Zephaniah 3:20 “’At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,’ says the Lord.”

I’ll never forget the day after my fifth-grade field trip when I was called into the principal’s office. A classmate had “double dog dared” me to moon the class. As everyone knows, a "double dog dare" is essentially a divine command. So, of course, I did it. Needless to say, this did not go well for me. As I walked into the principal’s office, I heard my dad's voice from the hallway: "James Michael Besaw..." I knew I was done for.

As silly as this illustration is, I sometimes think of the Israelites (or Judeans in this story) as children, like me, constantly getting themselves into trouble. In today’s passage, God has just called Judah by their full name, as my dad had done with me. He’s fed up with their idolatry and is about to let the Babylonians do their worst. It’s tempting to think God just doesn’t like BBQ, but verse 11 shows us the real issue: Judah’s pride. They had become so obsessed with their status as God's "chosen people" that they'd forgotten why God chose them in the first place.

But today’s passage is about hope, so why focus on judgment? Because the message of hope in this passage only makes sense in light of God’s judgment. Why let Judah suffer if the goal is just to return to square one? I believe God allows this to happen precisely because Judah is His chosen people. He’s so committed to His mission of bringing hope to the world through them that He’ll do whatever it takes to remove the sin that stands in their way.

Now, I want to be careful. I’m not saying God will smite your family for every sin. This kind of judgment was specific to nations in covenant with God. But I am saying that God takes his promise to save all nations through his people seriously. Remember the Pharisees? Jesus flips tables and harshly rebukes them because their obsession with being special kept them from doing the special work they were called to do.

So, what about us? Where might our own pride about our importance prevent us from doing the good work God’s calling us to? Does our identity as Episcopalians, our history in Kirkland, or our past generosity ever blind us to what God is asking us to do in this season?

Jim Besaw