This is a sermon that I preached on Sunday, 11/09/24, at Berkeley Friends Church. The scripture reading for this sermon was: Jeremiah 29:1-14. You can listen to the audio, or keeping scrolling to read my manuscript. (The spoken sermon differs from the written text.)
This is how Jerusalem was captured: in the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it; in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate… with all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. …
The army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook [King] Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and when they had taken him, they brought him up to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon… and he passed sentence on him. The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah… before his eyes; also the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon.
The Chaldeans burned with fire the king’s house and the houses of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
(Jeremiah 39:1-10, edited for brevity)
It’s been a rough week.
I don’t want to make assumptions about anyone’s politics, but for me, and I suspect for a lot of us, it has been a very hard time watching the triumph of Donald Trump and the hard right politics that he represents. I’ve been struggling this week with the xenophobic, anti-ecological, and authoritarian direction that our nation will be heading in, in the coming months and years.
We had all been told that the race was close and so I wasn’t that surprised that Donald Trump won. What did surprise me was that he won by such a resounding margin. In 2016 and 2020, the race was tight. This year, it wasn’t even close. This hard turn to the right is clearly what the American people want. This is what our country has chosen.
So for me, on a personal emotional level, it feels like the Babylonians have conquered Jerusalem and I am being sent into exile. And I’m wondering what to make of that. What does it mean to truly lose, on a political and cultural level? What does it mean to be driven into exile, to be at the mercy of my enemies? And what would it mean to hear, like Jeremiah did, that God expects me to accept this defeat as a consequence of my own sin?
In our reading this morning, Jeremiah is making it clear to the exiles in Babylon that things are not going to get better anytime soon. God is not going to defeat their enemy, King Nebuchadnezzar and return them to their homeland in the next few years. The word of the Lord through Jeremiah is that the exiles in Babylon are to give up their hope for an immediate deliverance; instead, God commands them to settle down, have children, plant vineyards, build houses, and work for the good of the city where they have been sent into exile.
I have seen so many Christians, especially Evangelical Christians, cite this passage from Jeremiah, saying “seek the welfare of the city…” and apply this scripture as a mission statement for all the good work that they think their church can do in Cleveland or Chicago or Los Angeles. But this is not at all what Jeremiah is talking about. He is not talking about seeking the good of some generic, needy neighbors. He is talking about seeking the welfare of the powerful, foreign society that has struck them, murdered their king, burned their city and taken them forcibly into exile in a strange land.
“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile…” To me, this seems like a paraphrase of Jesus’ words, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” This isn’t a call to charity. This isn’t a passage about being generous to some generic, inoffensive people who need help from nice people like us. The word of the Lord through Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon is, “Love your enemies. Seek the best interests of the people who have taken everything from you. Be a blessing to them, and trust me: I will take care of you.”
The message of God to the exiled people of Jerusalem here is that God is still in control, despite the defeat of God’s king and the destruction of God’s temple. God is still reigning, sovereign over all, despite the circumstances that – from a rational human perspective – would indicate that all hope is lost.
So on this first Sunday morning after an election that, for me, feels like a devastating conquest, I feel the word of the Lord to me in the prophecy of Jeremiah: You have been defeated, says the Lord, but I have not been defeated. You are still my people, and I am still your God. You have been carried away into exile, and it seems like all is lost, but now is the time for patient endurance.
Do not fight. Do not resist. Do not rise up. Humble yourselves and make yourself useful. Make yourselves a blessing to your enemies, and I will bless you, says the Lord.
This isn’t what I want to hear. This isn’t what I want God to say to me when I am feeling defeated. I want God to take my side. I want to hear God say, “I will smash your enemies and restore your nation and guarantee your safety.” I want God to make things better, and I want him to do it fast.
But God doesn’t always work that way. In fact, it seems like God frequently does not work this way. Jesus endured the cross. The people of Israel endured exile. The early Quakers endured persecution and humiliation. Whether I like it or not, God has a long track record of allowing his people to go through hard trials, and expecting us to not only endure those trials, but use them as an opportunity to bless those around us – including our enemies.
What does it look like for us to bless our enemies? What does it look like for me to show the love of God to the people who have conquered Jerusalem and sent me into exile? What does it mean to accept the verdict of God, who says “do not resist, but rather seek the welfare of the conquerors who have humiliated you”? How do I feel my way through Jesus’ command to love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me? How can I do this when there are people who really are my enemies? This isn’t just theory!
The words of Jesus’ disciples come to my mind in this moment, when they were faced with this kind of hard teaching: They cried out, “Who then can be saved?” And I remember the words of Jesus in response: “For people, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.”
Not only is it possible, with God’s help, but as we see from the stories of Israel and Jesus, this command to patient endurance in suffering is actually a call to abundant life. Endurance in exile led, eventually, to restoration. The pain and humiliation of the cross led, eventually, to resurrection.
But the process cannot be short-circuited. We must fully engage with the depths of the cross before we can ascend with Jesus to God’s right hand. We must first accept the verdict of exile before we can hope to be restored to our true homeland. We must commit ourselves to the experience of exile, letting go of our human resistance and channeling the abundant life of God in the place where we have been taken into captivity.
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and husbands, have children; raise our families in this new reality, trusting in God for our hope and future. Multiply, grow stronger in the midst of struggle. Seek the welfare of this land of exile where we find ourselves. Pray for the welfare of this nation we live in – for in its welfare we will find our welfare.
God has not forgotten us. God is not unaware of what is happening. To paraphrase the words of George Fox, “The power of the Lord is [still] over all.” God has not abandoned us. The Lord will walk with us and care for us as we sojourn in exile.
But escape is not an option. The exile is reality. To resist the exile is to resist the will of God.
What does it look like for us to grow in exile – to grow in God’s love? How will we become a people who show God’s love for enemies as we multiply in the land, waiting for God’s deliverance?
What does it look like to seek the welfare of the land where we have been sent into exile? What does it look like for us to build houses, plant fields, have children, and fully invest ourselves in this land where we have been carried?
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. 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.
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, and 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.