“Specifics”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, April 11, 2025
Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-13 (Forward, p. 72) CEV p. 798
Today’s passage, part of Jeremiah’s message to God’s exiled people in Babylon, causes much soul-searching among serious Biblical scholars and teachers. I say ‘serious’ because many teachers and pastors will immediately jump to the easy and ready-made conclusion that some or all of this message applies to Christians today. However, here we need to temper this enthusiasm and step back a moment to see if this conclusion is necessarily valid. For instance, verse 10 says, “For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” The latter part of verse 14, which for some reason is left out of today’s lectionary reading, expands on this, “I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”
That promise certainly did take place: God’s people were indeed brought back from exile. But can that promise also be extended to the present age, for instance, to the return of the scattered Jewish people to a national homeland in the modern state of Israel? Many would see it that way. And what about other applications? Do not others sometime feel as if they are in exile? Indeed, during the Reformation much was made of the ‘Babylonian Captivity’ of the church, as propagated by one of Martin Luther’s works. However, can this be said to legitimate? Here the decisive test would be: is it backed by any clear support from the New Testament?
Now, how about the other things that Jeremiah says? His warnings about fortune tellers/ diviners and false prophets can safely be accepted, for the Scriptures are quite adamant in rejecting such practices. And what about his instructions to the exiles to support and work towards the good of the communities where they have found themselves: is that a valid instruction for us today? And, what about his instructions to believers that they should
call upon God and search for Him: is that not something that we can accept and carry out? Here likewise we are probably on safe ground, for I think that the Scriptures do teach us to be good citizens, to be models of proper deportment and civic duty, and that, likewise, we should certainly seek God and pray to Him. And so, most probably, that oft quoted phrase is also quite valid: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, pans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (verse 11). Indeed, is that not explicitly echoed in Romans 8: 28, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”? Given this ‘backing’, I would readily admit that sure, it is lifted from its immediate context, but I would suggest that it also applies to us.
Forward notes: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (verse 11).
“In context, this verse from Jeremiah refers to God’s plan to restore the exiles. Slightly out of context, however, it reminds me of the beautiful words from Julian of Norwich: ‘All shall be well, all manner of things shall be well.’
“Even as the last brick was placed sealing her into her anchorage at Norwich Cathedral, Julian said, ‘I have never felt so fully alive.’ She surely knew the plans God had for her. As her journey as an anchorite began, cut off from the world, living for the rest of her life in a 9x12-foot room with a dirt floor, a few furnishings, and a wash bowl that served as a toilet, she still envisioned a hopeful future.
“In the most lamentable book in the Old Testament, isn’t it lovely that even Jeremiah reminds us of a future with hope?”
Moving Forward: “Where do you find hope?”