“God’s word to us, or not?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Sunday, October 9, 2022
Jeremiah 29:1,4-7 (Forward, p. 72) CEV p. 798
Today’s passage really presents us with a profound and unsettling dilemma, and just one that is of peripheral, but of serious importance. Bible scholars and experts repeatedly tell us that we should not take passages that have as their original setting a far-off time and place as also applying to us today. Today’s reading records a small portion of a letter that the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiled Jewish people who were still living in Babylon.
He tells them to build houses and live in them, to plant gardens and enjoy their produce, and to marry, both they and their children, have offspring. Furthermore, he tells them to work for the good of the cities where they live and to pray on their behalf. “If they prosper,” he says, “you will as well.”
Experience tells me that many people would ‘love’ to take these words of Jeremiah as also applying to them. Indeed, I suspect that many people have. But, in light of the expert opinions about how to approach and make use of the Scriptures, is this really valid?
Well, possibly so. While our time and place are radically different, there is a sense that we, as Christians, are aliens and strangers to this present world, that we are residents of another kingdom, that of heaven. And so, in one sense, we are exiles living in a strange land. So, maybe, without stretching Jeremiah’s word too much, there is a sense that they do actually apply to us. Indeed, I think that we should work, and pray for, the good of the communities in which we live and seek to build them up.
That does not mean, however, that we try to fit in with the morals and lifestyles of the societies in which we live and try to follow them. As citizens of heaven we have a distinct and superior lifestyle that we try our level best to adhere to, the lifestyle that befits followers and friends of Jesus Christ, one that we try to live out in obedience to Him and with His great help and grace. Amen.
Forward notes: “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” (verse 7).
“Early in my career, my wife and I moved four times in ten years: Georgia to Louisiana, Louisiana to Texas, Texas to New York, New York to Minnesota. While we certainly were not in exile, we must have intuited Jeremiah’s good advice because we became citizens of wherever we moved, and we worked for the welfare of the places we lived. Along with finding work, my wife became familiar with our new locations; together, we located and joined Episcopal churches, and we volunteered and registered to vote. Because museums and cultural centers have always drawn us, we joined when we could or simply frequented programs and exhibits that interested us. We believed that our happiness in each new location came because we cared about where we were—not looking for the next move but making the most of where we were.”
MOVING FORWARD: “There’s a saying: ‘Bloom where you are planted. How do the words of Jeremiah fit within that context? How might you seek the welfare of the place where you live?”