“Someday.” That was the name of a popular Christian song when I was teenager. The song spoke of how someday we would experience peace, joy, happiness and no more sorrow. It went like this:
“Someday. Someday. Someday. Someday.”
“Peace and joy and happiness, no more sorrows, someday.”
“Someday” is a common them in Christians songs. We find great comfort in songs that remind how someday things will be better. Someday God will right all that is wrong. Someday.
Someday is also a common theme in life:
1.For some of the students at HopeWorks, someday is the day when they will finally get and keep a full-time job.
2.For the children at the Paragould Children’s home or the Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch—both of which Highland support—someday is the day when they will finally find a home and parents.
3.For the many in the Highland family that are pregnant, someday is that day when that baby will finally arrive.
4.As a young child, I remember aching for Christmas to get here. Someday it would finally be Christmas Day.
5.I remember when our son Jacob, shortly after he was born, had colic. He would cry and cry and cry. And Kendra and I would console each other with the belief that someday Jacob would no longer cry.
How about you? When you think of someday, what good thing, what hoped-for state of life do you think about? How would you complete this sentence: “Someday __________.” Share your answer with the person next to you.
Regardless of what you put in that blank, one of the most enduring messages of the Christian faith is wrapped up in that word “someday.” “Someday. Someday. Someday. Someday.”
“Peace and joy and happiness, no more sorrows, someday.”
In Old Testament times, for the Jews, there were a handful of very important somedays. One of the greatest someday was called the Year of Jubilee. The Year of Jubilee is described in the books of Leviticus and Numbers.
The word “Jubilee” literally referred to a ram’s horn. This ram’s horn was often blown on festive occasions. We might think of the way that New Year’s is often accompanied by the blowing of horns. The Year of Jubilee was announced by the blowing of this festive horn.
And it took place at a time filled with symbolism. The number seven was important in Judaism. For example, the seventh day of each week was special, a Sabbath day. It was a day of rest and renewal. Thus each seventh year was also an important year in Judaism. And so was the completion of 7 cycles of 7 years. Thus, at the end of each 7th cycle of 7 years, on the 50th year, the Jews were to celebrate The Year of Jubilee. It was to begin on the Day of Atonement, that special day when the sins of the people were atoned for.
During the Year of Jubilee a number of unusual things happened. The land was left fallow to recover and recuperate. There was no planting. There was no harvesting. In addition, property was returned to its original owner. And, slaves were liberated. Finally, debts were dissolved.
Thus, the Year of Jubilee represented an unprecedented time of freedom, rest and renewal.
1.The person who had to sell himself into slavery to pay off debts could look forward to that someday, knowing that he would be released from slavery.
2.The person who had lost his family property could look forward to that someday, knowing that on that day the property would be returned to the family.
3.And even the land itself, which worked so hard to produce crops, could look forward to that someday, when even it would have a year of complete rest.
And sometimes, in difficult times, people like the prophets would point forward to that someday of the Year of Jubilee. For example the long book of Isaiah ends with what is called the Book of Comfort/Consolation. Chapters 40-66 provide comfort and consolation in a difficult time. And in chapter 61 the prophet Isaiah points the people forward to the great someday of the Year of Jubilee:
1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion- to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. 4 They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. (Is. 61:1-4 ESV).
Isaiah is referring to the Year of Jubilee. A future someday when the person whom the LORD has anointed will bring good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, comfort all who mourn, grant to those who mourn, and give beauty instead ashes, gladness instead of mourning and praise instead of faint spirits.
Isaiah is saying that someday, in that Year of Jubilee, in that year of the Lord’s favor, all that is wrong will be made right. Those poor will receive good news. Those broken hearted will be bound up. Those captive will be liberated. Those bound will be freed. Those mourning will be comforted.
What a someday!
But this someday didn’t come in Isaiah’s day. It was the Christmas present that never arrived. The graduation day that was never celebrated.
And then one day a young preacher named Jesus strode into his hometown synagogue and changed all of that:
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. (Luke 4:14-16 ESV)
“As was his custom, he went to the synagogue.” That means Jesus was in the habit of attending the synagogue—the Jewish form of church. Which—as a side note—ought to make us pause before we decide that church isn’t important. It was pretty important to Jesus.
Today Jesus is at his hometown synagogue. And today, Jesus gets to preach in his hometown synagogue. In Luke’s gospel, this is Jesus’ first sermon. It’s the first sermon Luke records. Could you imagine if you were Jesus and you’re given a shot to preach at your hometown church? What would you preach?
Well, here’s the text Jesus read before his sermon:
17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written (Luke 4:17 ESV)
By the way, this was before you could surf to the Bible on your mobile phone or open the Bible that you carry with you all the time. This Bible was kept on long sheets of paper that were rolled up. We don’t know for sure if this scroll of Isaiah was handed to Jesus because that was the prescribed reading for the day, or if Jesus requested this scroll. I believe it is the latter. Jesus has given much thought as to what he will preach at home for his first sermon. So he asks for the scroll of Isaiah. And notice what Jesus reads from Isaiah:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. (Luke 4:18-20 ESV).
Jesus resurrects one of the oldest hopes among the people of God. He reads the passage in Isaiah about the Year of Jubilee—one of the greatest someday’s in Judaism. Oh what a perfect passage! These people are suffering and struggling under the tyranny of Rome, so Jesus says to them “Someday.” “Peace and joy and happiness, no more sorrows, someday.”
Only that’s not what Jesus says. Jesus has read a passage of Scripture. But now you’re about to get his sermon. It is the shortest sermon Jesus ever gave. Jesus’ first sermon in Luke’s gospel consists of one sentence: 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21 ESV)
Jesus’ first word to the hurting world is not “someday”—it’s “today.” “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” When Jesus says “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” he is saying that this Scripture about a great someday is becoming a reality today. Jesus is saying that the future predicted by this Scripture is breaking into the present through him. Do you remember how I told you that the Year of Jubilee was supposed to begin with a great blow on that ram’s horn? Well here, symbolically, Jesus picks up that ram’s horn, and blows it for all he’s worth. Today, he says. All that you’ve been waiting for and hoping in starts today.
What Jesus wants us to know is that God’s greatest and most comforting and most healing and most restorative work is not waiting any longer for someday in the future. It is starting today. In Jesus, that brightest of futures, predicted by Isaiah, becomes present—today.
We don’t have to wait until we die and go to heaven to experience the great work of God. Because it starts today. We don’t have to wait until the next election cycle to have hope for our world. Because it starts today. We don’t have to wait until we graduate or we wed or we recreate to experience the greatest renewal of God. Because it starts today. Jesus is saying that the brightest future you could ever imagine, the most hopeful someday you could ever hope in, starts today.
And then Jesus started turning that promise into a reality. This explains why Jesus did not just come to earth and go immediately to the cross. This explains why we have a period of three years of ministry. Jesus spent those three years working to bring the future into the present. Every day Jesus lived was an opportunity to make that someday happen a little bit more today. Every day was an opportunity to preach some good news, bind up some broken hearts, release some who are captive, and comfort some who were mourning. They no longer had to wait. Because someday started today.
This doesn’t mean that everything God wants to do in you, for you and through you, he’s going to do right now, today. There’s still waiting involved in the life of faith. Noah had to wait for the rain to stop and the waters to recede. The Israelites had to wait for God to raise up Moses to free them from slavery in Egypt. In at least 15 Psalms, the author writes about having to wait on God. The Jews in exile had to wait for God to rescue them and return them to their homeland. Paul writes in Romans 8 that we are all waiting for our final and full adoption as God’s children. Peter writes that we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth.
But here’s the promise: while we are waiting for someday, God is working today. Everything God is dreaming for us and for our world is starting, in big and small ways, today. We may not see its completion. We may not feel its fullness. But the great future that God’s been dreaming for us, and that we’ve been dreaming for ourselves, is no longer in the future. It’s happening today.
What you need to hear is this: the Christian faith is not just about pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by. It’s about a living Christ who is at work in your life and your world today. We may have to wait for the fullness of that work. But while we wait, we know without a doubt that Christ is working. He has good news for you today. He has comfort for you today. He has freedom for you today.
And you can receive all of that today. Through the act of baptism today, you can begin to receive all that he wishes to give. Through the act of repentance today, you can continue to receive all that he wishes to give. His first word to you is not “someday.” It’s “today.”
Yet there is a challenge in this text. Most scholars agree on one sad fact: the Israelites never enacted the Year of Jubilee. There is an ancient book called “The Book of Jubilee.” That book states that the Israelites never enacted the Year of Jubilee. And this, among many other reasons, that book says, is why God sent the Israelites into exile.
Let me put that in a different way: the Israelites were never willing to do their part to make that someday happen today. They were never willing to pay the price to turn that someday into today. It was just too costly.
If you had some slaves working for you, the Year of Jubilee meant that you might lose those slaves. If you acquired some property in a less than upstanding way, the Year of Jubilee meant you had to return that land to its original owner. If certain people owed you large sums of money, the Year of Jubilee meant that you might have to forgive their debt and not get your money back.
It was just too costly to put into practice the Year of Jubilee. And that is why it continued to be only something that was someday in the future.
But what we see for the rest of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts (which is Luke’s second volume) is that not only did Jesus start enacting the Year of Jubilee. So did his followers. In fact, we who follow Jesus today are called to enact the Year of Jubilee. We are called to do just what Jesus did. We are called to make today a day when people begin to experience the brightest future God has for them. We are called to make today the day when the poor receive good news. We are called to make today the day when the brokenhearted are bound up. We are called to make today the day when those prisoners received release.
The church is not called to simply mentally prepare people for some future someday. The church is called to make today the day of salvation. The church is not called to act someday but today.
Once, Jesus came upon a man who is sinful. The man was enslaved by his errors. He was detested by the community. But Jesus didn’t say, “Someday I will change all that for you. Someday you’ll experience freedom from your sin. Someday you’ll be welcomed into the community.” Instead, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house…”(Luke 19:9)
On another occasion Jesus met a man who was at the end of his rope literally. The man had made so many poor choices in life that his life was about to end. He was hanging on a cross. And Jesus didn’t say, “Someday I’ll change all that for you. Someday you’ll experience freedom and a new life.” Instead, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
You see this happen again and again also in life in the early church in the book of Acts. The early church didn’t wait for “someday.” They acted today. They brought good news today. They brought comfort today. They brought freedom today.
And so must we. There’s someone in your work, your school, your family, or your neighborhood that needs to hear the message about Jesus. And that person doesn’t need to hear it someday. They need to hear it today.
There is someone in your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, or your school that needs a card of encouragement, or a helping hand, or a phone call, or a text, or a night out, or some babysitting, or a meal. And they don’t need it someday. They need it today.
Too often, like the early Jews, we refuse to enact the Year of Jubilee today. We put it off. We say tomorrow or next week I’ll share Jesus. Tomorrow or next week I’ll make a phone call or cook that meal. Tomorrow or next week I’ll volunteer. But the challenge is to make today the day that people in your life get to experience through you the best that God has for them.
Jack Spray was an elder in a church in New Mexico—the first church I preached at full-time. When I arrived as a 25 year-old preacher fresh out of Harding School of Theology, Jack approached me and said, “I want you to block out two hours one day every week. And I’m going to pick you up on the day every week and take you to visit a member of our church. Each week we’ll visit a different member. I’ll make all the arrangements. But you need to come with me every week.” And so, every Thursday, right after lunch, Jack would pull up in his car to the church office, I’d get in his car, and he’d take me to the home of a church member. Week after week. Year after year. Even when he got cancer, he kept it up. Why? Here’s what Jack said that first day, “I don’t want you to wait for someday in the future to get to know our members. I want you to get to know them now. I don’t want you to wait for someday in the future to start serving them. I want you to start now.” It was one of Jack’s ways of turning someday into today.
Let me close by putting it all into this one pointed question: What are you putting off for someday that needs to be done today?
