• "Gathering as a Christian Theme"
• Sermon for the Sunday before Advent
• November 23, 2003
• The Reverend Stephen C. Scarlett

Today's lessons are linked by the theme of gathering. In Jeremiah (23:5-8), God says that Israel will be brought back or re-gathered to the land by a king, a righteous branch of David. In the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:5f.), a multitude of Israel is gathered around Jesus. The tag line gives us the symbolic meaning. Jesus says, "Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost." Twelve baskets are gathered, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel.

The themes of scattering and re-gathering are central to the biblical story. Man began in fellowship with God in the garden. As a consequence of sin, he was expelled from the garden and his descendants scattered abroad. The Tower of Babel represents a human attempt to re-gather fallen man. The builders said, "Let us build ourselves a city and a tower...let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the earth" (Genesis 11:4). God intervened, confused the language and, indeed, "scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth" (11:9).

God began to re-gather his people with the creation of the nation of Israel. He saved his people from slavery in Egypt, gathered the nation to himself at Mt. Sinai and led Israel into the Promised Land. But Israel was unfaithful to the covenant God made with her and God expelled her from the land and scattered her people among the nations.

The Old Testament ends with Israel in this state. The temple, which was destroyed in judgment, was rebuilt. However, only a small number of Jews had returned to the land and Israel was continually subject to foreign empires. There was no fulfillment of the Jeremiah prophesy of peace and prosperity under the dominion of the righteous king.

The promise of re-gathering is not unique to Jeremiah 23. It is a pervasive biblical promise. Deuteronomy says, "The Lord thy God will...have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations." (30:3). Isaiah says, "He shall...assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (11:2). Ezekiel says "I will...gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." (36:24 KJV).

This passage from Ezekiel makes the important connection between, on the one hand, the scattering of the people and sin, and, on the other hand, re-gathering and redemption. Man was expelled from the garden and scattered abroad because of sin. Israel was gathered to God at Mt. Sinai as an act of redemption. Israel was scattered from the land and dispersed among the nations as a judgment on sin. The promise of re-gathering is a promise of redemption from sin.

When we understand these connections we can see that the image of scattering, of exile from garden and land, is an image of alienation from God. The image of re-gathering is an image of reunion and fellowship with God. We are all, by nature, scattered abroad in that we are born into a state of sin and alienation from God. Jesus re-gathers us from our state of exile and brings us back into communion with God.

Ephesians pick up on this imagery as it applies to the Gentiles when it says, "You were without Christ, being aliens to the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" (2:12-13 NKJV).

The church has always read the feeding of the 5,000 as an image of the eucharistic feeding. But the pairing of this gospel with Jeremiah on the Sunday before Advent also teaches us to see the feeding of the 5,000, and the Eucharist, as an image of re-gathering. In Matthew's gospel, it is said, that "when [Jesus] saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd" (9:36). In the feeding miracles, Jesus gathers the scattered sheep and feeds them.

Because of sin, we are scattered abroad like sheep having no shepherd. The world, the flesh and the devil tempt us; sometimes we fall and guilt and shame send us into exile, away from God's presence. But Jesus gathers us back to himself at the altar of God, providing here the promise of forgiveness for penitent souls, providing here food that nourishes and blood that cleanses. Here, Jesus, in Word and sacrament, brings us back from the exile of sin and gathers us into the fellowship of the elect and the communion of the saints.

Advent is upon us. Advent reminds us that our faith looks forward to a time of fulfillment, a final re-gathering. As Jesus said, "they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:30-31 NKJV).

What we do here at the altar of God both fulfills and looks forward to this promise. Here, the Son of Man comes to us and the elect are gathered from the four winds. And here, we get a glimpse of the great re-gathering that is yet to come.