Sold!
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series III, Cycle C
Object:
As we conclude several weeks of readings in the book of the prophet Jeremiah and next week look at the companion text from the book of Lamentations, a common thread begins to emerge. It is the thread of grief. Jeremiah has been called by God to a truly thankless job -- that of accompanying the people of his homeland into a time of loss and grief. Because of decades of idolatry and treaties with neighboring nations, the people of Judah will lose the land God once graciously gave to their ancestors. The events in today's reading take place around 588 BC as the Babylonian army is laying siege to Jerusalem.
Let me set the stage with some history here. Jeremiah began prophesying while Josiah was king over Judah in about 627 BC. Although Josiah's efforts to put an end to idol worship and to shape the nation's values and practices around the Deuteronomic law were only moderately successful, he died while trying to keep Egypt from teaming with Assyria against Babylon. Judah became a vassal nation in 609 BC. As a series of kings ruled and were overthrown or assassinated in Jerusalem, a power shift resulted in Assyria taking control of Judah's destiny in about 605 BC. Jeremiah's visit to the potter and his expressed grief over Judah likely took place at about this time.
Jehoiakim ruled in Judah for several years providing some internal stability, but Babylon was quietly gaining strength. In 598 Jehoiakim died, and while his son, Jehoiachin, was still acclimating to the role, King Nebuchadrezzer of Babylon invaded Jerusalem. Nebuchadrezzer looted the temple and treasury, and took Jehoiachin and the queen mother into custody, but did not destroy the temple or the city at that time. Zedekiah (the uncle of Jehoiachin) was left to rule Judah as a puppet king, whose strings were orchestrated by Babylon.
Jeremiah began to preach more intentionally about the fall of Judah, warning that the Judeans would live in exile for seventy years. Because Jeremiah continued to call the people of Judah to faithfully serve and worship Yahweh, it appears that King Josiah's reforms were not sustained after his death. Despite so many of his prophecies coming to pass, Jeremiah's message is not received well or embraced. Zedekiah has Jeremiah imprisoned in the palace jail. After all, the great prophet Isaiah, speaking more than 100 years before, had promised that that the temple and the city of Jerusalem would remain and not fall into the hands of the enemy. When King Zedekiah begins to trust that word more than Jeremiah's, he becomes restless and tries to lead an overthrow of Babylon.
As a result of the king's attempted coup, the Babylonian army is knocking at the door. Jeremiah, confined in the palace, and King Zedekiah is questioning Jeremiah's loyalty because of his prophecies of doom.
Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours." Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
-- Jeremiah 32:6-8
As the city is about to be destroyed and Jeremiah apparently will be spirited away to relative safety in Egypt, he does something amazing. He buys a field in his hometown of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, just south of Jerusalem. Jeremiah buys the field in order to keep its possession in the family.
Jeremiah's very public action of buying this property, knowing that he will not step foot on it for many years, demonstrates the continual rhythm of loss and restoration that characterizes Jeremiah's prophecies at this point in Judah's history. Where prior to this, Jeremiah's message was almost totally one of gloom and doom, now he speaks of exile, but weaves into this dire prophecy the promise that someday, Judah will return to their homeland. Jeremiah is so sure of it that he puts his money where his mouth is! His prophesying has begun to morph into a message of consolation. He does not backpedal from the grievous period ahead that Judah faces. In fact, he has already written to the people of Judah now living in exile to Babylon, urging them to put down roots there:
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
-- Jeremiah 29:4-7
Can you hear the consolation in these words? God is saying to God's people, "I have not forgotten you; I am still watching out for you. I will bless your sons and daughters with wives and husbands and children. And I will hear you when you pray for this place that is your home right now -- as I bless it, you will be blessed."
Perhaps you can hear God's pledge of faithfulness even more clearly in these words:
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
-- Jeremiah 29:11-14
Although God's people have given their worship to idols rather than to God, although they have put their trust in treaties with enemies rather than in the Lord of hosts, although they have for all intents and purposes abandoned God, God has not abandoned them. And when the hours and days and years are darkest, the word of the Lord that comes to prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel and others is a word of consolation. The word these prophets are given by God to speak is a word of hope. Jeremiah demonstrates his trust in this promise of hope by buying land and securing its deed in an earthenware jar that will keep it safe over the years until he or other family members return to reclaim it.
These words are not merely Jeremiah's attempt to appease King Zedekiah! In chapter 32 alone, the phrases, "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord" and "Thus says the Lord" are recorded no less than seven times in a mere fifteen verses (Jeremiah 32:1-15). These are the prophet's way of indicating that this word surely comes from the Lord. As surely as the people of God now grieve and suffer loss, they will someday know joy again.
Last week, Jeremiah's heartfelt lament gave us pause to think about how we deal with grief, how we accompany those who face the valley of the shadow of death as David called it in Psalm 23. People need time to be in grief; they cannot and should not be rushed out of it. There is a time in the process of grief work when people must be allowed to sit with their pain, acknowledge it, and own it. To try to rush someone around or over grief will simply leave those emotions unresolved or buried, to resurface unexpectedly and painfully. Like the old camp chant about the bear hunt goes, when we're coming to short grass, or tall grass, or woods, or a river, "You can't go over it, you can't go under it, you can't go around it, you've got to go through it."
In the midst of our grieving over any loss, small or large, God will minister to us, offering us consolation, filling us with hope, reminding us that ours is a God who conquers death and promises life. Some people I know have been encouraged by signs in nature -- a bird or a butterfly that is not where it should be. At a wedding I conducted several years ago, the bride and groom released monarch butterflies as a symbol of life. One of the butterflies, once freed, never left the bride's side. In fact, when all the others had flown away, it remained on her bouquet for nearly the whole reception. She and her mother saw in that butterfly the presence of the bride's father who had died in an accident years before.
In Jeremiah's case, the symbol of life comes in the unusual yet quite demonstrative command -- "buy your cousin's field." Isn't it ironic that today, most recently widowed women and men are counseled against selling or buying property for at least a year after their spouse's death?
As we accompany others through times of loss and grief, God may guide to specific actions that can convey godly consolation. God will prompt us to speak words that offer hope God gives us the privilege of "buying a field in Anathoth" the response-ability of speaking the words and carrying out the actions that point hurting hearts to the promises of God.
Suffering is a reality of human existence. But God promises that our suffering will not be in vain. God also promises that we will not be alone in our suffering. Jesus, the very presence of God, has made suffering a holy and redemptive path through his willingness to embrace the cross. In raising Jesus from death, God promises that all who are joined to him in baptism will pass from death to life as well. We who trust these promises live as people who can venture, who can risk, who can "buy a field in Anathoth" for the sake of the brokenhearted.
I would encourage those preaching on this text to describe some specific ways that the people of their own faith community are witnessing to God's faithfulness by "buying a field in Anathoth" in their neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, towns, and cities.
May you discover the opportunities into which God leads you where you can accompany grieving, hurting people on their journey to hope and health. And may you discern well the privilege God will give you to "buy a field in Anathoth" ... and not hesitate to do it.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Let me set the stage with some history here. Jeremiah began prophesying while Josiah was king over Judah in about 627 BC. Although Josiah's efforts to put an end to idol worship and to shape the nation's values and practices around the Deuteronomic law were only moderately successful, he died while trying to keep Egypt from teaming with Assyria against Babylon. Judah became a vassal nation in 609 BC. As a series of kings ruled and were overthrown or assassinated in Jerusalem, a power shift resulted in Assyria taking control of Judah's destiny in about 605 BC. Jeremiah's visit to the potter and his expressed grief over Judah likely took place at about this time.
Jehoiakim ruled in Judah for several years providing some internal stability, but Babylon was quietly gaining strength. In 598 Jehoiakim died, and while his son, Jehoiachin, was still acclimating to the role, King Nebuchadrezzer of Babylon invaded Jerusalem. Nebuchadrezzer looted the temple and treasury, and took Jehoiachin and the queen mother into custody, but did not destroy the temple or the city at that time. Zedekiah (the uncle of Jehoiachin) was left to rule Judah as a puppet king, whose strings were orchestrated by Babylon.
Jeremiah began to preach more intentionally about the fall of Judah, warning that the Judeans would live in exile for seventy years. Because Jeremiah continued to call the people of Judah to faithfully serve and worship Yahweh, it appears that King Josiah's reforms were not sustained after his death. Despite so many of his prophecies coming to pass, Jeremiah's message is not received well or embraced. Zedekiah has Jeremiah imprisoned in the palace jail. After all, the great prophet Isaiah, speaking more than 100 years before, had promised that that the temple and the city of Jerusalem would remain and not fall into the hands of the enemy. When King Zedekiah begins to trust that word more than Jeremiah's, he becomes restless and tries to lead an overthrow of Babylon.
As a result of the king's attempted coup, the Babylonian army is knocking at the door. Jeremiah, confined in the palace, and King Zedekiah is questioning Jeremiah's loyalty because of his prophecies of doom.
Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours." Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
-- Jeremiah 32:6-8
As the city is about to be destroyed and Jeremiah apparently will be spirited away to relative safety in Egypt, he does something amazing. He buys a field in his hometown of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, just south of Jerusalem. Jeremiah buys the field in order to keep its possession in the family.
Jeremiah's very public action of buying this property, knowing that he will not step foot on it for many years, demonstrates the continual rhythm of loss and restoration that characterizes Jeremiah's prophecies at this point in Judah's history. Where prior to this, Jeremiah's message was almost totally one of gloom and doom, now he speaks of exile, but weaves into this dire prophecy the promise that someday, Judah will return to their homeland. Jeremiah is so sure of it that he puts his money where his mouth is! His prophesying has begun to morph into a message of consolation. He does not backpedal from the grievous period ahead that Judah faces. In fact, he has already written to the people of Judah now living in exile to Babylon, urging them to put down roots there:
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
-- Jeremiah 29:4-7
Can you hear the consolation in these words? God is saying to God's people, "I have not forgotten you; I am still watching out for you. I will bless your sons and daughters with wives and husbands and children. And I will hear you when you pray for this place that is your home right now -- as I bless it, you will be blessed."
Perhaps you can hear God's pledge of faithfulness even more clearly in these words:
For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
-- Jeremiah 29:11-14
Although God's people have given their worship to idols rather than to God, although they have put their trust in treaties with enemies rather than in the Lord of hosts, although they have for all intents and purposes abandoned God, God has not abandoned them. And when the hours and days and years are darkest, the word of the Lord that comes to prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel and others is a word of consolation. The word these prophets are given by God to speak is a word of hope. Jeremiah demonstrates his trust in this promise of hope by buying land and securing its deed in an earthenware jar that will keep it safe over the years until he or other family members return to reclaim it.
These words are not merely Jeremiah's attempt to appease King Zedekiah! In chapter 32 alone, the phrases, "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord" and "Thus says the Lord" are recorded no less than seven times in a mere fifteen verses (Jeremiah 32:1-15). These are the prophet's way of indicating that this word surely comes from the Lord. As surely as the people of God now grieve and suffer loss, they will someday know joy again.
Last week, Jeremiah's heartfelt lament gave us pause to think about how we deal with grief, how we accompany those who face the valley of the shadow of death as David called it in Psalm 23. People need time to be in grief; they cannot and should not be rushed out of it. There is a time in the process of grief work when people must be allowed to sit with their pain, acknowledge it, and own it. To try to rush someone around or over grief will simply leave those emotions unresolved or buried, to resurface unexpectedly and painfully. Like the old camp chant about the bear hunt goes, when we're coming to short grass, or tall grass, or woods, or a river, "You can't go over it, you can't go under it, you can't go around it, you've got to go through it."
In the midst of our grieving over any loss, small or large, God will minister to us, offering us consolation, filling us with hope, reminding us that ours is a God who conquers death and promises life. Some people I know have been encouraged by signs in nature -- a bird or a butterfly that is not where it should be. At a wedding I conducted several years ago, the bride and groom released monarch butterflies as a symbol of life. One of the butterflies, once freed, never left the bride's side. In fact, when all the others had flown away, it remained on her bouquet for nearly the whole reception. She and her mother saw in that butterfly the presence of the bride's father who had died in an accident years before.
In Jeremiah's case, the symbol of life comes in the unusual yet quite demonstrative command -- "buy your cousin's field." Isn't it ironic that today, most recently widowed women and men are counseled against selling or buying property for at least a year after their spouse's death?
As we accompany others through times of loss and grief, God may guide to specific actions that can convey godly consolation. God will prompt us to speak words that offer hope God gives us the privilege of "buying a field in Anathoth" the response-ability of speaking the words and carrying out the actions that point hurting hearts to the promises of God.
Suffering is a reality of human existence. But God promises that our suffering will not be in vain. God also promises that we will not be alone in our suffering. Jesus, the very presence of God, has made suffering a holy and redemptive path through his willingness to embrace the cross. In raising Jesus from death, God promises that all who are joined to him in baptism will pass from death to life as well. We who trust these promises live as people who can venture, who can risk, who can "buy a field in Anathoth" for the sake of the brokenhearted.
I would encourage those preaching on this text to describe some specific ways that the people of their own faith community are witnessing to God's faithfulness by "buying a field in Anathoth" in their neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, towns, and cities.
May you discover the opportunities into which God leads you where you can accompany grieving, hurting people on their journey to hope and health. And may you discern well the privilege God will give you to "buy a field in Anathoth" ... and not hesitate to do it.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
