Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7; Second Timothy 2: 8-15; Luke17: 11-19
The Prophet Jeremiah is rebuking a, “false prophet”, Hananiah who was telling the captive exiles in Babylonia that he (Hananiah) predicted the downfall of King Nebuchadnezzar and the exiles would return to Judah in a short time. Jeremiah spoke that Hananiah’s words are false; the King of Babylon is holding the exiles in an iron yoke that will be in place for many long years. Jeremiah’s message to the exiles is: do not sit and wait for deliverance; he exhorts them to build houses, settle in, raise your families, do not pine away, build up your community in Babylonia, make it prosperous, if you do not, you will dwindle away.
In the context of today, we have many exiles from many conflicts; how do they respond to captivity in foreign lands? Of recent memory, we have earthquakes in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, the conflicts in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan; thousands of displaced and often befuddled refugees. If you were in their circumstances, would your outlook be to sit and wait, or get on with life, putting your faith in God to show you a pathway and giving you strength to persevere. In the case of the captive community in Babylon, they did thrive and in some sense were given a gift; while in exile they compiled and wrote down most of the books of the Old Testament that previously were only known from oral tradition; many Old Testament writings were put into writing in Babylon.
Many thanks to all those present for the lively discussions.
Submitted by Walt Jaap
Photo Walt Jaap
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