Scripture Text (NRSV)
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
32:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of
Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
32:2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the
prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king
of Judah,
32:3a where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him.
32:6 Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me:
32:7 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."
32:8 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.
32:9 And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the
money to him, seventeen shekels of silver.
32:10 I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales.
32:11 Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and
the open copy;
32:12 and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the
presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of
purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the
guard.
32:13 In their presence I charged Baruch, saying,
32:14 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this
sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order
that they may last for a long time.
32:15 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and
vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
Comments:
n the year before Israel fell to the Babylonians, while the attack had
already begun, Jeremiah was prisoner in the palace of the king. He arranged to
purchase a tract of land to express hope in God's ultimate restoration of Israel
after the tragedy of the exile.
Could Lazarus have imagined, as he lay at the gate of the rich man, starving and with wounds licked by dogs, a time of mercy and comfort? One wonders if the prophet in this passage could imagine a time of renewal. The king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem; Jeremiah himself was confined in the palace. Nevertheless, the prophet obeys the command of God and buys a piece of property, a symbolic act demonstrating that God will provide a future for Judah.
amazing!
Jeremiah's faith in God is not just wishful thinking. He invests in a dead end because of his faith in God. He puts his shekels where his faith is.
How can the church do something as "insane" as this prophet? Which dead-ends can we invest in because of our faith in Christ?
Storyteller
AS we look to the future of uncertainty I wonder how much "deep hope" is still left in people? When all the other 'stuff of life' fails us we finally come around to re-discovering that God is the one who we really can place our hope.
The challenge is become like Jeremiah. I have always known that there was something 'out there left for me to do' I cling to the hope someday to complete the task God has in store, and recieve the ultimate gift, then.
Pastor in KS
I love this passage! I meant to preach on the gospel and the jeremiah, weaving themes of godly investing. Ended up preaching away on this passage. I'm going to show a picture of war torn Iraq and ask if anyone wants to buy this piece of land in Fallujah.
Jeremiah wasn't investing, as we might in real estate, he was redeeming according to the property laws in Leviticus (25:25ff) Those laws, (we rarely look to the minutae of Leviticus for guidance on our daily Christian walk!) are provisions by God for justice and freedom from oppression. They show us the kind of just, redeeming God God is.
A man in prison is asked to buy a piece of occupied destroyed land. He will never see the land. No one in his generation will inhabit it and make good on it. Ridiculous. Foolish. Outrageous. This kind of act of hope is what is required of us -- to invest in hope, to invest in the kingdom, to invest in justice.
The real challenge is to make it practical, not just theoretical. How to invest in hope on a personal basis, or a daily basis? What would my congregation do to invest in hope? I wonder if all our decisions are this decision in a sense. Where will I work? How much will I give? With whom will I sit? For whom shall I vote?
Jeremiah was performig a prophetic act. In a world that is war torn, occupied, and weary what can we do as Christians to show that God has already redeemed the world? What kind of prophetic acts does God call us to do today to show the world that there is hope, hope for peace, hope for justice, hope for life? How do we help our congregations to participate in these types of prophetic acts?
Carlie
The thing that really strikes me about this passage is the fact that the narrative it records takes place BEFORE 2 Chronicles 36 and the 70 year "Sabbath Rest" for the land. Even while God is foretelling judgment on his people for their disobedience (read no farther than even the rest of the chapter) he is promising deliverance. As Paul said, NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. I thank God for his unfathomable mercy! What many in our culture, indeed, even the church, seem to fail to grasp is that even God's judgment and discipline are a form of mercy, drawing us back to himself. And when we finally do, we have a "field at Anathoth" to return to, even if it is 70 years later. Thanks be to God!
I'm sooo glad that others are feeling called to preach the hope found in Jeremiah's purchase! My first response to this reading was "What kind of nut would buy a piece of mangled property while being held a prisoner, and not knowing when or even if, he'd ever see it again???" Some might ask my small (and diminishing) congregation why they'd spend thousands of dollars on a new roof for a church that may not even be open in 10 years? This little congregation needs to hear God's promise of restoration, they need hope! Say more, you all!....KO in SC
Putting your money where your heart is...
Faith begets trust; trust begets hope; hope transcends fear. On its own, faith is static; trust is faith in action...and when faith is put into action through trust, it brings hope in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Have a great worship time this weekend...preach with passion!
Pastor Tom in PA
This text might be a chance to take the proverbial advice of Karl Barth and put it to use: "Preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other." Surely, the Saturday or Sunday paper will have enough "bad news and dead ends" that it will make the point as to the uncertainty of earthly assets and the necessity of heavenly hope (thus connecting witht he reading from 1 Timothy 6, too).
One could even take a chance here: opening a completely fresh paper whose headlines one has not yet read. Then connect the "dead ends and bad news" to Jeremiah's story.
A possible outline:
(from Keeping Holy Time)
-the bad news
(Babylonians at the door, Jeremiah in jail)
-the strange news
(buying the land, sealing the deed)
-the good news
(God not finished w/Israel yet -- God's ways would yet be made known)
-how would we like to change some small piece of
today's headlines?
-do something ridiculous, foolhardy for God
that declares to the world where our trust lies
TK in OK
By the way, there was another investment in the future that didn't seem to make much sense. God "sealed a deed" and put it in a "clay pot" in order to show that a new day would come for a world that was "under siege." Jesus Christ is God's investment in each of our future's and, indeed, the future of the entire planet.
I like Jeremiah's plan here. Being a prophet was thankless work--speaking God's word to people who desperately needed to hear it but passionately did not want to hear it. So, knowing the "deal was sealed," that Babylonian invasion could not be stopped, Jeremiah bought the land, trusting that it would show his faith. But he also wanted to make sure that, when that "new day" arrived, someone would take note, so he had the deeds (one to keep and one to read) put in a stone jar that would outlast Israel's disaster.
TK in OK
I am toying with the idea that just as Jeremiah put his faith in God in the future by buying this piece of land, so we put our trust in God by accepting in faith what Jesus has "bought" for us in eternity. Does this make sense?
WR in LA
I am having a dialogue sermon. I have a financial planner in my congregation. I am first going to ask him about general principles in planning for the future. Then we're going to talk about Jeremiah's land deal. I'm going to ask him, apart from faith, what kind of deal was this? It's something like near the end of the Civil War, someone offers you a great deal on Confederate War Bonds! What a deal!
Even though it appears that Jeremiah is a bit sore at God for causing him to appear foolish (see ahead in the chapter a few verses) he finally gets it: the present reality is not the ultimate reality. God has the future, not the Babylonians.
What a commitment of faith! Jerusalem is about to fall to the Babylonians. Jeremiah will never see the promise that God compels him to share. Jeremiah ends up being a refugee in Egypt, and dies there. He never makes it back to Judah.
What is impossible in your life? Ie, what is your present reality? What does God have to say about it? God holds the future. From the perspective of eternity (God's perspective) any suffering is only a brief moment. My present reality is not the ultimate reality.
---Pastor David in Ohio (the north coast)
