I recently read an article written by one pastor who was on a Zoom call with 10 other pastors across three denominations. By the time the meeting concluded, four out of the 10 had admitted their own suicidal ideations. One pastor shared the heartbreaking story of going back to church too early and losing a beloved church member to COVID-19. Another shared how congregants were daily emailing him with threats to leave the church if they didn’t reopen immediately — and withholding their tithes until then. One pastor was fired. Her husband passed away several years ago, leaving her a single mom of two children. She was stretched too thin because of parenting two small children during a pandemic. But her church was unhappy with her leadership, sermon quality and lack of a vision during this time of crisis, so they let her go. Another pastor who after preaching about race one week, a congregant came to the church office and kicked his office door off of its hinges in an attempt to incite the pastor into a fist fight.[1] I think the story shared by these 4 pastors in the article reflects what kind of world we are now living in. We live in an anxious world. Living in anxious times in the midst of a pandemic, a hyper-partisan culture, a civil rights movement, and an upcoming election is literally destroying the lives of many, many Christians. So our heart is yearning, searching for peace.
Jerusalem: Already, but Not Yet
Psalm 122 is a song of peace for Jerusalem. The name Jerusalem means “city of peace,” and in the Bible Jerusalem is often called Zion. It’s an ideal place for all God’s people. It’s the place where God is fully present among his people. It’s the place where God exercises his justice and judges evil. It’s the place where there is peace, security, and prosperity. To our surprise, the psalmist and his pilgrim companions already arrived in Jerusalem! In verse 2 he says, “Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!” At this point he is standing in Jerusalem and rejoicing, probably with the thousands of other pilgrims. His feet are already standing in Jerusalem, City of Peace! Yet in this psalm Jerusalem’s peace and security (verse 7) and its family (verse 8) are still the subjects of prayer. In other words, the peace and security and prosperity of Jerusalem has not yet fully come. Here we find some kind of tension between the “already” and the “not yet.” We are already redeemed and saved, but we still suffer, get sick, and die. We already have new, full, abundant life in Jesus, but we still struggle, get stressed, burn out. In one sense we are already there; in another sense we are not there yet.
The Songs of the Ascent (Psalms 120-134) tell us what it means to live between the times. These 15 psalms are set out in five groups of three psalms each, and each group consists of what we might call a mini-pilgrimage.[2] For example, the first psalm, psalm 120, describes a situation of stress and distress in this world, which prepares the psalmist sets out on his pilgrim journey. The second psalm, psalm 121, focuses on the Lord’s power to strengthen and sustain, and to keep hope alive on the journey. And the third psalm, psalm 122, brings us home. We have arrived. We are safe in Jerusalem! But then, the same pattern repeats four more times in the following psalms (discomfort in this world – all-sufficient God – homecoming; see chart below). Then, what is the purpose of the arrangement of the Songs of the Ascent? The sequence of these 15 psalms shows us what our Christian journey looks like: ups and downs, highs and lows, the “already” and the “not yet.” Many bumpy roads, threats, challenges on the way. But there is more! The Songs of the Ascent declare the truth that a victorious pilgrim journey on the way and a glorious homecoming are guaranteed for those who endure and trust in the Lord. As God’s redeemed people, we don’t simply fight for victory but from victory, because the Lord has already won the battle. Our victory is guaranteed.
The Two Ways
Today we live between the times. We already have one foot in Jerusalem, in the Promised Land, but still we have another foot here in this world, in this wilderness. The Bible tells us there are two ways of life on how to live in the “in-between” times. In the Old Testament the Israelites were redeemed and saved by God Almighty. All of them saw God’s wonders and miracles in Egypt. All of them walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. All of them were guided and protected by a pillar of cloud during the day and by a pillar of fire at night in the wilderness. But when the time had come to enter the Promised Land, ten of the 12 who had spied out the land spread a bad report, saying, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size… We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Num 13:32-33 NIV). They forgot God’s great works. They didn’t trust God and his promises. They saw the challenge through their human eyes. So they spread this bad report, criticized and grumbled against Moses.
Joshua and Caleb, however, who were among the twelve, took a different way. They said to the Israelites, "The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only, do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them” (14:7-9 NRSV). Joshua and Caleb remembered what God has done for them. They did trust God. The saw the same challenge through the eyes of faith. They saw victory, hope, possibilities, prosperity, beyond the challenge. As God’s redeemed people, we have the two ways of life ahead of us: a life fighting for victory – versus – a life fighting from victory.
Then, what does it look like to live a victorious life in our anxious world? Our perfect example is Jesus, who made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Yes, Jesus saw a dark reality. He lamented and wept over Jerusalem because of their disbelief and hardness of heart. But he was never in despair. Rather, he looked up and saw New Jerusalem, future Jerusalem, filled with a great cloud of pilgrims cleansed with his blood, rejoicing. So he could endure anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever, because of the joy (a glorious future of his people) awaiting him. Keeping this in mind, the apostle Paul tells us how he lived a victorious life in challenging times: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” (2 Co 4:8-10 NLT). As we suffer, as we respond to life challenges in a godly way, in Jesus way, by God’s grace, people see the difference. They would see Jesus in us and be drawn to Him. Some day they would join us in singing God’s praises and rejoice with us. Because of this glorious, guaranteed future, we too can put up with anything along the pilgrim way. We may be misconstrued, criticized, hated. But we can rejoice no matter what, because we know that we will be standing and rejoicing in Jerusalem with God’s people. That’s what it means to live a victorious life.
Victorious
I recently heard a story about a woman who had walked seven hundred miles as a refugee to escape a violent war and was finally able to cross a national boundary out of the war zone. She walked all that way and brought with her an eight-year-old girl, who walked beside her. For seven hundred miles the child held her hand tightly. When they reached the safety, the girl loosened her grip, and the woman looked at her hand. It was raw and bloody with an open wound, because the little girl had held on so tightly out of her fear.[3] But as for us, we don’t have to be anxious or worried like the little girl. Jesus promised, “I will not leave you as orphans. I am with you always, to the end of the age” (cf. Matt 28:20; John 14:18). We may withhold our hand from God; God will never let us go. We are not there yet, but we will make it home. Our victory is guaranteed. Let us live a victorious life now as if we are standing in Jerusalem. Let us fight from victory, not for victory. Let us trust in God and remember his promise always: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa 41:10). Amen.
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[1] Jakob Topper, “Too Many Pastors Are Falling on Their Own Swords,” Baptist News Global
[2] Alec Motyer, Journey (IVP, 2009), 19-23.
[3] Walter Brueggemann, Sabbath as Resistance, New Edition with Study Guide: Saying No to the Culture of Now (pp. 88-90). Presbyterian Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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