Steadfast Love

Joel 2:12-13 and 28-29

This passage contains the words of Joel with which most people in the pews are familiar: “Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit” (vv 28-29). The first chapter of Joel describes the destruction wrought upon Judah by the locusts, God’s “great army” (v 25b), and the prophet’s call to repentance, which continues into the second chapter. In this section, the idea is put forth that it is not too late for God to have a change of heart (v 14), based on the prophet’s reminder to the people of God’s nature: “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing” (v 13). The Holy desires shalom not suffering.

Our reading is found amid God’s promise of future restoration for the people. When God decides to bring an end to their suffering, all that the locusts have taken away God will replace, making the land green and fruitful again (v 22). Beginning in the 23rd verse, the prophet calls the people of Zion to celebrate how God has brought them back to life with refreshing rain and abundant grain. Once these wondrous things have taken place, Judah will no longer “be put to shame” (v 26b), in the presence of their friends and enemies. God proclaims that this should prove, without a doubt, that God is “in the midst of Israel” and that there is no other god besides the LORD (v 27).

We must use great care when interpreting a text like Joel for a 21st century audience. While some of the images in this week’s reading are empowering and hopeful, there are also some very disturbing ones, which could easily be used to support an “us vs them” theology. Many people today may want to see the world judged and punished by God, but we are not free to take those matters into our own hands. That is God’s job. If, as this text describes, one day every person will be the recipient of God’s emboldening spirit, then perhaps there will not be anyone who does not “call on the name of the LORD”; all will be saved. With humility and awe, we would be wise to examine our own lives to make certain that we are not the ones who contradict the image of a God that is “gracious and merciful . . . abounding in steadfast love” (v 13). We must work for shalom in a broken world.

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