"And I said, Let them put a clean turban on his (Joshua, the high priest‘s) head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with [rich] garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by." (Zechariah 3:5)
Zechariah is one of the 12 minor prophets; minor, not less important prophets whose books are comparatively short. Probably two others wrote the Book of Zechariah, one wrote chapters 1-8 and the other wrote chapters 9-12. Today's reading comes from the first section which contains eight visions, with "sermons" before and after them. Chapter 3:1-10 focuses on a high priest called Joshua and contains themes of restoration and divine presence in this fourth of the eight visions.
Recently I had restoration on my mind for two reasons. I visited a cousin in Connecticut who was recovering from knee replacement surgery in a residential rehab center. She was at the end of her stay there and had made dramatic progress since the days following her surgery, but the restoration of her knee came at a cost on many levels: finances, halting of regular life activities, and not a little physical pain. But when I saw her the benefits of the restoration were becoming more evident, and it began to feel “worth it” to her.
In one of the churches where I had been supplying I watched the work of a committee doing restoration of a “ladies’ parlor”. They did a lot of consultation with the groups that use the parlor, they asked for suggestions, they investigated prices of new furniture, they decided where to donate the old, worn furniture. It involved a lot of planning, conversation, time, and effort. Later I was in that restored space with church members who enjoyed the new look.
It is not enough for us to know that restoration work is necessary. We have to have the will to do it, the co-operation and commitment of others, expertise, and an agreed upon course forward.
Right now many Americans agree that we need a national and global economic restoration. However, restoration is not always about getting things back to how they were before. Sometimes it calls for making things different than they were because we believe the difference will be better.
Recently on the radio I heard the journalist Tom Brokow asked if Americans in the future will have better lives than their parents did. He said the starting point in answering that question is, “Better in what way?”
The Word became flesh to bring about the restoration of a broken and sinful humanity and creation. For the first time a human being would be born who was not just in the image and likeness of God, as we all are. This child would bring the divine presence into human history more intimately and more powerfully to restore humanity and all creation to fuller justice and peace. This person would call us to involve ourselves in remaking our world into a more just and peaceful habitat, a better habitat for humanity.
Who in our country and in our world is speaking words of concern about economic justice? Are we listening? Are we willing to have that on the agenda? What might it look like? How would we be impacted if our country and our world had more economic justice? Can our hearts be open to it and how this restoration might impact and challenge us?
(The Rev. Janice M. Schuyler)
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