JEREMIAH 32:1-3, 6-15

32:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah.

3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it…

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me:

7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’

8 Then Hanamel my cousin 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.

9 “And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver.

10 I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales.

11 Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy.

12 And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, 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.

13 I charged Baruch in their presence, saying,

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 vessel, that they may last for a long time.

15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Well another week has gone by and once again the news was full of gloom and doom. We saw another sinful, sinister terrorist attack.  This time it was at a mall in Kenya.  The fighting is still going on in Syria and here on the shores of this land that we love our government may, for the first time in history, default on its debts.  Why?  Because our elected leaders seem to be more interested in throwing mud at each other than making compromises that best serve the needs of people like you and me.

I guess Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull were right.  In their book, “The Peter Principle” they say that with everything that’s going on these days it makes it hard to tell if the world is being run by smart men who are bluffing or imbeciles who really mean it.

Sometimes it’s enough to make you want to stay in bed and pull the covers up over your head.  Do you ever feel that way?  Do you ever get discouraged?

That’s the way Jeremiah must have felt from time to time as he walked the streets of Jerusalem.  Jeremiah was a lonely voice crying in the wilderness.  For years he’d been telling people that they were drifting further and further away from God.  Because of that Jeremiah knew that the nation was in big trouble and now his prophesies were about to come true.  

Jerusalem was now surrounded by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon .  Jeremiah knew that the die had been cast.  He could see the handwriting on the wall. He knew that the ax was about to fall.  Jerusalem was going to be destroyed and the people were going to be taken into exile in Babylon.   That, of course, was a message that King Zedekiah didn’t want to hear.  That’s why he had Jeremiah arrested and thrown into jail.

Like the people of ancient Israel, people today are drifting further and further away from God.  This nation under God isn’t very faithful when it comes to praising God and following God’s commandments.   

Consider if you will a modern day parable about two bills that end up in the same wallet.  While they’re in that wallet the $1 bill turns to the $20 bill and says, “Hey!  I haven’t seen you around lately.  Where have you been?  “Oh,” the $20 bill replies, “I’ve been here there and everywhere.  I spent some time at the casino and then I went on a cruise.  Then when I got back I went to a couple of football games and some really cool stores over at the mall.  After that I went to a really fancy restaurant before heading over to the beach for a little vacation.  How about you?  Where have you been?”  At that point the $1 bill lets out a little sigh and says, ‘Oh, you know.  The same old thing…church, church, church.’”

Here’s a real life example that shows how we’re drifting further and further away from God.  It’s a real life example that hits a little closer to home.  Several years ago someone from the North Reading library contacted Debbie Putney our former Christian Education Director.  It was December and the library was inviting different groups and organizations to decorate wreathes using characters and themes from a favorite book.  When Debbie said our Sunday School would be thrilled to decorate a wreath using stories from the Bible the woman from the library got all flustered.  “Oh,” she said, “we can’t have you do anything religious.” Now I must be stupid.  You invite a church to decorate a wreath but it can’t be religious?

The situation these days isn’t all that different from the situation that Jeremiah had to deal with in ancient Israel.  We’re drifting further and further away from God.   That’s the bad news.  The good news is that the solution to the problem is simple.  You see, the solution to the problem is you.  The solution to the problem is you and me.  Just as Jeremiah was the voice crying in the wilderness we are the faithful remnant today.  We are the disciples who understand that if you want a life that is truly abundant you won’t find it on the shelves at Wal-Mart.  It’s waiting for you in the love of Christ that can make all things new. We are the ambassadors for the peace of God that the world cannot give or take away.  We are the witnesses to the truth that can set you free from hate and greed, fear and lies that can and will make your life miserable.

It is an awesome responsibility that can leave you feeling the same way a little boy felt when his mother asked him a question.  “Benji,” she said.  “Would you like to have Jesus in your heart?”  After thinking about it for a moment four year old Benji rolled his big blue eyes and said, “No.  I don’t think I want the responsibility.”

It may be a big responsibility to be that faithful remnant that brings people back to God but you and I are the faithful remnant and if we don’t do it who will?  So, the next question is how do you bring people back to God?

The answer to that question is waiting for us in the field at Anathoth.  That’s the field that God told Jeremiah to buy while he was sitting in that jail.  God told Jeremiah to buy the field from his cousin Hanamel.  Now at first glance that doesn’t make any sense at all.

Why would you buy a field that you know you’re not going to be able to use.  After all you know that it’s only a matter of days before you’re going to be dragged into exile to live the rest of your days in Babylon.   It makes no sense at all until you realize the hope that was symbolized in Jeremiah’s decision to buy that field in Anathoth.

Jeremiah did what God told him to do.  He bought that field and then he wrote these words: “‘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 vessel, that they may last for a long time.   For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’”

The message is simple.  In buying that field the message was simply this:  You may have abandoned God but God hasn’t abandoned you.  The God who still loves you is going to bring you back to this land that you love.

If we want to bring people back to God that’s what we need to do.  We need to follow Jeremiah’s example.  You see, we’re not going to bring people back to God by pointing a finger at them and calling them a bunch of sinners. We’ll bring people back to God through our gentle words of truth and our humble deeds of loving kindness.

The key is to make God’s love real so our friends and neighbors, our families and complete strangers wonder what it is that they’re missing.  When it comes to bringing people back to God it makes me think of strawberry shortcake.  That’s right.  Strawberry shortcake.  When I was little I refused to eat strawberries because I didn’t like eating things with seeds in them.  So, I refused to eat strawberries and my dad always said, “You don’t know what you’re missing.”  Well, I didn’t care until many years later.  I didn’t care until I was a student minister at the Congregational Church in East Walpole.  After church one day an elderly couple invited me to their house for Sunday dinner.  I still remember their names. Al and Sophie Boonstra.  Well after we ate the meal I found myself in a terrible dilemma.  Sophie told me that she hoped that I still had room for dessert because she’d made one of her specialties.  Now you all know that I’m a chocoholic.  So, I began to imagine all kinds of delicious decadent delights.  Image my horror when Sophie returned from the kitchen with a tray of her special homemade strawberry shortcake.   What was I to do?  I couldn’t say no to this wonderful woman who was beaming as she stood there with her homemade strawberry shortcake.  So, I did what any good student minister would do.  I sucked it up and took one of the strawberry shortcakes and by the time I got to my second and third bite I was thinking, “This is really good.”  By the time I got to the fourth or fifth bite I was thinking, “You dope. See what you’ve been missing all these years?”

You and I are the faithful remnant.  We are the voices calling in the wilderness.  We are the Jeremiahs of today and the challenge is to live our lives so that others begin to wonder exactly what it is that they’re missing.  Only then will we have a chance of bring people back to the living, loving God.   Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

September 29, 2013