Sermon – Jeremiah 29:1-14 – Biblical Transitions: Exile

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Jeremiah 29:1-14 – Biblical Transitions: Exile

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches

January 18, 2015

I am continuing today with our look at biblical transitions. The purpose of this series of sermons is to look at what God says to people who are experiencing transitions in their lives so that we may obtain wisdom for dealing with our own transitions. This will help to prepare us as we face our own transitions in our own lives.

Two weeks ago we saw that the people of God were transitioning from the wilderness to living in the Promised Land. God gave them a written record of the instructions for life that he had communicated to Moses and then told them to be bold and courageous, remember that God is always with you, and have no fear. Then last week we saw that the Jews, who were the earliest followers of Jesus, were concerned when they were no longer able to go to the temple in Jerusalem to see a priest for the sacrament of sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. The author of Hebrews told them that their High Priest was now Jesus Christ who had experienced their joys and concerns as a human and now, as our ascended Lord, communicates our prayers to God. Today we will be looking at a third biblical transition as the people of God are taken into exile in Babylon. But before we get to this please pray with me.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)

Jerusalem was in trouble. The last king had formed an alliance with Egypt betting on their protection in a volatile situation. But he lost the bet. Now Babylon was the undisputed power in the region. The new king, just 18 years old and on the throne for just three months had an important decision to make. He knew that Jerusalem could not resist the massive army coming his way. But his prophets were telling him not to worry because God would protect them as God always had in the past. Only the prophet Jeremiah saw what was really happening, that the people had turned away from God. He told them that this time God’s protection would be removed.

God had decided that his people should experience a time of exile. So in 597BC God enabled King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to besiege the city of Jerusalem and carry off to exile the king, his family, all his wealth, the government officials and anyone who could contribute to Babylonian society. Left behind were the poor, the needy, the widows, the orphans, the disabled, the mentally ill and anyone Babylon did not want. The prophet Jeremiah, who had forecasted all of this, remained behind in the city. He then wrote a letter to the exiles in Babylon. Here is what he said.

Jeremiah 29:1-14 ^NRS Jeremiah 29:1 These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. ³ The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

It said: ⁴ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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.

⁸ For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, ⁹ for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.

¹⁰ For thus says the LORD: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

¹¹ 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. ¹² Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. ¹³ When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, ¹⁴ 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 made it clear in his letter that it was coming directly from God. This was important to the people in exile because they must have wondered if God had abandoned them. We often experience this feeling of abandonment in the midst of transitions. We or a loved one gets sick and we wonder where God is. A relationship comes to an end and we pray and pray and pray and wonder if God is still listening. A job is lost and we wonder if God still loves us and wants to bless us. But Jeremiah assures us that God is with us even at those times when God seems so far away.

A great grandmother comes in to see the pastor. Her heart problem has not gotten any better. But this is not what she wants to talk about today. She just had a call from her daughter with bad news. Her new great granddaughter, who was born just a couple of months ago, was sick, very sick. The doctors think that the baby has cancer and have started aggressive treatment. Their granddaughter and great granddaughter was in danger of dying, and they wondered where God was.

The pastor, like Jeremiah before him, reminded the great grandmother that God has never left, that God loved her and the young baby very much, and that in God’s time everything would turn out alright. But for now they should wait and pray confident that in some way God would act.

Jeremiah also told the people that even though they were experiencing a major transition they should continue to lead normal lives. God told them to buy homes, get married and have children. The people probably expected that someone would rescue them soon. But God was telling them not to expect to go back to the way it was. The new situation would last for a long time, maybe beyond their lifetimes. So the people were to live for the long haul, confident in God’s faithfulness to one day restore them to the Promised Land, and to keep his promise that David’s descendants would remain on the throne forever. So God’s people were not to worry, rather they were to continue to live normal lives even in their new circumstances.

A young man came to see the pastor. His brother had come for a visit and he had had enough. The young man started fighting with his brother fought almost as soon as he arrived. So the pastor told him about an old television show called “The Odd Couple”. It was about two men who shared an apartment. One was neat and clean almost to a fault. Everything was put in its place. Dust never had a chance to land on the furniture. The apartment was always in order. But the other was a slob. He dropped his clothes on the floor, washed dishes only when he had to, and filled the apartment with cigar smoke. As you might imagine, these differences often led to very funny situations. But these two men were able to live in the same apartment without being angry all the time because they chose to overlook their differences so that they could get along.

This followed the wisdom of Jeremiah who knew that the exiles were angry at their captors. Jeremiah told them to choose not to dwell in anger and conflict, but choose to live lives of normality at peace with each other, confident that God would one day may everything right. So the pastor told the young man to accept the differences he had with his brother so that they could visit each other in peace.

Jeremiah then told his people to do something that must have surprised them: pray for the welfare of Babylon. This had to be very difficult. They had been hurt on many levels and had to be very angry at the Babylonians for taking them into exile. Most, probably, wanted to get back at the Babylonians in some way. Maybe they were ready to start an insurgency with terrorist attacks and suicide bombers. Maybe they were planning to assemble an army in the wilderness. Maybe they wanted to passively resist by not cooperating with their captors. But God wanted them to live peacefully with the Babylonians. This required forgiveness and prayer. And praying for an enemy’s welfare is the best way of dealing with anger, because you just can’t remain angry at people you pray for.

A woman came to see the pastor. She hadn’t slept in a couple of days. She had found out about incidents of terrible sexual impropriety in her family. She was so angry she could just scream. The pastor talked with her for several minutes to calm her down and then listened patiently as she told her terrible story. The pastor then told her to pray for her family, especially the ones who had hurt her so much. The pastor told her that she could not change the situation so she had to rely on God, and prayer was far more constructive than anger. This was the message Jeremiah had from God for the exiles. Rather than living in anger for what the Babylonians had done, the exiles were to pray for their captors, because this would allow their hearts to heal and prepare them for their eventual return to the Promised Land.

So as transitions occur in our lives always remember that even though God seems far away God is really with you ready to forgive and waiting for you to return to his loving arms. When in transition live your lives normally. Do not let anger overwhelm you, but accept the changes knowing that somehow this is in God’s plan. And always remember to pray for the people you are most angry with, confident that God’s justice will one day prevail. Prayer is the best way of dealing with your own anger. The promise of scripture is that if you follow this wisdom transitions will go well with you. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we pray that as we face transitions in life that you will be close to us and not far away. We ask for help as we live our lives normally accepting changes as they come. And we ask that you help us to pray for those we are angry at so that we will experience not anger and conflict but peace and rest. We pray this with your Son our High Priest. Amen.