Thomas J Parlette
“Home Renovations”
Haggai 1: 15b – 2:9
11/09/25
They say that there are two things you can always count on:
Death and Taxes.
You can’t escape either one. They’re inevitable.
I think I might add one more to that list.
In the waiting room at Olmsted Medical Center, you can count on HGTV being on the TV set.
I suppose this is true in part because of the divided nature of our country these days. You can’t just turn on the news because whether you turn on CNN or Fox News, you’re bound to offend someone.
So, HGTV looks like a pretty good option. Who doesn’t appreciate a good home improvement show to help past the time while they wait 20 minutes or so to see the doctor or get their blood drawn.
One of my favorite HGTV home improvement shows is one called “Help! I Wrecked My House.” I identify with the show because I’m not a particularly handy person when it comes to projects at home – so I don’t have any trouble identifying with these poor people who take on a major DIY project like a bathroom remodel or installing a new kitchen and end up making a mess of things.
The whole premise of “Help! I Wrecked My House” is that the host, Jasmine Roth, brings in her team of professionals to come in and transform these home disasters into dream spaces in record time.
It’s too bad HGTV didn’t exist when he Israelites came back from the Babylonian Exile. They sure could’ve used some help.
Rebuilding and renovating is what lies at the heart of this text from Haggai today. In this passage, we listen to the prophet Haggai speaking to Judah on God’s behalf.
Haggai is another of the Minor Prophets, a contemporary of Zechariah, who brought the word of God to Judah after they returned to their homeland after being taken away in exile to Babylon some 40 years before.
As with most of the other Minor Prophets, we don’t know much about Haggai as a person. We know he was a well - respected prophet, as he is referred to simply as “The Prophet” five times in his short book. He is also noted as someone “who has authority” as well, so he had solid credentials among the people of Judah.
We also know with a good deal of precision, exactly when he was active as a prophet. The Book of Haggai begins with very specific references to the rulers of the day and the festivals going on during the time in which Haggai prophesied. He was active for just a short time – 3 or 4 months between the end of August and mid-December, 520 BCE during the second year of the Persian King Darius’ reign. So right around this time of year, about 2600 years ago was when Haggai was active.
He and Zechariah were contemporaries, and they both shared a common mission, a common goal. Encourage Judah to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
Twenty years earlier, King Cyrus of Persia had defeated the Babylonians, and the Israelites were encouraged to go back to their homeland and rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem.
Well, it took a while, but the Israelites, the people of Judah finally went back home and over the course of those 20 years they slowly rebuilt their homes and their lives. Things were not easy. Their economy was in ruins, some of them had no homes or land to go home to. They lived through droughts and famine – but they persevered.
It was to this struggling community, this remnant of the faithful, that Zechariah and Haggai brought the word of God. Haggai starts with a question – “Who among you remembers this house in its former glory?” He’s addressing the older people in the crowd, it’s been 40-60 years at this point, so it’s possible that a couple of people there might have seen the Temple when they were young. “Do you remember the way things used to be?” With tears in their eyes, they shake their heads – yes, we remember, or we’ve heard the stories of how glorious the Temple used to be, and it was nothing like this. Things used to be so much better.
The Spanish poet Jorge Amado, writing a few centuries ago, once said, “Always to our view, time now past was just better to us.” (1)
Apparently Haggai was facing this same sort of nostalgic, romanticized, backward glance as well.
Even in our own time, we have a tendency to look back and think – “Things used to be so much better. We used to have a membership of 1500 people, we had 3 full-time pastors on staff. We used to have 100 kids for Sunday School every week and 50 high-schoolers in the Youth Group. Ahhh – those were the days. How do we bring that back? Things used to be so much better.”
It’s human nature to look back with fondness at the “good old days.” It’s also human nature to forget all the difficulties and problems that were still a part of those good old days – but we block those memories and hold on to the good stuff.
Haggai begins with the memories, the good old days, when the Temple was still there in all its splendor, acknowledging that, yes, you remember the Temple, the Lord’s house as this magnificent worship space, praising God with its awes-inspiring architecture. It was indeed, magnificent. But then we wrecked it by drifting away from the Lord’s way. The Lord’s vengeance came, we were conquered, the Temple was destroyed and we were taken into Exile. But the Lord never left us completely – punished us, yes. But never abandoned us. Now we are back. Over the last 20 years, you have concentrated on rebuilding your own homes and lives – now it is time to rebuild and renovate the Lord’s house, the Jerusalem Temple, and reconstruct God’s community.
True – it does not look as magnificent as it once was. But if you want God’s presence among you – you must make space for the Lord.
The thrust of Haggai’s message can be boiled down to this:
“Take courage, do the work, for I am with you. My Spirit abides with you; do not fear.”
First, he addresses the leaders of the remnant of Judah:
“Take courage, Zerubbabel. Take courage, Joshua.”
Then Haggai addresses the people:
“Take courage, all you people of the land.”
Three times the prophet calls for “courage.”
“Take courage, do the work, for I am with you.”
Why does Haggai call for courage? What exactly were the remnant afraid of? Were they afraid of being conquered again? No, that already happened. They had returned home with the blessing of the most powerful rulers of the day.
No – they were afraid of failing. The Temple had been so magnificent. Look at it now- it was still basically a pile of rocks. What if God’s house was never restored? What if they failed this ultimate test of home renovation?
It is to this fear of failure that Haggai speaks. “Take courage. Do the work that I have called you to do,” says the Lord. “Do not fear – I am with you. Rebuild the Temple – Rebuild the community. My Spirit abides among you, my Spirit dwells with you. Do not fear.”
I hope you hear the relevance in this old prophecy. In our own day, we are being called to renovate God’s house. We are being called to restore God’s community. In Haggai’s day, the center of religious life was the Temple. That was the visible symbol of God’s presence among the people. It is our Christian belief that Jesus came to take the place of the Temple. Jesus, God’s Son, became for us the visible symbol of God’s presence dwelling among us.
So, when Haggai assures the remnant of Judah that God is with them – he assures us of the very same thing. Not even the most difficult circumstances or the most arduous, overwhelming task will persuade God to stay away. Whatever it takes to help the faithful, God is able and willing to do.
Implicit in this prophecy is that God will also provide what the faithful need for the work they have been called to do. The resources they need to rebuild and restore the church – physically and spiritually – will be there, even if they come from unexpected places and even from other lands and cultures. God will provide, even if God “shakes the nations” to do so.
Which brings us to Haggai’s final point. As you rebuild and renovate, don’t worry about what the new Temple looks like. Don’t worry about how splendid and magnificent the new building looks – or doesn’t look as compared to how things used to be.
No – instead, concern yourselves with whether God has decided to make the Divine presence felt among you – in your building, sure. In your programs and ministries, of course. But most importantly, in your community – how you treat each other, how you care for one another. That is where God truly dwells. That is the true splendor that God desires.
As Haggai reminds us, “The latter splendor of tis house shall be greater than the former – and in this place I will give prosperity.”
And for that, may God be praised. Amen.
1. Nelson Rivera, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 4, Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p 266.
