Sermon on Joel

(Prophet Joel as imagined by Michelangelo(Fresco, Sistine Chapel Ceiling, 1508–1512).)

The video of the Vesper service and sermon may be found here on St. Luke's Facebook page.   

2024-3-20 Joel

Regardless of whether the prophet Joel is used in the lectionary in our three-year cycle, we do hear him quoted by the Apostle Peter on the Feast of Pentecost. Every Pentecost celebration incorporates Acts 2:1-21 which includes the first part of the Apostle Peter’s sermon to those who came to see the wonderous sign of flames of fire sitting upon the Apostles’ heads and hear them speak in the international languages of all those present in Jerusalem on that day. 

The Apostle Paul also uses Joel in his letter to the Romans. He quotes Joel 2:32 which reads “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” in Romans 10:13. 

While a portion of Joel is heard annually, we know next to nothing about him.  We can only surmise from who he is addressing that he is most likely preaching in Judah and Jerusalem. Nor do we know when he wrote. It could be anywhere from the 9^th – 6^th century BC.  And, just who or what, exactly are these locusts? Are they a real plague of locusts?  Or are they a metaphor for an invading army such as the Assyrians or Babylonians? Regardless, they both decimate lives.  They both bring hunger, widespread famine, misery, death, and uncertainty about the days and weeks ahead.   

While many prefer to know specifics, the blessing is that the prophet Joel’s message is easily transported into any era. His warning of an impending Day of the Lord still stands.  The great Day of the Lord is God’s judgment upon the nations. Jesus also spoke of the coming Day of the Lord in Matthew 25.  Beginning in verse 31, Jesus says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. …” That day is still to come. For those with faith and who have responded to God’s grace as God directs, we will be blessed beyond imagination for eternity.  For those who choose not to do as Jesus taught us, well, the future is bleak. 

In God’s mercy, long before the great and terrible Day of the Lord comes, God calls people to repentance. We know from Scripture that God speaks to us in a variety of ways.  There is the Word of the Lord that comes through the Law and the Prophets, there is Jesus our Messiah, there is the Church, then there are all the events that God uses to get our attention. The prophets tell us that the LORD is behind the rise and fall of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. Joel speaks of the plague of Locusts. God uses locusts, earthquakes, tornados, droughts, and other natural events to get our attention.  If we choose not to turn to God, well, I hope the Lord allows time for those who refuse faith in the one true God a few moments to explain themselves. What happens is up to God, not us.  God gives us all the opportunities in the world to turn back to him. 

Joel assures us that God desires that all people turn to Him in chapter 2. 

¹² “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
¹³     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.

The Lord received the heartfelt repentant prayers of Ninevah under Jonah’s preaching. The Lord will gladly receive our generation’s repentant prayers too. It's not too late, until it’s too late. 

When I hear Joel’s plea for the nations to turn to God, I am reminded of Paul’s first letter to Timothy “ ³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time." (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

As we approach Holy Week, we give thanks for the gift of Jesus Christ to the world.  He is the embodiment of God’s mercy. It is a mercy that God disciplines us, that he cares to correct us, through the Law, to prepare us for the life to come. God’s mercy continues as he calls us to faith in His Son, who dies for our sakes, so that we may live. 

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The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.