August 1, 2021 Prophets – Malachi

 Malachi 3-4

A stubborn son was arguing with his dad.  He insisted that 1 + 1 equals 11.  In exasperation his father tells him to go out and two buy two popsicles.  The boy did so and returned with them.  Then the father said, “Now give me one and give the other to your brother.”  The son objected, “But what about mine?”  The father answered, “You can have the other nine left over!”

That’s a silly little joke about stubbornness, but it somewhat fits the faith lives of the ancient Jews.  As we read Malachi today we are reading from another prophet who is writing about times after the Jews had been allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild.  There isn’t enough evidence within Malachi to get a firm date but it is late enough that the temple has been physically rebuilt and is functioning again.  It is often suggested this is during the time period of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was the governor appointed by the Persians who served in the mid to late 5^th century B.C.E.  If that’s true then at least a few generations have been able to live in Jerusalem.

So, after being an independent unified nation under David and Solomon, the nation split into two…  both nations began to dwindle…  dwindle for decades; a century actually, and then the northern nation was conquered by the Assyrians, did they learn their lesson and become more faithful?  No.

And as the southern nation continued to dwindle ever further, being swept about by the great nations around it, did they learn their lesson and become more faithful?  No.

And then when they were finally ultimately beaten by the Babylonians did they learn their lesson?  Did they follow the advice of the prophet Jeremiah?  No.

And so they rebelled against the Babylonians, which caused the Babylonians to move in and actually destroy Jerusalem and its temple, and haul the people off to Babylon, did they learn their lesson?  Well, maybe for a bit.  In fact a good deal of the Old Testament came into being during that time.  It’s like they put their theological house in order.  But when they were finally allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild did they put their newfound faith insight into practice and truly become the people God made them to be?  No.

After overcoming the intense struggles of rebuilding with very limited resources… at the time of Malachi have they finally gotten their act together?  Do they recognize God?  Do they respect God?  Do they put their faith to work in daily life?  …are they acknowledging that 1 + 1 equals 2 and not eleven?  Nope.

Malachi is a series of pronouncements.  We read a few of them earlier as we read chapters three and four.  We see clearly that nothing has changed in the people’s attitudes.  They don’t even learn things the hard way.  We’re still seeing unfaithfulness, a lack of belief, injustice, and corruption.  On the whole people just don’t accept God as God.

It is easy to look at them as hopeless cases, then with some smugness think that we as Christians have gotten it right.  But of course that is not the case.  I think it is helpful to realize that every time we look at the Old Testament and see the myriad failings there we need to realize it might well be a mirror for ourselves.  We are actually blessed by the humility of the ancient Jews who did not white-wash their past.

Were the ancient Jews really any different than us?  Does not a person who struggles to lose weight tell him or herself with each new diet that this time will be better?  Does a person trying to quit smoking not fail time and time again?  Does an alcohol or drug addict ever really get over the whole complexity of dynamics that goes with addiction?  No.

Perhaps we need to realize that it is easy to be an addict of Godlessness!  Go back to the Garden of Eden stories in Genesis and you realize that from the beginning humans have wanted to be gods themselves.  They don’t want to need God.  And so give us any possibility of thinking that we get to determine our own lives; and find purpose, meaning, and wholeness within ourselves and we’ll take it – even to our deaths; dying broken, hurting, empty, and stubbornly sure that 1 + 1 equals 11.

As Malachi stands at the end of the Old Testament it is an important theological lesson from Malachi for us.  We’ll wrap up with that in a couple minutes, but there is something else we Christians need to realize about Malachi.  Malachi’s message was one of the biggest influences there was on early Christianity.  Perhaps you could even say Malachi is the framework used by the first Christians to understand Jesus and what was going on around them.  Consider how much has come from Malachi: 

-Using Malachi the earliest Christians saw John the Baptist being the messenger who would prepare the way for God’s coming.  Then God would come in the form of Jesus and usher in a new age of righteousness.

-Malachi 4:4-5 mentions both Elijah and Moses.  The gospel of Matthew sets up Jesus as the new Moses.  John the Baptist is Elijah.  At the Transfiguration who do we see appearing with Jesus?  Moses and Elijah.

-Malachi speaks of the great and terrible, “Day of the Lord.”  Early Christians, interpreting Jesus’ ministry through Malachi were certain that the Day of the Lord was the end of time and that it would surely be coming soon. 

Though I may get some people upset by saying this, for Malachi being a very small Old Testament book, and for being a “minor prophet” he has a made an outsized impact on Christianity.  He is the lens through which many early Christians viewed Jesus.

That may or may not have been the right thing to do.  I’m not going to make a judgment on that.  But if you look at Christianity from a objective and critical point of view, you see that it has been significantly shaped by Malachi. 

Again, that’s not necessarily good or bad, but we need to do two things.  One, we can’t let Malachi overly define Jesus.  That is to limit what God was up to in the incarnation.  Yes, much of Jesus’ ministry does fit.  Much of it does not.

And two, we can’t let Malachi’s own voice become lost.  In other words, we should not reverse-interpret Malachi through our Christian expectations.  Malachi is its own prophesy.  It needs to be able to speak for itself.

So let’s come back to Malachi as the final book of the Old Testament and allow it to give us a different trajectory for our understanding of God as Christians.

People often picture God in the Old Testament as harsh and condemning.  Then God in the New Testament is grace-filled and merciful.  That picture is probably a mistake.  God is both in both testaments.  What I see as I read the Old Testament is God becoming increasingly desperate for what to do with people.  We start with Adam and Eve in the garden.  All is good.  But they decide they want to follow their own path to self-fulfillment apart from God.  Everything starts to fall apart.  At our cores we are no different.

As you read through the early chapters of Genesis you see God trying to be gracious and forgiving.  People ignore God.  God also tries being stern and holding people accountable.  That doesn’t work either.  By the time we get to Abraham we realize God is trying something new.  Now God as decided to choose one person as a model.  That person would then become a nation that would be a model.  But all too soon there are problems.  God continues to alternate between being merciful and holding people to account.  But they don’t get it no matter what.  Humanity’s desire to find fulfillment apart from God just can’t be met.

At the end of the story of Noah’s Ark God promises never to harm the earth again but to be a peace with humanity.  That is God putting severe limits on God’s own self, and it sets the path to Jesus and the crucifixion.

By the time we get to Malachi we know there is no hope anymore.  People just won’t change no matter what God does.  Yet God does love people.  God desires to be with them in a real, authentic, healthy, and productive relationship.  But we people just don’t get it.

And so, a significant but different trajectory for Christianity coming from Malachi is this.  In the form of Jesus God tries one more time – the ultimate time.  Over the centuries people have called God a child abuser for wanting the death of his only Son Jesus.  Or Jesus’ death is interpreted as a necessary sacrifice to appease God’s wrathful nature.  But what if both of those ways of thinking are wrong.  What if it is not God who needs Jesus to die, but we humans who have backed God into a corner needing Jesus to die?

In Jesus God has come to live a lifetime in our shoes.  In Jesus God has come to make the definitive and ultimate revelation of his nature, which is love.  And, it is as if God is saying to us, “You give me no choice.  How can I possibly ever prove to you once and for all that I love you… that I love you radically and absolutely unconditionally, and that I really want to be in a relationship with you based on genuine love?  The only way I can get through to you – while still respecting your freedom – is to prove that love by dying for you.”  Jesus’ death is pure gift.  There are no strings attached.  There are no expectations.  There are no demands.  It has been done and done for you.  You cannot change or undo that reality.  God has gone to the extreme to prove his love.  Jesus’ death is proof of God’s love and commitment, and it is an invitation.

I believe Malachi points us in that direction.  That direction should not be lost as we consider the rest of the way Malachi shaped early Christianity.  I’m sure Malachi would agree that we are truly and forever God’s people.