Alex Shaver: Feast When You Can

Sermon delivered on Trinity 20C, Sunday, October 9, 2016, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.

Lectionary texts: Jeremiah 29.1, 4-7; Psalm 66.1-11; 2 Timothy 2.8-15; Luke 17.11-19.

Alex Shaver, one of our fine young parishioners, is our guest preacher today.

If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of today’s sermon, click here.

A special thanks to Jason Stanghelle for his insights on this text and for his friendship.
And now may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen (please be seated).

*“Feast when you can, and dream when there’s nothing to feast on.”

These are words from a song by one of our favorite bands, The Mountain Goats. Over the past several years, their music has been important for us as individuals and in our young marriage. The themes in their music resonate deeply with us and in preparation for this sermon, I couldn’t stop thinking about these words and their message of hope which parallels Jeremiah’s prophetic words to those exiled at the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a favorite of the greeting card companies, and may be one of the most-taken-out-of-context verses in scripture. Separated from the narrative it seems to promise our personal goals will be attained. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” All too often we lose sight of God’s plan for his people and focus on our individual lives. Instead, this verse must be understood in light of Jeremiah 28, which tells the story of the false prophet Hananiah.

In chapter 28 we find Hananiah and Jeremiah in the temple of Jerusalem. The temple has been destroyed and the city has been ransacked. The city is in ruins and the people are mourning. Hananiah addressed the priests and the people with a message from the Lord prophesying that God would restore Jerusalem in two short years. The exile would end, and order would be restored. Important here is Hananiah and his prophecy. It’s not all wrong — he understands that God will end exile. But, the real issue is Haniniah’s definiteness. Hananiah understands the message in part, but it’s the nature of God that is misunderstood. Hananiah’s hope is in a predictive nature of God — that God will act according to Hananiah’s time frame. This constrains him. This is the backdrop for Jeremiah’s prophecy in chapter 29.

The nature of God is mysterious; He is free to move and work in history as he sees fit. This is one of the most sobering realities of the Biblical narrative. Jeremiah answers Hananiah’s words with a letter to his contemporaries with this prophecy:

This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

Jeremiah understands the true nature of God; there is a mysterious connection between the welfare of the city and the welfare of its people. The two are fixed together. This is a significant example of God offering hope in time of exile. This is the nature of God, that even in times of exile, we can work toward and find peace. It is a call for the people of God to settle in for the long haul of exile. To lean into the hard times to come. Exile will end, but it won’t be anytime soon. We see Jeremiah here refine the words of Hananiah in a way as he essentially says to “be happy in exile.”

Our tendency is to read verses like Jeremiah 29:11 as a guarantee that God will work out his plan for our lives in a way that makes sense to us as individuals. This is not the way this message would have been received by its original audience. Imagine Jeremiah’s message on the heels of Haniniah’s false prophecy. The people could imagine the end of exile in two short years and now Jeremiah was telling them to plan to stay. This was and is a call to live well in spite of the current state of affairs because of God’s love and ultimate plan for his people — not our own individual gain. Jeremiah’s message also anticipates Paul in Romans 5 verses 3-5:

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love.

Scripture reveals exile and suffering to be times when God is most at work among his people. The message for Jeremiah’s contemporaries is the same message for us: there is a long term plan for hope and redemption, but it will not be according to our plan. God is calling us to trust him in times where there seems to be no hope. More than that, God is calling us to settle in for the long haul. Trusting God in times of exile and suffering is tangible; it looks like planting, building, multiplying, and working for the peace of the communities we live in.

The first chapter of Colossians affirms these things, “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” Paul’s words here are as mysterious to me as Jeremiah’s words would have been to those who heard them. Where is there peace? How do we reconcile the violence, hatred, racism, and evil in our world with the promise of peace we read about in scripture?

Jeremiah’s prophecy is one that allows the people of God to be agents of change in the redemption of all things. We are signposts for God’s love and mercy — signposts for the hope of the resurrection. Because of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are able to be the people of God; to plant, to build, to multiply. To work for the good of others in our communities, and to forgive others because we have been forgiven.

God is at work in our world in mysterious ways. He has, through the resurrection of His son Jesus, allowed us to play a part in His work. The problems we face are vast and many. To be sure, these are dark times, but our hope is in Christ. So, friends, may we plant, build, and multiply. Let us seek the good of our communities as we wait for our Lord’s return.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

*The Mountain Goats – Steal Smoked Fish: