the spirit went
where it went
So, how was Thanksgiving?
Was I right? Was it im-perfect? Were there any full-blown disasters?
…Well, if there were, and you want to talk about it, let’s schedule a visit.
But the truth is, it’s a pretty safe bet to predict the holidays won’t be perfect. After all, nothing is. And the high-wire balancing act of the holidays is rife with opportunities for things to go wrong.
So no, predicting the holidays won’t be perfect is hardly prophetic.
At least, not like anything Jeremiah was called to predict…
To be honest, though, much of Jeremiah’s prophesies would hardly count as predictive, either!
First, Jeremiah was called to speak against the people’s rampant and flagrant infidelity. And second, he was called to predict that superpower, Babylon, would come in and conquer Jerusalem.
But between those two things, there’s not a lot of prediction, per se.
Saying God chooses people who aren’t especially faithful, was about as big of a surprise then, as it is now.
And predicting Babylon would invade, wasn’t exactly a fringe theory, either! Babylon had been on the rise for a while. And they clearly wanted to be the next big empire. And Jerusalem was clearly on their warpath.
So no, many of Jeremiah’s prophecies weren’t all that prophetic!
But, even though Jeremiah wasn’t saying anything particularly sensational, no one was especially grateful for Jeremiah’s frank words, either!
Then, as now, we tend to prefer our comfortable illusions, to harsh reality.
Jeremiah’s insistence on talking about these harsh realities earned him little respect and even less support. He was consistently ignored, often ridiculed, and occasionally even formally censured.
*I’ll talk about that more in a second.
That was a day in the life or Jeremiah, though. Address Israel’s flagrant infidelity, and point to Babylon’s pending invasion.
Neither of those messages was particularly prescient, but neither were they well received…
In fact, the prophecy of Jeremiah’s we just heard, was delivered while he was in prison! Prison!
And it was his own king, Zedekiah, who put him there!
Zedekiah couldn’t understand why Jeremiah kept insisting on talking about Babylon. It was clearly demoralizing the people!
So, after a little too much of Jeremiah intransigence, Zedekiah had him confined to the court of the guard.
And right there, where the king sent Jeremiah to end his career, it finally came to life!
It’s Advent now, and in Advent we prepare for God’s arrival, or advent, in the flesh. And noting where the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, will help you prepare for the Word’s advent among you.
Because it’s going to happen in the last place you’d expect!
Like, prison. Literally or figuratively!
This is how it goes with the God who set the Israelites free and raised Jesus from the dead! God takes what would imprison us, and uses it to build the trough into which the Word of Lord in the flesh comes!
Isn’t that how it went for Jeremiah that day?
There, locked away in prison, the Lord gave Jeremiah a word. A word no one could have predicted! A word no one saw coming!
“The days are surely coming,” Jeremiah told the people.
The days are surely coming…
There, in prison, Jeremiah pointed further ahead than anyone could have predicted! He pointed ahead to the day Babylon’s reign of terror would end!
And further ahead still he pointed!
To the day God’s reign of peace would begin!
On another day no one would see coming, when God made the throne of the cosmos, a cross!
And yet, still further ahead Jeremiah pointed!
To the day we are still waiting on! The day “the Lord is OUR righteousness,” or Jesus for short, comes again, finally and fully, in power and glory!
There, while he was in prison, in the place visions go to die, God gave Jeremiah the word that cemented his status as true prophet!
It’s wasn’t because of any of those other so-called prophesies of doom and gloom that Jeremiah is still read today! No, it’s because of this one! This one he received while in prison!
The very thing that was meant to spell the end Jeremiah’s career, turned out to be the very thing God used to bring it to life!
And it happened at the last place anyone would expect the word of the Lord to come; in prison!
It’s Advent now. And in Advent we prepare for the arrival of the Word made flesh.
But the Word’s advent is an upside-down one! We expect it to happen in those times and places we ascend out of the muck of life. Where it really happens, though, is when we’re CAUGHT in the thick of it!
The word of the Lord comes to us, not when we’re most in control, but when our lives are most out of our control! When we’re most power-less!
Like when we’re in prison.
Be it literal prison. Or the prison of our dysfunctional families, or our own dysfunctional hearts for that matter. The prison of those places in our world and own lives where God’s righteousness and justice are denied.
And right there, into those places that ensure, year after year, our Thanksgiving won’t be perfect, the word of the Lord comes!
Those place in your life and the world that are im-perfect, are just perfect for the word of the Lord!
Your life is full of places that are ideal for the Words advent yet again!
Like right here. Right now. While your mind wanders, considering everything else you have to do! And right into all that, the word of the Lord comes!
We always tell ourselves we’ll get serious about our faith once we have our lives in order. But, aside from the fact that day will never come, it gets it all backward!
The word of the Lord comes to us most powerfully when we are most power-less! When our lives are most out of our control!
And what the word of the Lord speaks in those times and those places is a word no one could predict! That the days are surely coming!
Surely coming right here in our midst! Right now amidst all that imprisons us!
Amidst all the I’m-perfections, the word of the Lord incarnate, Jesus Christ comes! And there he gives himself! His life, his death, his resurrection! And all the freedom, peace and joy that come with it!
All that from your Thanksgiving that was less than perfect, is just perfect for the word of the Lord!
And if it wasn’t Thanksgiving this year, whatever it is that’s got you all knotted up inside! And we all have those things. Those places are just perfect for the word of the Lord!
So receive that word: in those days and at that time God shall cause a righteous branch to spring up; and he shall execute justice and righteousness!
And the Word made flesh this justice in an upside-down way; by being executed himself!
There, where justice and righteousness were denied him, Jesus made the throne of the cosmos, a cross!
And from there Jesus reigns still! Glory! Alleluia!
Jesus reigns!
Jesus reigns in his upside-down fashion! By taking all that would condemn us to the sentence of guilty, and taking it to die on the cross! Letting it buried with him, in the grave!
Jesus reigns in his upside-down fashion! By taking all that would condemn us to the sentence of guilty, and taking it to die on the cross! Letting it buried with him, in the grave!
But, when he’s raised up to new life, Jesus leaves those old sins there, forever!
All that would imprison you, has no power over you! For it is dead and buried!
And now, in the joyous exchange Jesus has won for you, you are given all that belongs to Jesus! His life! And his freedom from the tomb!
That’s what Jeremiah meant when he named the Lord’s anointed one as, “The Lord is our righteousness!”
At the cross, Jesus has become your very righteousness!
Today begins Advent. And in Advent we wait; but hear this; the word of the Lord, doesn’t! The word of the Lord comes to you now! Comes to you here!
Comes where you least expect! Amidst your imprisonment! Where you languish behind the bars of captivity!
And there, and there alone, the word of the Lord comes to you!
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when God will fulfill the promises God made!
The days are surely coming! And indeed, in Jesus Christ, they have!
You are free!
From all sin, you are free!
From the power of death, you are free!
From whatever it is that would keep you from God, you are free! As I declare to you now, that on account of the power of the Word and his advent among you, you are made new!
The day has surely come!
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