Broken and Renewed
So, this morning we reach the Book of Malachi – the last of the minor prophets. The final words of the Old Testament. Now, remember that the Old Testament is arranged by genre and not chronologically, so even though this is the last book, it’s definitely the last of the prophets, but it pre-dates or may be contemporaneous with the histories of Ezra and Nehemiah.
We don’t know exactly who wrote it – there’s no biographical information about Malachi, like we sometimes get from the scripture writers, as in “So-and-so writing in the eighth year of this governor under this king,” that sometimes tells us who the prophet was, which court they served in, or the time period they were writing in. There’s none of that. In fact, we’re not entirely sure whether “Malachi” is an actual person’s name, or if it’s simply a descriptive phrase meaning, “My Messenger.”
So the authorship isn’t as easy to pin down as we might like it to be. But in the ancient world, especially in the Biblical world, we know that the storyteller isn’t nearly as important as the story that’s told.
And the story that’s told is this back-and-forth between God and Israel. God is upset. And that’s reasonable… because it’s only when God is upset that we get prophets writing these books down. Remember, in the decades and centuries that pass between these major events that call the prophets, things tend to be relatively good and stable, and so there’s no need for prophets.
So if you’re reading a prophet – like Malachi – there’s a good chance it’s because God’s upset.
And he is. God has loved Israel, and yet Israel doubts his love.
So he tells them that he has loved them – shown them love – shown them favor above other nations – even above the other descendants of Abraham – above Edom and the tribes of Esau.
And yet, Israel feels slighted by God. Unloved by God. Unfavored by God.
And again, we didn’t read most of chapter 1, any of chapter 2, or most of chapter 3, but the gist of those chapters is God pouring out his laments on the ways in which Israel has disrespected and not loved him.
Israel has offered blemished sacrifices – giving offerings of injured, lame, or diseased beasts. And he calls them out on it, “When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?”
God’s first complaint in Malachi is that the people are not giving him their prime animals, their first fruits, the best of their offerings. But only giving God what they themselves would not miss. The people are not prioritizing God – a mistake which we saw them make last week in the Book of Haggai.
God’s second complaint is less of a complaint and more of a warning. A warning specifically against the priests. God created a covenant of life and peace between himself and the people of Levi – and God reminds the priests of that covenant and of Levi, for “true instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with [God] in peace and uprightness and turned many from sin.” But the priests, who serve to preserve knowledge and be a messenger for God have violated the covenant, causing many to stumble, turning from God’s way.
So his second complaint recalls the false prophets we’ve seen throughout the Old Testament – and there are many, many examples of such false prophets and unrighteous priests. The one that jumps most readily to my mind are the ones who conspired to arrest Jeremiah and have him thrown into a well because he accurately prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction, instead of simply telling the king what he wanted to hear.
The third complaint is that the people have a habit of making covenants, and then breaking them. They make covenants of faith with God, then turn around and forget them. They make covenants of marriage, then go and divorce as if it were nothing. If it seems like I’m saying the word, “covenant” a lot today it’s because that word means something to God and it should to use. It means that we honor what we say, that we follow through with what we believe and say we’re going to do, and that we do not harm those who we swear to protect. It means that trust is a thing that matters, and that it breaks God’s heart when we break trust.
Broken covenants and faithlessness… I won’t even try to give a specific example of where in the Bible we’ve seen this before… really just pick a page, any book, any chapter… it’s kind of a recurring theme.
God’s fourth accusation against Israel is that they have abandoned justice. That God wearies of people asking God for justice for themselves, while they act unjustly on those around them. So God tells them, “I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, without fear of me.”
God’s calls for justice are made known throughout the scriptures, the Old and the New. You may recall the words of the prophet, Micah, when he answers his own question, “And what does the Lord require of us? But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.”
Lastly, God accuses the people of withholding their offerings. Ok, now to me, it feels a little bit like God is double-dipping on the accusations here, because it’s largely along the same lines as the first complaint. First, the offerings weren’t good enough, and here it’s that there’s not enough being offered. But it’s the same underlying problem of people keeping the quantity and the quality for themselves, while giving only the scraps to God.
So… what’s the point?
What’s the point of God coming to Malachi and spending all of this time saying to the people, AGAIN, that he’s upset and that there is a judgment coming? After all – each of the things that God is saying now – that people are faithless, that they break covenants, that they put themselves first, that they promote injustice – everything that God says here, he’s said dozens of times before in dozens of different contexts, in dozens of different ways.
We saw it in Genesis, when Adam and Eve were faithless and disobedient, and God called humanity out on it.
We saw it in Exodus, when God gave the law to Moses because even after leading the people out of the slavery of Egypt, they still turned to a golden calf.
We see it over and over in the prophets, who warn against the peoples’ faithlessness, that it will bring destruction and ruin to the people and it does.
We know this pattern, because we’ve seen it. Over and over and over again.
God builds people up. The people grow disobedient. And God breaks people down again. Only to renew and rebuild them. Over and over. Again and again.
Yet in Malachi, something feels different.
The pattern is the same. The theme remains the same. But maybe because it’s the last book before we come to Jesus, that the words of God in Malachi seem a little bit closer. I’d like to end by taking a quick look at the last chapter of Malachi. Malachi 4, the last chapter of the Old Testament…
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evil-doer will be stubble and the day that is coming that will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”
“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.”
Now… this phrase, “the sun of righteousness will rise…” I have to admit that I got a little bit frustrated in doing my research for this sermon when it came to this phrase. Because it seems that a lot of (I’m sure good-intentioned) biblical scholars see this phrase and read it, “the Son (s-O-n) of righteousness will rise,” not “sun” (s-U-n), even though they’re completely different words in Hebrew and it’s clearly talking about the big bright shiny ball in the sky, and not the Son of God, Son of Man, Son of Joseph, or anybody else’s male child.
That being said…
It’s impossible to ignore that in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, that this phrase is strongly hinting at something new, something better, something good, and something righteous that is to come.
That at this point in the story, God’s people have been broken and restored so many times, that something different needs to happen. Something needs to change. That there needs to be a new covenant, a new way of doing things.
That a metaphorical S-U-N of righteousness will rise, which will just so happen to take the form of an actual S-O-N of righteousness.
That as humanity is to be renewed in righteousness it must be renewed not just in new covenant, in new grace, in new love, but in new life.
The Book of Malachi – the last of the prophets – ends with a promise from God.
He says that the day is coming that will burn like a furnace where all the arrogant and evil-doers will be a stubble and set on fire. So, some classic Old Testament fire-and-brimstone there. But’s it conditional. First, it comes with this promise – that there will be a sun of righteousness with healing rays. But also - that before this day comes, God will send the prophet Elijah, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents.
If those hearts are not turned, then there will be destruction.
But first, God will work to restore covenant once more. Beginning with the covenant of family. Parents and children. A foundational relationship that, yes, we sometimes idealize, and sometimes doesn’t always work out as well as we’d hope… but in it’s best form is a relationship as close as we can understand to God’s love for us. As God is parent to us all, and we are all children to God.
If God’s work in our lives can restore that relationship and mend that covenant, then there is hope. Hope which is fully realized in God’s own relationship with us through the Son, Jesus Christ.
So for all of the fire and brimstone. For all of the pains and anguish of God’s people. Even for all of their joys and blessings – because Israel’s story is full of those too. This part of God’s story ends on a high note. That as many times as God can love us and we can fall short in returning that love, God will renew and restore us. That God’s focus on us is no longer based just on law and obedience – though those remain important and we should aspire to live into them. But rather that God’s justice is tempered with love and mercy. That even though we are the work of a perfect Creator, we ourselves are far from perfect, and yet our creating God looks on us with loving kindness anyway.
That as rambunctious children before a weary parent… children who know exactly what buttons to push to get on that last nerve... we can and do test God’s nerves. His patience. His will. Yet we never test his love. That love for us, by God’s own resolve, is limitless and without condition. That love has been there since before the beginning of time. Growing and shaping and reshaping in ways that are beyond our imagination. Never excluding us. Never diminishing for us. Never being withheld from us.
This is the God of Adam and Eve. This is the God of Abraham. The God of Moses. The God of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all the prophets. This God is eternal love. This God is Jesus Christ.
To God be all glory, power, and honor. Amen.
Let us pray.
Most holy and loving Lord, we give you thanks for the words of your prophets. Words which still hold meaning for us today. Gracious God, we pray to be reminded constantly of their lessons for us. To give you loud and unceasing praise as the only true God of all creation. To put you first in our lives above all else. To seek your justice and share your love. To trust in you, even in those times when we feel undeserving. And to always live in your promise given to us through your Son, Jesus Christ; in whose name we pray. Amen.
So, this morning we reach the Book of Malachi – the last of the minor prophets. The final words of the Old Testament. Now, remember that the Old Testament is arranged by genre and not chronologically, so even though this is the last book, it’s definitely the last of the prophets, but it pre-dates or may be contemporaneous with the histories of Ezra and Nehemiah.
We don’t know exactly who wrote it – there’s no biographical information about Malachi, like we sometimes get from the scripture writers, as in “So-and-so writing in the eighth year of this governor under this king,” that sometimes tells us who the prophet was, which court they served in, or the time period they were writing in. There’s none of that. In fact, we’re not entirely sure whether “Malachi” is an actual person’s name, or if it’s simply a descriptive phrase meaning, “My Messenger.”
So the authorship isn’t as easy to pin down as we might like it to be. But in the ancient world, especially in the Biblical world, we know that the storyteller isn’t nearly as important as the story that’s told.
And the story that’s told is this back-and-forth between God and Israel. God is upset. And that’s reasonable… because it’s only when God is upset that we get prophets writing these books down. Remember, in the decades and centuries that pass between these major events that call the prophets, things tend to be relatively good and stable, and so there’s no need for prophets.
So if you’re reading a prophet – like Malachi – there’s a good chance it’s because God’s upset.
And he is. God has loved Israel, and yet Israel doubts his love.
So he tells them that he has loved them – shown them love – shown them favor above other nations – even above the other descendants of Abraham – above Edom and the tribes of Esau.
And yet, Israel feels slighted by God. Unloved by God. Unfavored by God.
And again, we didn’t read most of chapter 1, any of chapter 2, or most of chapter 3, but the gist of those chapters is God pouring out his laments on the ways in which Israel has disrespected and not loved him.
Israel has offered blemished sacrifices – giving offerings of injured, lame, or diseased beasts. And he calls them out on it, “When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?”
God’s first complaint in Malachi is that the people are not giving him their prime animals, their first fruits, the best of their offerings. But only giving God what they themselves would not miss. The people are not prioritizing God – a mistake which we saw them make last week in the Book of Haggai.
God’s second complaint is less of a complaint and more of a warning. A warning specifically against the priests. God created a covenant of life and peace between himself and the people of Levi – and God reminds the priests of that covenant and of Levi, for “true instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with [God] in peace and uprightness and turned many from sin.” But the priests, who serve to preserve knowledge and be a messenger for God have violated the covenant, causing many to stumble, turning from God’s way.
So his second complaint recalls the false prophets we’ve seen throughout the Old Testament – and there are many, many examples of such false prophets and unrighteous priests. The one that jumps most readily to my mind are the ones who conspired to arrest Jeremiah and have him thrown into a well because he accurately prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction, instead of simply telling the king what he wanted to hear.
The third complaint is that the people have a habit of making covenants, and then breaking them. They make covenants of faith with God, then turn around and forget them. They make covenants of marriage, then go and divorce as if it were nothing. If it seems like I’m saying the word, “covenant” a lot today it’s because that word means something to God and it should to use. It means that we honor what we say, that we follow through with what we believe and say we’re going to do, and that we do not harm those who we swear to protect. It means that trust is a thing that matters, and that it breaks God’s heart when we break trust.
Broken covenants and faithlessness… I won’t even try to give a specific example of where in the Bible we’ve seen this before… really just pick a page, any book, any chapter… it’s kind of a recurring theme.
God’s fourth accusation against Israel is that they have abandoned justice. That God wearies of people asking God for justice for themselves, while they act unjustly on those around them. So God tells them, “I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, without fear of me.”
God’s calls for justice are made known throughout the scriptures, the Old and the New. You may recall the words of the prophet, Micah, when he answers his own question, “And what does the Lord require of us? But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.”
Lastly, God accuses the people of withholding their offerings. Ok, now to me, it feels a little bit like God is double-dipping on the accusations here, because it’s largely along the same lines as the first complaint. First, the offerings weren’t good enough, and here it’s that there’s not enough being offered. But it’s the same underlying problem of people keeping the quantity and the quality for themselves, while giving only the scraps to God.
So… what’s the point?
What’s the point of God coming to Malachi and spending all of this time saying to the people, AGAIN, that he’s upset and that there is a judgment coming? After all – each of the things that God is saying now – that people are faithless, that they break covenants, that they put themselves first, that they promote injustice – everything that God says here, he’s said dozens of times before in dozens of different contexts, in dozens of different ways.
We saw it in Genesis, when Adam and Eve were faithless and disobedient, and God called humanity out on it.
We saw it in Exodus, when God gave the law to Moses because even after leading the people out of the slavery of Egypt, they still turned to a golden calf.
We see it over and over in the prophets, who warn against the peoples’ faithlessness, that it will bring destruction and ruin to the people and it does.
We know this pattern, because we’ve seen it. Over and over and over again.
God builds people up. The people grow disobedient. And God breaks people down again. Only to renew and rebuild them. Over and over. Again and again.
Yet in Malachi, something feels different.
The pattern is the same. The theme remains the same. But maybe because it’s the last book before we come to Jesus, that the words of God in Malachi seem a little bit closer. I’d like to end by taking a quick look at the last chapter of Malachi. Malachi 4, the last chapter of the Old Testament…
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evil-doer will be stubble and the day that is coming that will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”
“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.”
Now… this phrase, “the sun of righteousness will rise…” I have to admit that I got a little bit frustrated in doing my research for this sermon when it came to this phrase. Because it seems that a lot of (I’m sure good-intentioned) biblical scholars see this phrase and read it, “the Son (s-O-n) of righteousness will rise,” not “sun” (s-U-n), even though they’re completely different words in Hebrew and it’s clearly talking about the big bright shiny ball in the sky, and not the Son of God, Son of Man, Son of Joseph, or anybody else’s male child.
That being said…
It’s impossible to ignore that in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament, that this phrase is strongly hinting at something new, something better, something good, and something righteous that is to come.
That at this point in the story, God’s people have been broken and restored so many times, that something different needs to happen. Something needs to change. That there needs to be a new covenant, a new way of doing things.
That a metaphorical S-U-N of righteousness will rise, which will just so happen to take the form of an actual S-O-N of righteousness.
That as humanity is to be renewed in righteousness it must be renewed not just in new covenant, in new grace, in new love, but in new life.
The Book of Malachi – the last of the prophets – ends with a promise from God.
He says that the day is coming that will burn like a furnace where all the arrogant and evil-doers will be a stubble and set on fire. So, some classic Old Testament fire-and-brimstone there. But’s it conditional. First, it comes with this promise – that there will be a sun of righteousness with healing rays. But also - that before this day comes, God will send the prophet Elijah, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents.
If those hearts are not turned, then there will be destruction.
But first, God will work to restore covenant once more. Beginning with the covenant of family. Parents and children. A foundational relationship that, yes, we sometimes idealize, and sometimes doesn’t always work out as well as we’d hope… but in it’s best form is a relationship as close as we can understand to God’s love for us. As God is parent to us all, and we are all children to God.
If God’s work in our lives can restore that relationship and mend that covenant, then there is hope. Hope which is fully realized in God’s own relationship with us through the Son, Jesus Christ.
So for all of the fire and brimstone. For all of the pains and anguish of God’s people. Even for all of their joys and blessings – because Israel’s story is full of those too. This part of God’s story ends on a high note. That as many times as God can love us and we can fall short in returning that love, God will renew and restore us. That God’s focus on us is no longer based just on law and obedience – though those remain important and we should aspire to live into them. But rather that God’s justice is tempered with love and mercy. That even though we are the work of a perfect Creator, we ourselves are far from perfect, and yet our creating God looks on us with loving kindness anyway.
That as rambunctious children before a weary parent… children who know exactly what buttons to push to get on that last nerve... we can and do test God’s nerves. His patience. His will. Yet we never test his love. That love for us, by God’s own resolve, is limitless and without condition. That love has been there since before the beginning of time. Growing and shaping and reshaping in ways that are beyond our imagination. Never excluding us. Never diminishing for us. Never being withheld from us.
This is the God of Adam and Eve. This is the God of Abraham. The God of Moses. The God of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all the prophets. This God is eternal love. This God is Jesus Christ.
To God be all glory, power, and honor. Amen.
Let us pray.
Most holy and loving Lord, we give you thanks for the words of your prophets. Words which still hold meaning for us today. Gracious God, we pray to be reminded constantly of their lessons for us. To give you loud and unceasing praise as the only true God of all creation. To put you first in our lives above all else. To seek your justice and share your love. To trust in you, even in those times when we feel undeserving. And to always live in your promise given to us through your Son, Jesus Christ; in whose name we pray. Amen.