraint. The people there celebrate loudly and mourn with reckless abandon. The ancient Jews would have shouted loud enough for everyone around to hear. The sounds of Jewish celebration meant the land’s owners had returned.


The nations around heard of the Jews’ return. Almost every tribe who returned faced the same problems. The land had gone wild over the decades without a population to tend it. The returning tribes had to rebuild their cities, often with little or no materials at hand. However, God intervened nearly a century later. The Jews, through Nehemiah’s intervention with King Artaxerxes I in 444 B.C., received royal subsidies to pay for the reconstruction of Jerusalem. When the Gentile nations around Judea heard of the Jews’ advantages, they would rightfully say, The LORD has done great things for them.” God had done far more than allow the Jews to return to their native land. God had provided for them by placing Nehemiah in the palace as Artaxerxes’ cupbearer. God truly accomplished “great things” for the Jews, which they rightfully acknowledged in verse 3.


Even the Jews, however, still needed help after they returned to Judea. They still called for the LORD’s help: “Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb!” The “streams in the Negev” referred to the wadis that rapidly appeared in the wet season, only to fade in the dry season. The desert blooms in the rain, only to die again when the rains recede. The Jews needed God to restore them like rain restores the desert.


The Jews knew sorrow; they had experienced decades of it through their exile. Now, though they had “sown” tears, the Jews would “reap with shouts of joy.” They returned home shouting with joy, bringing their “sheaves” with them. The Jews lost everything in the Exile but their lives, but they returned wealthier than most other nations in their situation. Between the contributions of the Jews who remained in Mesopotamia and the assistance of the Persians, the Jews returned far wealthier than they left.


What about us? How does this passage fit in the Thanksgiving lectionary readings?


For one thing, we find ourselves resembling the Jews more than we care to admit. Adam and Eve sinned and cost us the perfect Garden. Their sin cost far more, because the entire human race fell into exile from God, our Creator. Like the Jews, God promised humanity that redemption would one day come. This redemption came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ and only-begotten Son of God. Jesus restored our fortunes before God with His death and resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection destroyed death’s grip on all who confess Him as Lord, believing in His resurrection.


When we confess Jesus as Lord, God declares us worthy to stand before Him innocent of our sins (what the Church calls “justified”) We do not deserve this blessing, but St. Paul tells us we are “adopted” into the family of God (Romans 8). According to St. Paul, we also receive peace with God; our exile ends, and our relationship with God begins. We become part of God’s people, the group that includes all faithful believers from the beginning of humanity. We also, in a sense, “return” to our “homeland” in the form of the Church, the Body of Christ. When we gather for regular worship, we can sing with all believers, of all time, about the great things God has done for His people.


We also find that God provides for those who confess His Son as Lord of their lives. The recent economic crisis has reminded people that God’s blessings encompass far more than merely spiritual matters. Numerous Christians have found themselves praising God for His gracious provision as jobs have disappeared and wealth has vanished with the stock market crash and the bursting of the housing bubble across our nation.


God’s provision gives us cause to praise Him as the Jews praised Him for providing for the returnees in the 6th century B.C. The Psalms do more than tell us the songs of the ancient Hebrews; the Psalms also tell us about worship. The Law clearly told the Hebrews that answered prayers required praise to God. The Hebrews considered it a sin for someone to fail to praise God for His blessings.


God’s people have always realized the power of praise. I think, in the year to come, we need to incorporate more time into our worship for people to tell the congregation what God has done for us. When did you last tell someone what God had done for you in your life? We need to hear stories of provision in times of need. We need to hear stories of God’s protection in times of danger. We need to hear stories of how God has worked in our lives. Telling others causes us to reflect more on those blessings and to praise God even more for the blessings of this life.


We need to hear stories of deliverance in times of captivity. As the returnees’ descendants sang this psalm on their way to the Temple, they remembered the stories of their ancestors, the stories of a dangerous path taken without the offered royal guard. They remembered the stories of finding a ruined land and of God’s provision to restore the land. These stories reminded the Jews of God’s blessings and encouraged them to call on Him for the issues they faced in their lives. If you find yourself doubting God’s work in your life, you need to hear others’ stories and then reflect on your life to see what God has done for you.


We’ll celebrate Thanksgiving in 2 days. As we prepare to thank Almighty God for our salvation in Christ and for His provision in our lives, I challenge you to tell the nations of the joy of our salvation. Tell the people around you what God has done for you. Tell your neighbors of the mighty works of the LORD in your life. Let the people in your life hear that God has restored your fortunes and brought joy unspeakable to your heart through the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord.