THIS IS WHAT the LORD Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster upon you and showed no pity when your fathers angered me,” says the LORD Almighty, 15“so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. 16These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; 17do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD.
18Again the word of the LORD Almighty came to me. 19This is what the LORD Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”
20This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, 21and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the LORD and seek the LORD Almighty. I myself am going.’ 22And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and to entreat him.”
23This is what the LORD Almighty says: “In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’ ”
Original Meaning
ZECHARIAH 8:14–23 IS the final component of the larger literary complex of 7:1–8:23. The messenger formula that begins verse 14 (“This is what the LORD Almighty says”) signals a new speech. While the previous section in 8:9–13 represented a sermon to encourage the community to continue rebuilding the temple, 8:14–17 returns to the discussion begun in chapter 7 that broke off in 7:14. Here we find a couple of touch points with the earlier section, including Yahweh’s anger with the former generation (8:14; cf. 7:12), similar ethical demands (8:16–17; cf. 7:9–10), and address in the second person (“you”; 8:16; cf. 7:5–6).1
God’s New Determination (8:14–15)
ZECHARIAH EMPHASIZES GOD’S INTENTIONS in disciplining the former generation. This speech plays off of the oracle in Jeremiah 4, in which the prophet envisions the destroyed city of Jerusalem. In Jer. 4:28 he uses the same two verbs as found in Zechariah 8:14: “determined” (zamam) and “show pity” (naḥam). Jeremiah proclaimed Yahweh’s determination to discipline his people, a discipline that in Jeremiah’s day would not be revoked through Yahweh’s pity. Notice how the former and present generations are indistinguishable in Zechariah’s speech. The prophet speaks of disaster on “you” although it is in response to the disobedience of “your fathers.”
This is typical of the penitential prayer tradition common on the days of fasting and a source of rhetorical play for Zechariah already in this dialogue with the Bethel group (see 7:1–14). The telescoping of generations is drawn from the key passage Leviticus 26:40, so influential in shaping the agenda of penitential prayer (cf. Ezra 9:7; Neh. 1:6–7; 9:32, 37; Dan. 9:8–11, 16).2
Zechariah plays on the term “determined” (zamam) to signal a new era of redemptive history. The use of this term emphasizes “divine intentionality” and interestingly is only used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible in reference to Yahweh’s intention to enact discipline (Jer. 4:28; 51:12; Lam. 2:17; Zech. 1:6).3 In a creative rhetorical move Zechariah plays off this judgment term to signal a turn in the experience of this community. Now instead of disaster (“to bring disaster”; raʿaʿ in Hiphil), they will experience good (“to do good,” yaṭab in Hiphil). Yahweh’s goodness is directed at Jerusalem and (lit., “the house of”) Judah. Because “house of Judah” and “Jerusalem” regularly refer to the remnant community in prophetic literature (Isa. 40), there is no question that the prophet has God’s people in mind as the recipients of his goodness. However, it is unlikely that the prophet can place any distance between this remnant community and the physical site of Jerusalem presently under construction.
God’s Ethical Demand (8:16–17)
THE COMFORTING WORDS “do not be afraid” bring closure to this oracle of salvation, a regular feature of prophetic speech.4 The prophet, however, is not finished for now he identifies the part the people must play in order to experience this turn in redemptive history. Verses 16–17 offer a list of admonitions to follow and prohibitions to avoid. Striking similarities between this list and the list ignored by the former generation in 7:9–10 remind the people of the importance of these imperatives in order to avoid the “disaster” of the past. The introductory phrase (“these are the things,” ʾelleh haddebarim) is reminiscent of the beginning of the Decalogue (Ex. 20:1), which says that God spoke all “these words” (haddebarim haʾelleh).5 As we saw in Zechariah 7:12, the law is the foundation for prophetic proclamation and is the ultimate source of the list that follows.
The list of ethical demands contains two admonitions (positive) and two prohibitions (negative). The underlying context here is the court system within Yehud, made clear by the use of the phrase “in your gates” (NIV, “in your courts”), the location where justice was carried out in ancient Israel (cf. Deut. 21:19; Ruth 4). The place of relationships takes top priority within the covenant community as is seen in the repeated phrase (lit.) “each with his neighbor” in the first admonition and the first prohibition.6 The admonitions single out the actions of both those who use and those who administer the justice system. For all parties involved in the justice system, there must be adherence to the “truth.”
In the two prohibitions, Zechariah focuses on the thoughts and affections of the heart. As in Zech. 7:9–10, Zechariah prohibits plotting the harm of others in the covenant community. He also forbids even the desire or “love” of bearing false witness in the court setting. Such a love of evil contrasts God’s negative disposition: “I hate all this.” This is highly emotive language that echoes the message of the Law and the Prophets. God’s hatred is directed toward idolatry in the Mosaic law (e.g., Deut. 12:31; 16:21–22), but the prophetic tradition extends this also to issues of justice in the context of festal activity (e.g., Isa. 1:13–17; Mal. 2:16).7 The fact that several of these references to Yahweh’s hatred appear in contexts related to festal and sacrificial activity may explain Zechariah’s use of this language here as he answers the delegation from Bethel.
Transformation of Fasts to Feasts (8:18–19)
THE MENTION OF GOD’S HATRED of all “these” (NIV “all this”) brings closure to the list of ethical demands by repeating the initial word in verse 16: “these.” It also brings closure to a much longer section that began in 7:7. To many this may seem to be a long digression from the issue raised by the delegation from Bethel. However, for Zechariah to give his answer to their question, he has had to set it in the much larger context of redemptive history. He has reminded them that their fasting arose from God’s discipline on an earlier generation that did not respond to the ethical demands of God. Zechariah has used this opportunity to call them to transcend the covenant infidelity of those responsible for the disastrous conditions of the Exile and to realize the purpose of the fasting liturgy: covenant fidelity. He has promised them that this will enact a new era of redemptive history, for God is determined to “do good again.”
Zechariah signals the climactic nature of his answer in 8:18 by the use of the messenger formula: “The word of the LORD Almighty came to me,” a formula only used in the section at the outset of the message in 7:4.8 He declares that all the fasts practiced by the Jewish community during the exilic period will be transformed into festivals for Judah. We have already noted how these fasts were connected to the various key events leading up to and following the fall of Jerusalem and Judah in the Babylonian period (see Original Meaning on 7:1–3). Zechariah is not attacking the fasting cycle of the Babylonian period communities, as some suggest, but is looking to the future when fasting will be turned to feasting because the new era has been inaugurated.9
The purpose of the intervening section has been to shape the fasting liturgy and to call the people to fasting, which will indeed accomplish the purpose for which it was designed: an expression of repentance from infidelity and a commitment to obey God’s covenant demands. The previous imperatives in 8:16–17 have shown that this new era will not be inaugurated unless the people obey the ethical demands urged by the earlier prophets.
The term here for festival (moʾed) is used in Leviticus 23:2 to refer to the cycle of worship experiences for the Israelites: weekly (Sabbath) or yearly (e.g., Passover). These were joyous times, celebrating God’s goodness in harvest and redemption. During the Exile such festivals ceased (Lam. 1:4). The prophet builds up a series of celebrative terms in connection with the festivals: “joyful” (śaśon), “glad” (śimḥah), and “happy” (ṭob). The word śimḥah can signify a feast and is used in parallel with festival (moʾed) to refer to the festal calendar in Numbers 10:10 (cf. Deut. 12:7; 14:26; 16:11; 26:11; 27:7). The word ṭob appears in the idiom “day of happiness,” which signifies a feast (1 Sam. 25:8; Est. 8:17).
The terms “joyful” (śaśon) and “glad” (śimḥah) appear together as a word pair in texts related to the celebration of marriage feasts (Jer. 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:10–11) and the festal cycle of Israel (Isa. 22:13; 33:10–11). On several occasions the word pair appears in connection with the future restoration of the remnant to Israel (Isa. 35:10; 51:3, 11; Jer. 31:13; 33:10–11; cf. Isa. 61:3). Occasionally in the prophets there is a change from mourning to gladness and joy (Isa. 51:3, 11; 61:3). Zechariah is prophesying a period when fasting will no longer be necessary, a period when the tone of the community will be the joy and gladness of the festal calendar.
The final phrase of verse 19, however, reminds the community that this future image of blessing is dependent on their response to the message of those earlier prophets. Zechariah again links the ethical and the ritual: Fasts are to be connected to ethics and future feasts will be dependent on ethics. In contrast to his use of “love” in the prohibition of verse 17, Zechariah now encourages a love of faithfulness (truth) and peace. This more general command sums up the previous ethical messages in 7:9–10 and 8:16–17.
The command to love is found in the covenant base of Israel (Deut. 6:4–5), but there it is linked to the love of Yahweh. Zechariah moves in a complementary yet distinct direction, calling the community to love the qualities demanded by Yahweh. This echoes Amos’s call to love good while hating evil in calling his community to justice in the “gates” (Amos 5:15). Here again, Zechariah is drawing on earlier prophets to call his own generation to the priorities of Yahweh.
Impact on the Nations—Entreating Yahweh (8:20–23)
FOLLOWING VERSE 19 we find two additional oracles that expand the scope of the discussion. It is probable that this section belongs to the answer to the Bethel delegation, especially because of two appearances of the idiom “entreat [the face of]” (8:21, 22) found in 7:2.
The first oracle (Zech. 8:20–22) reflects a strong tradition in the prophetic movement in which the nations are drawn to Jerusalem to seek Yahweh (esp. Isa. 2:2–4; Mic. 4:1–5).10 These people are not identified as part of the Jewish community, although they use the covenant name of God, Yahweh. The prophet uses the literary device apostrophe (the quotation in Zech. 8:21b), giving an exhortation of the foreigners to make the scene more vivid. The language here is extremely passionate, using Hebrew doubling techniques for the verb (“Let us go at once”) and pronoun (“I myself”). We do not know how these people have heard about Yahweh, but they not only are drawn to his presence in Jerusalem but also implore others to accompany them.
The second oracle (Zech. 8:23–24) highlights the role of the Jewish community returning from exile. It relies on the period described in 8:20–22 (“in those days,” v. 23) and is thus reliant on that vision. The image of the “ten men from all languages and nations” expands the vision of the “many peoples and powerful nations” of verse 22. The number “ten” refers to completeness and stresses the universal vision of this pilgrimage (cf. 1 Sam. 1:8). Twice the Hebrew here says that these ten will “take firm hold” of a Jew, seizing whatever they can grasp (“hem,” lit., corner). As with the previous oracle, the prophet uses apostrophe to make the oracle more vivid. These people want to accompany the Jew to Jerusalem because they have heard that “God is with you.”
This final phrase of Zechariah 1–8 prophesies closure to a key issue introduced at the outset of the book. In Zechariah’s initial sermon (Zech. 1:3), God called his people to return to him so that he might return to them. In the first night vision his return to Jerusalem is promised (1:16), a motif appearing in the third vision and accompanying oracle (2:5, 10–11). Now comes the ultimate significance of the response of this community to the cries of Yahweh’s prophet. Their obedience will usher in the new era in which Jerusalem will fulfill its original purpose as the place of God’s manifest presence on earth, from which his rule will extend over the cosmos and to which all nations will bend their knee either in glad adoration or broken submission.
In sum, the prophetic messages contained within chapters 7–8 have been drawn together to communicate a message of challenge and hope for God’s people. The original message was prompted by the fasting practices of the exilic period, which arose in response to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. Zechariah challenges his generation to make their fasts appropriate expressions of repentance from the injustices of their ancestors to the covenant agenda proclaimed by the earlier prophets so to avoid extending the Exile indefinitely. While the initial sermon (1:1–6) and vision (1:7–17) proclaimed hope for a penitent people, it is clear from Zechariah 7–8 that at least for some sectors of this community, penitential rites were a mere facade. There was need for true penitence among the people.
Zechariah also engenders hope by linking community obedience to a new vision of salvation. In response to a penitent people pursuing the values of justice, Yahweh has determined to bless Jerusalem and Judah. The sign of this change will be the transformation of the exilic fasts into restoration feasts. Several additional oracles describe more fully the restoration to come. The prosperity of Jerusalem will be realized because of the work of a passionate God, who will once again take up residence in the city. This God will then fill the city with his remnant saved from exile and will shower on this obedient community his blessing. But there is more. This renewed community will fulfill the role promised to Abraham by becoming a blessing to the nations as these are drawn to the city of God’s presence.
Bridging Contexts
MUCH OF ZECHARIAH 1–6 focused attention on issues related to the present circumstances of Zechariah’s generation. Although this same trend is found in Zechariah 7–8 with its focus on their fasting rituals, one can discern a stronger orientation toward the future.
Jerusalem and Judah. These chapters focus attention on the role of Jerusalem within God’s redemptive purposes. For some scholars these prophecies were never fulfilled within the subsequent Jewish communities and therefore they insist these conditions still lie in the future.11 In one respect these interpreters are correct in arguing that Zechariah’s vision was never fully realized in the following generations. Jerusalem did become the destination of many who had been scattered among the nations, but the vision of Gentiles attracted to this city in large numbers was never fulfilled—that is, if one makes a clear demarcation between Jewish and Christian communities. However, if one evaluates this prophecy from the perspective of the early Christian community and its view of Jerusalem, then fulfillment can be shown.
The early Christian community identified A.D. 70 as a key redemptive-historical event that had great implications for their own identity. The second destruction of physical Jerusalem, this time by the Romans, marked the end of one era of redemptive history and the beginning of another (cf. Matt. 23:37–24:31).12 The early church, as earthly inheritors of the throne of Yahweh, assumed the hopes and dreams of Jerusalem. In this way the writer of Hebrews can claim that Christians have come to “Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God” and in the same breath declare that they have come to “the church of the firstborn” (Heb. 12:22–23). The writer of Revelation can identify “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” with “the Holy City, Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:9–10; cf. 21:2).
It is no accident that the sending forth of the Spirit occurred during the Feast of Pentecost, when Jews from many nations speaking many tongues were gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2). Here old and new Jerusalem live concurrently, but only for a time. The book of Acts traces the redemptive-historical action of God who uses the new Jerusalem as the full and faithful expression of his kingship on earth. That is, the church as Jerusalem is the seat from which God exercises his rulership in creation. This mobile city, no longer fixed in one location but rather a living community of people, moves out from physical Jerusalem and penetrates the nations of the world. In this way the prophecies of Zechariah are fulfilled in the church, into which flow the nations as they pursue the presence of God.
From fasts to feasts. Zechariah looks to a period when the present fasts will be replaced by feasts, activities appropriate for the time of restoration. As discussed in our introduction and in our consideration of Zech. 7:1–14, Christ’s ministry ushered in this anticipated restoration. Jesus saw the restoration breaking in even during the time of his ministry as he discouraged his followers from fasting while he was with him (Matt. 9:15–16; Mark 2:19–22; Luke 5:34–37). This intimates that on one level, this transformation from fast to feast has already taken place now that Christ has come. But Christ also expects that after his departure they will fast. In light of this, one should not forget that restoration has not been fully realized in Christ’s first coming, and we look forward to the consummation of all things in his second advent. At this time Christ sees the full realization of the festal message of Zechariah 8:14–23 when, while speaking to the Roman centurion in Matthew 8:10–11, he declares:
I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
The already-not yet character of the fulfillment of this transformation from fasts to feasts explains why we still face the kinds of issues that plagued Zechariah’s community, and we must consider his message afresh within our generation. As the community that has inherited this message and begun to see its fulfillment in and through Christ, we need the discernment and empowerment of the Spirit to fully embrace and creatively accomplish the prophetic call.
Hermeneutics. Applying Zechariah’s message is not an easy task for two reasons. (1) It entails deep reflection on the ways in which social injustice is evidenced within our society in general, but more importantly within our local contexts. God has raised up churches within specific communities in order to have an impact on the needs within that community. What that will mean within a rural community will be different from an urban context. Even within an urban context there will be diversity between inner-city and suburban contexts. So there is no easy, one-size-fits-all application for this passage.
(2) Zechariah’s message is a challenge to apply because it may endanger the social privileges on which our lives are based. In Jeremiah 34 the prophet receives news that King Zedekiah and the people have made a covenant to obey God’s law and proclaim freedom for slaves, only to reverse their decision and enslave them again. It is not difficult to see why these people found it difficult to follow through on obedience. These slaves had contributed to the economic prosperity of the upper class. To release them was imperiling their economic system. So also as we reflect on the social issues of the communities in which we live, we run the danger of uncovering issues that, if confronted, may entail discomfort for us today.
As we turn now to consider the contemporary significance of Zechariah’s message we do so cognizant of the relevance of this passage to us as a people grafted into the community of God through the sacrifice of Christ, but also keenly aware of the hermeneutical challenges we face and so declare our reliance on the Holy Spirit’s power and creativity.
Contemporary Significance
FEASTING. IN CHAPTER 8 Zechariah looks to the future with hope. He envisions a day of restoration when a penitent people rejoice in the presence of their God. This reminds us that fasting is not an end in itself but has covenant relationship as its goal. The Old Testament sacrificial and festal system provided opportunity for such enjoyment of God, in which some sacrifices (fellowship) and nearly all feasts celebrated Israel’s relationship with God.
Sin is a serious issue in the Bible, and the fasting liturgy arose among the postexilic community to express remorse over such sins individually and communally. As we have already noted in Zech. 7:1–14, Zechariah’s prophecy encourages and shapes our rhythms of fasting as Christians today as we continue to live in an imperfect world and struggle with sin in our lives. But we need to remember that the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ have signaled the beginning of restoration, and God invites us to begin celebrating this new era even prior to the “wedding supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9).
In some revivalistic circles there is a tendency to focus so intently on penitence that there is little opportunity to bask in one’s relationship with God, to celebrate joyously the grace we have experienced in and through Jesus Christ. This has implications for the preaching and teaching of Scriptures. Sometimes preachers should end their reflection on Scripture with a call to rejoice and worship the God of redemption and salvation. Rather than identify three steps to success or four points to apply, we should just stop and encourage our people to respond in praise to God for his character or thanksgiving for his salvation.
Churches should not feel guilty celebrating their life together as a community. In some ways this is a major purpose of our weekly gathering as a church, to celebrate all God’s goodness to us during the preceding week. But churches should also take opportunities to enjoy fellowship meals together during their yearly rhythm of life as a congregation. These meals can become opportunities to share God’s goodness with one another in word and deed. Celebrations on Easter Sunday or Christmas are important to the life of our faith communities.
Missiology. The covenantal aspect of God’s community becomes central in Zech. 8:20–23, the grand finale of Zechariah’s prophetic message. The nations are drawn to the restored community because this is the place where God’s presence dwells, the intersection of heaven and earth. The language here is not the language of forced servitude (Ps. 2) but of willing relationship. This functions as both challenge and hope for the Jewish community. It means an expansion of their vision to include the nations, an emphasis established at the beginning of the redemptive story in the promise to Abraham (Gen. 12) and stressed in Isaiah and Jonah. It instills hope that their faithfulness will have cosmic implications and that God desires to fulfill his promise to make Jerusalem the seat of his rule.
This reminds us of God’s priorities for the new Jerusalem, the church. The community blessed with God’s presence is the one that takes seriously their covenant obligations to one another and the culture in which they dwell. The blessing of the nations typified by feasting is not possible if we do not “love truth and peace” (Zech. 8:19). Here we see an intimate link between ethics and mission, an emphasis that is fundamental to the identity of Israel as God’s covenant people.
C. Wright traces this link through two major covenants in Israel’s history.13 Prior to Abraham’s heated dialogue with Yahweh over the fate of the righteous in Sodom, we see this link vividly displayed. In Genesis 18:19 God says: “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” Here is an unmistakable link between keeping the way of the Lord and realizing the promise that includes the blessing of the nations. This blessing is made poignantly clear in the dialogue that follows as Abraham pleads for the salvation of the righteous in this doomed city. Wright expresses it well:
In the midst of a world characterized by Sodom—whose evil is causing an outcry (vv. 20–21; twice: ṣeʿaqa, the technical term for the crying out of those suffering from oppression and cruelty) that can be heard in heaven itself, God wants a community characterized by his own values and priorities—righteousness (ṣedaqa: one wonders if the word play is intentional here, as it certainly is in Isa. 5:7) and justice.14
So also in the Sinaitic covenant, the Israelites are called to become a community attracting the admiration of the nations (Deut. 4:6–8) and serving as priestly mediators for these peoples (Ex. 19:4–6). Emulating the covenant priorities of the law in God’s community was essential to the mission of Israel.
The connection between holiness and mission continues into the New Testament witness. The book of 1 Peter spirals between these twin themes, drawing on the Old Testament witness. The call to holiness, supported by quotations from the Old Testament (1 Peter 1:16; 2:9–10; 3:8–12), is linked to the witness of the church (2:11–12; 3:12–17). The one who makes these two priorities possible is the Holy Spirit: holiness (1:2) and witness (Acts 1:8). Through Jesus, God has created a holy community in which he will display his righteousness and draw the nations to himself. This should motivate us to seek holiness in our communities of faith. This holiness, however, should not be confined to private categories of personal piety, but as we have seen in Zechariah 7–8, needs to extend to the social realm.
Zechariah calls his own generation as well as the Christian community to a life of purity, purity in our relationships with one another and especially in our treatment of the vulnerable, the poor, and the needy. Such purity is powerfully attractive to the community that surrounds us.
In his fascinating book The Kingdom of God Is a Party, Tony Campolo illustrates this kind of care. Campolo was attending a Christian conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. The six-hour time differential between Honolulu and his hometown left Campolo awake at about three o’clock in the morning, wandering the streets of Honolulu searching for a place to get something to eat. Eventually he found a tiny coffee shop that was open. He went in and sat down. While there he overheard a conversation between two prostitutes, the one, Agnes, confiding in the other that the next day was her birthday. What caught Tony’s attention was the fact that Agnes admitted she had never had a birthday party in her whole life. When the women had all left, Tony turned to Harry, the owner of the diner, and hatched a plan to throw the woman a birthday party the next night, promising to return.
Thus, as planned, Campolo returned at 2:30 A.M. to decorate the coffee shop. Word had spread about the party and by 3:15 the place was wall-to-wall prostitutes. At 3:30 A.M., Agnes walked in the diner to screams of “Happy Birthday!” The woman was so overwhelmed her mouth fell open, her legs weakened, and she had to sit down. When the birthday cake with all the candles was carried out, she openly cried. Unable to blow out the candles, Harry blew them out for her and then offered her a knife to cut the cake. Campolo continues:
Agnes looked down at the cake. Then without taking her eyes off it, she slowly and softly said, “Look, Harry, is it all right with you if I . . . I mean is it O.K. if I kind of . . . what I want to ask you is . . . is it O.K. if I keep the cake a little while? I mean is it all right if we don’t eat it right away?” Harry shrugged and answered, “Sure! It’s O.K. If you want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home if you want to.” “Can I?” she asked. Then, looking at me she said, “I live just down the street a couple of doors. I want to take the cake home, O.K.? I’ll be right back. Honest!” She got off the stool, picked up the cake, and, carrying it like it was the Holy Grail, walked slowly toward the door. As we all just stood there motionless, she left.
When the door closed, there was stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, I broke the silence by saying, “What do you say we pray?” Looking back on it now, it seems more than strange for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But then it just felt like the right thing to do. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed, and that God would be good to her.
When I finished, Harry leaned over the counter and, with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher! What kind of church do you belong to?” In one of those moments when just the right words came, I answered him, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning.” Harry waited a moment and then almost sneered as he answered, “No, you don’t! There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. I’d join a church like that!”15
What a contrast to the Gentile “Harry” of the final verse of Zechariah 8: “Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you. . . .” As the church takes seriously its role within society, not only to initiate birthday parties for prostitutes but also to become an institution that brings deep and lasting transformation to their communities, the Harrys will be drawn to this place where God indeed dwells.
The Christian and Missionary Alliance (the denomination in which I was raised) arose from the vision of a man who was burdened for the poor and needy. A. B. Simpson was preaching at an upscale church in New York City, but, burdened for the lost, the young pastor began to slip down to Hell’s Kitchen near Times Square. God began to change lives, the lives of the underclass in New York, and so Simpson brought them back to his church. The membership of the church were not prepared to welcome them into that church to sit in their pews.16
So Simpson left that church quietly and began a new church in the Times Square area of New York City. There as he taught on the importance of holiness and healing in the life of the Christian believer, his church took seriously its responsibility for social transformation within that area of the city, whether that meant ministering to prostitutes, prisoners, sailors, or the poor. According to Dahms, “the social welfare impact of his movement was both enormous and magnificent. It was the result of lives transformed by the power of the Gospel.”17 Similarly, Magnuson has noted the close relationship between such holiness faith and social consciousness:
Far from being a hindrance to social Christianity, then, the revivalistic and holiness faith of these people produced extensive social programs and close identification with the needy. Entering the slums in pursuit of the evangelism that remained their chief concern, they gained there an almost unparalleled knowledge of the conditions in which the poor had to live. Encountering that kind of need, they responded with energy and with growing sympathy and indignation.18
What is interesting is that at the same time God birthed out of that church a missionary movement in the closing years of the nineteenth century that moved out around the globe. This important connection between the social consciousness of this pastor and his congregation and the birthing of a missionary movement echoes the message of Zechariah 7–8.
There are many missionary stories that one could tell to illustrate this link between social consciousness and missional concern. Senior missionary friends of mine, Jake and Mavis Klassen, tell a story from their time of ministry in Ecuador. While they ministered in a Spanish community at the foot of the Andes, they heard about a Qichua Indian chief who had been imprisoned in the local jail. In Ecuador before a trial, responsibility for feeding prisoners does not lie with the government but with the family of the captive. Unfortunately, because this chief came from far up in the mountains, there was no one to feed him in jail, and so this dear couple delivered meals to the jail for him. Through this act of kindness the chief invited this missionary to his village in the mountains.
The missionary drove up the steep mountain roads to the boundary of the chief’s land. There, however, he was stopped as the chief approached him with deep concern on his face. The chief asked who was in the vehicle, and the missionary told him that it was a Christian friend from the Spanish village below. The chief informed the missionary that the man was a Blanco (white man), to which the missionary replied: “Yes, like me.” But the chief contradicted him, declaring that the missionary was Gringo (North American) but the man was Blanco (Spanish white man). The Blanco was from the village that had forced his tribe to maintain an irrigation system that could only be used by the tribe on the two worst days of the week. Jake Klassen was welcome to stay, but he would first have to take the Blanco back to the valley below.
This story reminds me of the social implications of the gospel.19 On the one hand, it demonstrates the positive impact of this simple act of social kindness by these missionaries. This was an important key that opened the door of this village to the gospel. On the other hand, it demonstrates the negative impact that social injustice can have on the spread of the gospel. Christians in that village face hostile resistance to the gospel because of past and present injustice. Christian witness from this village to the Quichua tribes will have to begin by addressing the deep social injustices that undermine their gospel witness.
In a similar way, we need to embrace a vision of holiness that extends to the social plane. The Western suburban church is often accused not only of ignoring the needs of the urban or Two-Thirds World poor but even of encouraging it through active or passive activity. There is the potential of a powerful witness to the “nations” as the church embraces a social agenda that extends beyond its walls. This may mean partnering with churches struggling for survival in the midst of social chaos to provide human, material, and spiritual resources for them. For churches tempted to move to the richer and safer suburbs, it may mean making the hard decision to stay put and changing their mission and vision to meet the needs of the surrounding community or even challenging members to move back into the area in order to penetrate it with the gospel in word and deed.
It is interesting that the final voice in the message of Zechariah 7–8 is a voice of outsiders attracted to God’s presence in the midst of his covenant community (8:23). It is a subtle reminder to those of us feasting in the midst of God’s community that he has called us to a mission beyond ourselves. This mission involves the salvation of souls, but also the reclamation of all of creation and culture to the kingdom priorities of Yahweh.
Take your imaginary glass and lean it against the cold stone wall because I want you to listen in on a conversation. This conversation took place nineteen centuries ago as Aristides was describing Christians to the Roman emperor Hadrian:
They love one another, they never fail to help widows, they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the man who has nothing. If they see a stranger they take him home and are happy as though he were a real brother. They do not consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit in God.20
We do not know whom Aristides was talking about. Faceless Christians, no superstars, but yet in one sense stars in Christ’s universe. It was faceless acts of kindness to fellow humanity that was so astounding in a cold and ruthless Roman world. So also today, the world will know of Christ’s love as they see it demonstrated through a Christian community in deed as well as word.