Jr 32:1-15

30 September 2001

 

“Bad News and Good News”

 

Have you ever known anyone who always looks at the dark side of things?  Who always seems able to see things in the worst possible way?  Someone who, when he or she has any news to report, always seems to have bad news?

For many of his fellow inhabitants of Judah, our friend Jeremiah the prophet is just such a person.  You can just hear them talking about him:  “He keeps reminding us how sinful and corrupt we are.  Doesn’t he know any other song?  Can’t he just say something nice?  Is everything really that bad?”

One thing we should bear in mind about Jeremiah is how deeply he hurts for his people.  Because of their unfaithfulness, they’ve lost their way.  In addition, they face the very real threat of being conquered.  That would be enough to make anyone depressed.  It's not for nothing that he's often called "the weeping prophet."

Still, it's not like Jeremiah enjoys being so gloomy!  In fact, at times he gets very angry with God for calling him to this dreary ministry.  He tells God, “Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail” (15:18).  On another occasion, he goes even further:  “O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.  I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.  For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, ‘Violence and destruction!’  For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long” (20:7-8).

We get the sense from these scriptures that Jeremiah is considered by many of his fellow citizens to be little more than a clown, a buffoon.  It’s probably similar to the reaction today when we see characters walking around in long robes and holding signs that proclaim the end of the world.

This reminds me of an incident I had while driving through downtown Nashville a few years ago.  At a busy intersection, a bearded man wearing¼yes, a long robe, was poised atop a concrete traffic island.  From that position he was protected from being struck by traffic, while at the same time being quite visible.  And he, too, was holding up a big sign for all the world to see, although his message was one I hadn’t yet encountered:  “Repent in the raw.”  Underneath that rather unusual command was written the name of the group which apparently was practicing this particular lifestyle:  “Nudist Christians.”  And below that, with no other comment, was a telephone number.  I have to admit—I was tempted to jot down that number and pose as a potential convert.  (And by the way, I actually am glad that the guy was wearing a long robe!)

Being considered an oddball doesn’t do much to give Jeremiah respect, but there’s another aspect of his message that really gets him in trouble.  The first five verses of today’s Old Testament reading show us that.  With the international situation worsening, it appears more and more likely that the Babylonians will in fact invade Jerusalem.

But instead of calling for resistance to the occupying army, Jeremiah says that the only thing to do is to surrender.  There’s no way that tiny Judah will hold out against the powerful Babylonians.  We have betrayed our God, Yahweh, and there will be no divine intervention.  The prophet says that the Babylonians should be seen as punishment for our love of wickedness and injustice—our own actions have brought this on us.

Now, to ears that are expecting to hear divine approval for fighting the invaders, Jeremiah’s words sound like treason.  Whose side is he on, anyway?  And as a result, we find the prophet put behind lock and key.  Verse 2 says that he’s been “confined in the court of the guard” in the king’s palace.

So, to put it mildly, things aren’t going well.  Being locked up in jail while the city of Jerusalem is under siege is not a pleasant fate.  It seems that all of Jeremiah’s dire predictions are coming true.  The bad news that he’s been announcing is coming to pass.

But when it looks like things are hitting rock bottom, something happens to dramatically change Jeremiah’s tune.  He really does end up singing a different song!  What happens is that, in accordance to what God has already told him, his cousin Hanamel visits him and asks him to buy a field belonging to the family.  This field is in Jeremiah’s home town of Anathoth.  Specifically, Hanamel is appealing to the law stated in Leviticus 25:25 which says that land should stay in the family.  “If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property,” Leviticus reads, “then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold.”

Has Hanamel fallen into debt?  Or has he looked into his crystal ball and decided that, with the Babylonians taking over, he’ll get out while the getting’s good?  We don’t know what’s going on with him, but we do know what’s going on with his cousin, Jeremiah, who calls in his associate, Baruch, to help set up the deal.

By choosing to redeem the property, to purchase the field, the prophet is making a powerful statement.  He doesn’t know how it will happen, but he’s trusting what Yahweh has said, that “[h]ouses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (v. 15).  Why is this so important?

Try to imagine yourself living during his time.  People are afraid.  (Actually, considering recent events, this doesn’t take much imagination.)  The neighborhood bully, in the person of Nebuchadrezzar, is pounding on the door.  The king and his officials are talking tough, but it’s easy to see that they have little to back it up.  The people of Judah are facing the end of life as they’ve known it.  The unthinkable now has become thinkable—the temple actually could be destroyed.  Even the attack on the World Trade Center, as shocking as that was, doesn't compare to this.  With the destruction of the temple and the beginning of the exile, all aspects of Jewish life would be forever changed.

But Jeremiah, by purchasing the land, is making a statement of trust in God.  With his leap of faith, he’s expressing a trust in the future.  The present time does nothing to inspire trust—in many different ways, public and private, their world is coming to an end.  But despite the devastation, his faith tells him that there is a future, and that a new world will come into being.

So the guy who was mocked and criticized for his gloomy speeches is now saying and doing things that point to a brighter future.  Now that things are about to hit rock bottom, it seems that the only way is up!