The Cheerleader

 

Haggai 1:15-2:9   Luke 20:27-38

 

     When it comes to pleasing people God cannot win?  That is obvious from the question the Sadducees asked Jesus in regards to whose wife the woman will be in the resurrection.  In the past when I have read this I have always thought of it as a facetious question.  How many women besides Elizabeth Taylor have seven husbands?  But recently I heard on the radio that there is a professional football player who has fathered nine children with nine different women.   So maybe it was possible but that really isn't the point. 

 

      The Sadducees question assumes that the next world is a continuation of this world and that is where God cannot win.  If that were true, it would make some people very happy.  That is the people who are experiencing a good life in the here and now.  They love their spouse, they enjoy their work, they have a good relationship with their children, they live a good long life and they look forward to being with their friends and family in heaven.  If the resurrection life is a continuation of this life, they have the best of both worlds.

 

      But that has not been everyone's experience.  There are some who have been involved in rocky, abusive relationships, when they have been able to get a job it has not been one enjoyed, their children have given them nothing but trouble, they have dealt with difficult illnesses throughout their short life.  The last thing they want is for the resurrection to be a continuation of this life.

 

      The people who lived in and around Jerusalem in the year 520B.C.E. would have fallen into the latter category.  Many of them had been in exile in a foreign land.  When they returned home they were not all welcomed with open arms as the permanent residents were not sure they wanted to share their land with them.  Many were destitute, lacking adequate food and clothing as there was a succession of poor growing seasons and crop failures.  They endured hardship and insecurity.  They would not want to repeat that in the resurrection life.

 

       In 538B.C.E. there was movement to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed in 586B.C.E.  But after eighteen years they had not gotten beyond the foundation.  By 520B.C.E. the people were too dispirited to keep it going and work stopped altogether.  Reading about this reminded me of my trip to Managua, Nicaragua in 1986.  It was shocking to me to see the lack of rebuilding that had been done in the city since the earthquake of 1972.  The buildings were still lying in ruins and there seemed to be no interest in rebuilding the city.  Part of the reason was that the government chose not to use money coming in for that purpose but another main reason was that the people were very poor, they were more interested in where their next meal was coming from than in building buildings.  It would take a special person to get the people interested in a project like that.

 

        Haggai was that kind of person.  He was a man of energy and enthusiasm.  In many ways he was like a cheerleader, trying to urge people to continue a project that was taking their resources when they didn't have much to give.  They were having a hard time feeding their families and he pushed them to keep their focus on the temple. 

 

        I don't know how Haggai did it.  We have been involved in the renovation and elevator project for about six months and on some days it seems like forever.  It took them four years to restore the temple.  Why did Haggai think it was so important to rebuild the temple?  Remember the history of this people.  They believed that one of the signs that God was with them was the presence of the temple in Jerusalem.  If the temple lie in ruins it was a sign of defeat, that God was not with this people.  People had returned home from exile but there was no evidence of the rule of God in their lives because the temple was not there and there was not a king from the line of David.  The rebuilding of the temple was a visible sign that God was still with them, God was at the center of their existence.  It gave them their identity as people of God. 

 

      When the temple was completed people were still without the necessary clothing, they were still had to struggle with the cold of winter but they had hope because they knew that God was with them.

 

        Some people scoffed at the accomplishment.  They said this temple was not as grand as the one Solomon had built.  Haggai said to the people, "Is it not in your sight as

nothing?"  It is a sign of the peace and presence of God.

 

        People could look at Waverly Road and say it is not what it once was.  And that may be true.  But when you look close you see people being fed by the Food Pantry, people are being housed by IHN, people are hearing the good news at WATeR, lives are being transformed and you want to ask with Haggai, "Is it not in your sight as nothing?"

 

         The second temple was not as impressive as the first.  But Solomon built the first one out of his riches.  The second temple was built by people who were like the widow who gave her mite, people who couldn't afford it but gave all they had for the glory of God. 

 

         For the most part, we are a people who are not giving out of our poverty, we are giving out of our abundance.  My guess is that we have just scratched the surface of what we can do for the kingdom of God.