Living. Caring. Seeking.

Jeremiah 29.1-2, 4-7

Section 1 – The Biblical Text
We find ourselves today in the middle of the book of Jeremiah. Our lection is a letter to the exiles from Jeremiah after the last of Judah’s royalty had been deported from Babylon. You remember that God’s chosen people have been divided into two kingdoms – Israel and Judah. Israel was weak and troubled and disappeared into the much stronger Babylonian Empire. Judah was stronger than Israel, but also unable to defend itself against the Babylonian threat.

Jeremiah was a prophet, someone who spoke to the people for God. He had been telling everyone, the king, the priests, the people that Judah would be destroyed if they did not reform their ways. Rather than listen to him, the king and the priests banned Jeremiah from the court and the Temple. But he was willing to try anything to get the message out. So, he wrote all of it down, every oracle and prophecy he had ever made and he sent the scroll to the king. The king didn’t want to believe the scroll and he didn’t want anyone else to read it, so as he read each section, he tore it off and burned it. With that, all of the oracles of Jeremiah were gone…except that they were still in Jeremiah’s head. So he wrote them again. He dictated all of the oracles for Judah onto a scroll and his scribe wrote them down, which is how the book of Jeremiah is supposed to have come into existence.

While Jeremiah was speaking on behalf of God, there were other people in Judah claiming to be prophets who were spreading lies. They were telling the Judeans that everything was going to be just fine. Even though the threat of war was clearly building, they were telling the people that peace was coming, and that they should keep doing what they had been doing. The false prophets gave Israel more rituals to do so that they could busy themselves instead of giving God what God desired, a loyal and obedient heart so that the covenant promises could be fulfilled.[1] The Judeans were looking for a quick fix. They trusted in things like the Ark, the rite of circumcision, the Temple, and the Torah, instead of trusting God, and the false prophets encouraged them.

Jeremiah, on the other hand, was not willing to tell anyone what they wanted to hear. He was only willing to tell everyone what God said, but no one wanted to hear it. They didn’t want to hear that they were being complacent toward God. They didn’t want to hear that they were basically using God – doing whatever they wanted, even stuff they knew God didn’t like, and then offering sacrifices or confession or worship as if to make amends.

Finally God decided to exercise judgment on the people of Judah. God decided to humble them in the face of their military foe, Babylon. It wasn’t that God was punishing the people of Judah. It was more like, because of their disobedience, God was withdrawing from the rebellious people, leaving them to face the Babylonians alone and suffer the destructive consequences of their own actions and attitudes.[2]

So, just as Jeremiah had prophesied, the people of Judah were defeated by the Babylonian army. Not only were they conquered and subjugated, but also they were deported from the Promised Land. The people of Judah were made to leave the only country they had known, the place where they had been born and had grown up. They were made to leave the place where they had attended school and the Temple. The Judeans were forcibly removed from their land and forced over the border into the foreign land of Babylon.

They had been told by so many false prophets for so long that this would never happen, that they could not believe it when it did. Even as the Babylonians were forcing the Judeans to migrate across the Arabian Peninsula, they refused to believe that it would be a permanent move. The people swore by their desire to return home and hoped in the false prophets of the land, but still they were ushered east to Babylon.

Once they got to the land, the people of Judah still refused to believe that they would stay their long. They refused to build houses. Their ancestors had wandered for forty years in tents and God had provided for them, they reasoned that surely God would do the same for them. They thought that God would not leave them in exile. God would not allow them to continue to feel such uncertainty. The people of Judah were certain that God would come and rescue them from the mess they had made and take them back to their land. They wouldn’t have to feel like an outsider or a stranger any longer. They wouldn’t have to feel like they didn’t know where their lives were going or like everything was always unsettled. God would come, they felt certain, and lead them back to the Promised Land.

But the people were deported and the priests and the prophets and eventually the king and the leaders were sent to Babylon. And all of the people of Judah were taken to Babylon like a kindergarten class on a field trip lost in a museum. They didn’t know the land, or how to get back to the land they knew. They had no direction. Their leaders had no power. They had only one another and instability to cling to.

Section 2 – Our World
Our lives feel all too much like exile. It feels like we are being forcibly moved from one place to another by our schedules or by the time eroding from our lives. One week bleeds one into the next. Our work load builds like a tsunami wave continually rising only to crash upon us imminently. Just when we get settled in one land, the circumstances change and we are unsettled and feel lost and strange. The assurance and confidence of eighth grade give way to harder class work and uncertainty about friends and unfamiliarity of a new school in High School. The spontaneity and freedom of youth give way to work and schedules and having kids and their schedules. The routine and identity of work give away into the uncharted territory of retirement. Just when we get settled into life, it seems that some change deports us from our comfort into chaos.

Section 3 – The Good News of God’s Presence and Purpose
Jeremiah recognized the plight of the people of Judah. He could see what they were trying to do and he could understand why. They were making do in Babylon hoping that things would change, hoping that they would soon be back in their land. Then they would live their lives.
But Jeremiah insisted that their time in Babylon was not going to be a temporary sojourn. They were going to be there for seventy years, according to his prophecy. Seventy years was longer than the average life span. If the people did not live their lives now, they would not have lives to live. They couldn’t wait for something better. They couldn’t outlast God. So, Jeremiah instructed them to create their lives in Babylon. Marry, have children, encourage your children to marry, he said. And, he told them to seek the welfare of the city. That is, he told them to seek the peace, the health, the livelihood of the city. Not only were the Judeans not supposed to put things on hold, but also they were supposed to live so fully that their lives would be intertwined with the life of the city of their exile. Babylon was not just going to be some place they stayed for awhile. It was their city now. It was their home, and Jeremiah encouraged them to live their lives in a way that reflected that.

In the exile, God had actually given Judah an opportunity, a chance to change their ways, not just to remain stuck in their old ways. Jeremiah’s urging for them to build their lives was not to build them as they had been, but to build them anew. Even though their lives felt like chaos, God had given them a fresh start and Jeremiah was urging them to use it. Jeremiah recognized the crisis of the exile as an opportunity for the people of God to turn back toward God, to get reacquainted with the God who did not allow them fade into non-existence, but sustained them in the exile.

Section 4 – The Good News in Our World
All too often we put things on hold waiting for a better day or a better deal or a better time. We bear down and wait for things to change, to get better, to be easier. But Jeremiah encouraged the people of Judah, and us, not to wait. He urges us to live for today.
Now Jeremiah was not intending unabashed hedonism. He did not intend for the people of Judah or for us to live life recklessly looking toward no tomorrow. But neither did he intend for the people of Judah to wait to live until it was more convenient. Our lives are given as gifts of God not just to make do, but to live. And lest we debate what he meant by living, Jeremiah spelled it out for us. We are to care for one another, our friends and family. And we are to seek the well-being of the city, that is seek the well-being of people outside of our circle of friends. And we are to seek to have a relationship with God.

We can’t live our lives waiting for the chaos to be over because it will not end. We cannot live our lives in spite of the chaos because the chaos will overtake us. Instead, we must learn, with God’s help, to live in the midst of the chaos. Like the Judeans, that is where our lives are and that how we can glorify God.

God does not create chaos or tear apart our lives capriciously or arbitrarily. God does not wreak havoc impulsively or out of malice. But in the havoc we seek with our recalcitrance, God gives us an opportunity to seek peace and to live our lives go God’s Glory.
[1] p357
[2] p359

Pastor Appreciation Month

Luke 17.1-10

Did you know that October is national Pastor Appreciation Month? No? Well, apparently it is. It is also national Crime Prevention Month, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National Chili Month, National Apple Month, National Pretzel Month, National Pork Month, National Physical Therapy Month, National Occupational Therapy Month, National Children’s Health Month, National Pizza Month, National Arts and Humanities Month, National Rodent Prevention Month, National Cruise Vacation Month, National Stamp Collecting Month, National Seafood Month, and National Dental Hygiene Month, just to name a few.

It’s sort of odd. Where did the idea ever come from? There are the ones that are trying to raise awareness in order to affect change, like National Crime Prevention Month and National Rat Prevention Month. There are others that are trying to sell something. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that National Cruise Vacation Month comes at the end of Hurricane season and before the holiday rush. Then there are the ones that appear to be celebrating like National Physical and Occupational Therapy Months, National Stamp Collecting Month, and National Pretzel Month.

But how did National Pastor Appreciation Month make the cut? Surely it’s not raising awareness for prevention, nor trying to sell us something, I would hope. If it were trying to get people to consider being a Pastor, I could understand that, but it seems to be a celebration and I just don’t remember Jesus saying a thing in favor of that. There was no ‘Love the lord your god with all your heart, mind and soul; Love your neighbor as yourself; and applaud one another for being good disciples.’ In fact, in this week’s lection, he says something else entirely.

In chapter sixteen, we’re told that Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees about the law and the kingdom of God and about love of wealth. Then, as chapter seventeen begins we are told that Jesus turned to his disciples and began to instruct them. It seems like sort of a laundry list at first. The sayings have to do with sinning, forgiveness, faith, and service. It looks like four almost unrelated subjects like the editor just threw is some odds and ends with which he didn’t know what else to do, but they sort of build on one another.

First he tells his disciples to not lead anyone else into sin. He says that “occasions for stumbling are bound to come” (v1). One cannot live so hidden away that there is no temptation to do things that should not be done. Even a hermit living by himself in a cave carved out of the side of a hill, without human contact or the draw of consumer goods, can stumble. He can lie to himself about his motivations for living in a cave or indulge his weakness for guilt. Certainly in a community occasions for sin arise. Whether it is laziness or greed or lust or gluttony, opportunities to sin are around and generally close at hand. But, Jesus said, we should not create these opportunities for one another. We do not need to help each other to find stumbling blocks. That means no goading and no peer pressure. No, “c’mon how bad can it be,” and no, “everybody’s doing it,” and no, “it’s not that big of a deal, just give it a try.” Now these sound like childish taunts, but they arise from adult throats plenty. Perhaps they are dressed in more sophisticated phrases, but adults offer them to one another regularly. And we shouldn’t because offering someone a road map to a stumbling block is far worse, according to Jesus, than just finding the stumbling block on our own.

That leads us to the next bit in verse three where Jesus tells the disciples that if they see another person stumbling, if someone is sinning, they should go to that person and rebuke him or her. Suddenly the disciples are sounding like the wet blanket at the party. First they are not participating in the stumbling of others and then they are calling people out on their stumbling. That’s a tough order. Stopping something that isn’t right and telling someone that they are hurting themselves or the community are difficult things to do. It is difficult to stop something that isn’t right once it has begun. And what’s more the rebuking goes hand in hand with forgiving. “If another disciple sins,” Jesus said, “you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive.”

Jesus told them that if a person repents of their sin, the disciples should forgive that person, even if the person does the same thing all day long. As long as the person repents, that is as long as the person recognizes that what they have done is wrong and acknowledges it, then they should be forgiven repeatedly. That goes for the person at work that offends you and the little brother that drives you crazy. No matter who it is, even if they ought to know better, if a person sins against you and then repents you should forgive them seven times.

By this point the disciples were feeling pretty overwhelmed. They were to watch that they didn’t do something wrong and make sure they didn’t help anyone else to do anything wrong. But if wrong was done and repentance was made, then they were supposed to forgive until the cows came home. They were feeling the pressure of all of these directives. Not sinning was hard enough, but then forgiving as well? How could they possibly live up to this tall order and please God? There was no way, at least not as they were.

The disciples hadn’t really gotten good at being faithful. They felt like if they were just better at it, all of this would be easier. Surely once you’re really good at faith you’re not longer drawn to sin and forgiving the same person all day is easy. Their minds were whirring with their ineptitude and the crush of the demands upon them so they cried out to Jesus, “Increase our Faith!” (v5). That was it. That was the answer to doing it all. How brilliant they were to think of that. Jesus would love that answer and they felt like it would really help them to do everything they needed to do in order to be faithful enough to please God.

Their pride was short lived.

There are two kinds of “if” statements in Koine/biblical Greek. There is one that is asked with the expectation that the answer is ‘negative’ and another that is asked with the expectation that the answer is ‘affirmative’. In this case, Jesus asked the question in the affirmative style. It is as if when he says, “If only you had even a very little bit of faith,” Jesus then implies “[and you have]” (v6). He’s telling the disciples that though they may not see it the faith they have is enough. That is all the faith they need to do the things that God has asked them to do. And what’s more, it was presumptuous of them to ask for more faith. That’s what brings us to the parable.

In Luke, when Jesus tells the disciples a parable, he often draws them into the story. Luke uses the phrase, “who among you” as if what Jesus is about to explain is so common and universal that not one of the disciples would disagree about how he would react. In this case, Jesus says, “Which one of you,” or ‘Who among you, if you had hired someone to do a job, and if the person worked all day but the job was not complete, who among you would say go ahead, don’t worry about the rest?’ It’s a leading question. Of course no one would dismiss a person who has done only half the job he was asked to do. Jesus continues saying, ‘Wouldn’t you tell the person to come and finish the work? and that he could have leisure time later.’ Of course the disciples would ask the person to finish the work that was expected.

Then Jesus shifted the story. Whereas he had encouraged the disciples to relate to the person demanding the work, now he asks them to relate to the worker. ‘And wouldn’t you,’ he asks, ‘expect to do the work you were asked to do and with out thanks or reward?’ And they would. They had worked, the disciples had, and no one had praised the fishermen for bringing in their catch. They had worked hard and hauled in a catch, but no one stood over them and told them to rest when the catch was half in or rewarded them with a party when the boats were full. They did the work that was expected of them because it was expected. They would not do the work in order to make something of themselves in their own eyes, the eyes of the community, or in God’s eyes.

Jesus was telling them that discipleship is hard work and work that does not end. It is work that is not above and beyond our usual lives. We don’t commit acts of discipleship in addition to what we do and how we live our lives. Once we, the disciples, start thinking that our discipleship is something above and beyond, something from which we deserve a rest, we elevate ourselves. We confuse ourselves into believing that we deserve certain things like rest and appreciation. It’s hubris.

If we concentrate on ourselves we start to think that we deserve God’s grace and we don’t. Because even if we are able to live up to this tall order of discipleship and even if we are not the one who has to be forgiven seven times in one day for the same thing, even if we repent and forgive, we do not deserve an ounce of God’s Grace.

There is not disciple appreciation month, there should be no pastor appreciation month because our service, all of our service no matter how grand or sweeping an action it is, no matter how time-consuming or tiring, our action is not more that we ought to be doing. There is no correlation between our work or how much faith we have and the amount of grace we are given. None, because God’s grace is far beyond anything we deserve.

We are invited to the table, with the rest of humanity. We are invited with the hard workers and the lazy ones. We are invited with the faithful and faithless. We are invited with the forgiving and the forgiven. We are invited because of nothing we did or did not do. We are invited to the table by the invitation of Jesus Christ our Lord, who has laid out the table for us with a bounty of bread to sustain us and the overflowing cup of grace.