i lay down my life for my brothers

as i abide in peace...

A sermon on Jeremiah's letter to the exiles:

When you hear today’s scripture it’s hard not to wonder, “how could he say something like that.” 

How could Jeremiah say that, to those suffering refugees. Because that’s what exiles are; refugees.

Exiles were the victims of Babylon’s conquest program. Babylon’s official policy was to deport the citizenry of any country they conquered, back to Babylon. 

Jeremiah is writing to people who watched a foreign army come in, defeat their militia, and then lead them away to live in a foreign land! People who were wondering: How. How could God let this happen? How long will this last. Questions we’ve wondered, too. Haven’t we?

And what does Jeremiah say?

Not to keep up hope, but to settle in! That their exile is going to last longer than their lives. And then, Jeremiah tells them, to seek the welfare of the very country that conquered them!

How could he say that??? 

Now, of course, none of us have ever had some other nation come and uproot us; but we can all relate.

In fact, I think many of us especially feel this during the holidays…

This year, instead of going to Amanda’s grandma’s for Thanksgiving, we went to her grandma’s sister’s, her great-aunt, Marlene’s.

Now at first, Amanda and I just thought Grandma Jean was sharing the all the chores that come with hosting Thanksgiving. But then when we got there, and we saw the keepsake’s aunt Marlene had out from her husband, who suddenly passed away this summer, we realized the reason for the change in venue. 

Jean didn’t want her sister celebrating her first Thanksgiving as a widow by herself.

And I bet you’ve been to meals like that, haven’t you?

Because life has a way of doing that, doesn’t it?. Of throwing something at you, and after it hits you, nothing is the same anymore. 

And it doesn’t even have to be something traumatic as a death, either. A pink-slip can do it. So can a headline. An unreturned phone-call can. A child moving off to college, or away for a new job. One bad decision and all the consequences that come with it. 

We’ve all had something in life uproot us. Change our lives in an instant. We’ve all experienced exile… 

Victor Frankl, a psychologist who survived three years in a concentration camp, compared suffering to gas in a room. How it completely fills our soul, whether the suffering is great or small.

And he’s right, isn’t he? That’s how suffering works. It fills us, our world. That’s why we don’t literally need to be deported, to know how the exiles must have felt. 

We’ve all been there…

And when you know how the exiles must have felt, it’s hard not to wonder how could Jeremiah say what he does to them. 

Jeremiah tells us in exile, not to stick it out, but to settle in. Because this exile is going to last longer than us. So make a home amidst the displacement. Plant a garden in the middle of dashed hopes. Pray for your adversaries, even. 

Sound familiar? Pointing ahead to the one who will be the fulfillment of these words. 

But, how could he say that? And how can I preach a sermon on that? It certainly doesn’t sound like Good News…

Now the temptation today is to round off the rough edges. Smooth over the hard words.

But I’ve also come to learn, that never does us much good… 

For one, you don’t need me to protect you from God, do you? 

In fact, the promise of Christ the King, is that I can’t anyway!

But for another, I’ve found that what makes for a really good sermon, is when the pastor just listens to scripture. Listens closely and carefully.

I first learned this lesson when I realized just how much more faithful scripture is, than I am. When I heard scripture declaring promises so good, so big that they were hard to believe.

Like today’s… 

It makes a guy nervous. It isn’t easy to believe the Good News could ring true in such circumstances. That a call to settle into exile, could be good…

But that’s clearly what Jeremiah is saying, isn’t it?

So let’s take him at his word…

What’s your exile? Really consider it; it’ll make these words more powerful. 

You know, that’s that thing, that place, that person that reminds you all is not as it should be? 

…Got it? 

…Okay… 

Now settle in. Because it’s going to last longer than you. Build a place to live there, offer up prayers during it, even plant a garden in the middle of it. 

…Not what you wanted to hear?

Well, me neither. And it’s not what I was wanted to have to say. So there…

But it’s when we dare to be faithful like this, that the Good News rings true in all its richness. 

Here’s the deal: today’s letter to us exiles, is addressed to us right now! In the midst of our exile. In the midst of whatever it was you called to mind. 

This is because it is the midst of our hopelessness. Our lostness. Our displacement that God has willed, has promised to be found! Should I say it again?

God is found in exile!

Jeremiah writes; “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce… But seek the welfare of the place where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare…

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord…”

Jeremiah tells us to settle in, because in the midst of this that God shows up! 

Jeremiah’s letter in it’s original context pointed ahead; but in our’s, today it points back, doesn’t it? 

Jeremiah is pointing to the cross!

Because what is the cross except for exile, folks? 

It happened outside of the temple. Outside of the city limits, didn’t it?

Jeremiah is driving us to where faith is found! Where God shows up on your behalf.

Today is Christ the King, and Jeremiah is driving us to the throne of God! And that throne is not in a castle, but in exile.

On the cross God, came right into the middle of our exile. And from there, God opened the gates to the kingdom of heaven!

Today we hear Jeremiah’s word to exiles like us, and it’s hard not to wonder how could he say that. But with what God has shown us. With where God has turned up again and again; what else is there to say?  

The promise of today, Christ the King, is that God brings the kingdom of heaven to earth, not the other way ‘round. God brings the kingdom amidst this; in the middle of our exile.

Here’s the promise: you don’t have to make yourself at home in exile, for your God will come to you there, and make his home with you. He will come to you when all you have to offer is the nothingness of your exile, all your questions, and in return he will give you the riches of his kingdom. 

Which is God hearing your prayers, your questions. God making a home with you. Bringing you the riches of the kingdom. And giving you a future with hope. 

Remember Aunt Marlene? Well, her promise isn’t just that she had her sister to watch over her, but that she has Jesus Christ. Jesus who, in the middle of that Thanksgiving, took her grief upon himself, and in return, gave her his joy. 

And that’s the promise you have too, beloved…

Whatever you called to mind, in that; THAT your savior meets you and in return gives you all he has to offer!

Because that’s what’s hard about exile, isn’t it? The way it destroys what we love. 

But the promise you have is, your God meets you in the middle of that. And from there, he restores your fortunes. Not with mere replacements, but with the very body and blood of the son of God; Jesus!

So you who have sat in exile, Jesus has become your shelter! Your clothing! Your righteousness! Your home and your hope! He is the one who holds your life and death secure. And the live and death of those you love, too!

Jesus is all this for you, not where you have it all together, but when all is lost. Because you have a God who is found in exile. A God who reigns from the cross! 

Beloved, you have a God who comes to your exile, who takes it upon himself, and who dies with it! And from there, he rises to new life from it. And in that new life leaves your exile in the tomb. Rising to new life free from it!

And here’s what Jesus does with that new life; he just hands it over to you! He transforms your exile, your death, your nothingness and your lostness into your home with God and everything that comes with it!

Welcome home.