Sermon -- Sunday, March 22, 2020
/Fourth Sunday of Lent
Jeremiah 29:1,4-7,13
By: Rev. Gene Dyszlewski
While history is kind to the prophet Jeremiah, many of the people of his time were not. Jeremiah was a high priest of the temple and his life and ministry coincided with a time of adversity and extreme social disruption. He was thinking differently about how to do life, how to survive the current crisis. He was advising that people behave differently to adjust to the demands of the unusual circumstances. Changing your daily routine is hard to do. In fact, lifestyle change is one of the most difficult things for us to do. Not everybody liked Jeremiah’s advice.
To many who heard his sermons, he was seen as a crackpot who gave odd, advice. His advice went against common sense. To Jeremiah, these were uncommon times. If common sense is what I learn about life when things are normal, well things are not normal. This is a time of crisis. Fortunately, many listened and followed his advice, and it worked.
So, first of all what was the calamity that befell the Jewish community in Jeremiah’s time? Well things were pretty bad. After having lost a war, during which many soldiers were killed, large portions of the people of Israel were forcibly removed from their homes and taken into Exile in Babylon. In today’s terms, families were forced to leave Israel and to live in what is now Iraq and Iran. This was hardship upon hardship. As very parochial people, who never left their farm or village, they lost everything that was familiar to them.
So, Jeremiah sees that people are hurt; they have suffered the loss of familiar surroundings and the loss of contact with neighbors and friends. They found themselves isolated. They were in grief, which is a healthy natural reaction to loss. This included shock, anger, apathy and indifference. That’s no surprise, given the trauma that they suffered. The problem was many were stuck in it.
For some, anger began to turn to rage and bitterness. Apathy led to despondency and despair. They were frozen with fear. Nebuchadnezzar took half of Israel into exile; he didn’t kill them. It seemed that many were dying anyway. Jeremiah felt he needed to jar them out of their passivity.
Jeremiah believed that suffering happens to everyone. We certainly don’t welcome it or invite it to happen. If we can’t actually remove the hurt and turmoil from daily life, why not do what we can to mitigate the impact. First of all from a religious perspective, hardship is not punishment from God. God is unconditionally loving and stands with us so that our lives may flourish…even in the midst of suffering. Second, resisting change increases the stress and suffering. Strangely enough resisting change is often what we do, even when the change makes our situation better. So, he tries to first snap them out of their malaise.
His advice fits what we know today as the serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. He said, your stuck in Babylon. You don’t have to like it. However, holding your breath until you turn blue and cursing the Babylonians doesn’t get you home. As painful as it may be, let go of home. Don’t waste your time with this. It is a distraction that keeps you away from doing what you can do to heal.
Next, he offers what could be considered a treatise on community psychiatry. He tells them to reestablish some typical family routines. Cook meals, clean the house, care for the elderly, play with the children and go to work. If they gave you land to farm, cultivate it…plant a crop. If they let you bring your goats or sheep, feed them, milk them, shepherd them. Accept what you cannot change but do what you can.
He is telling them to establish a daily routine. In fact, most of your personal, religious and family life in Babylon is quite similar to your life in Israel. You’re cooking the same meals for your family, a latke is a latke, a falafel is a falafel. You may be going to a different well but you have to go to the well every day. Your daily routine is the structure for your life. The familiar parts will be comforting. The new repetitive parts will become familiar.
So after telling them to establish a daily routine that they could take comfort in again in, he tells them, “take are of your children…step outside of yourself.” Caretaking begins at home and it is other oriented. Being fearful is crippling. Sulking is inner-directed and self-serving. Caring for others is other directed. It is interesting to note that Jeremiah isn’t asking them to wait until they are in the mood to establish a new routine. He wasn’t saying wait until you are no longer grumpy to go to the well…to plant a garden…to care for their kids. He is saying, “Just do it.” The mood will follow.
Also interesting is the fact that he pushed the exiles much further than anyone expected. If you start by feeding your family and taking care of your kids, that opens your heart. The next step is to care for your neighbors. All Babylonians are not alike. Your neighbors didn’t bring you here, the king did. So be kind to your neighbors. Contribute to the peace and prosperity of the city in which you now live. Do this and everyone wins.
This is arguably Jeremiah’s version of “…turn the other cheek,” or perhaps, “Love your enemies.”
Jeremiah clearly believed that human flourishing is God’s plan for humanity and it takes our cooperation. Being dormant and stagnant because I can’t have the lifestyle or the life choices that I want isn’t the plan. I am not entitled to have things go the way I want them to go.
Unfortunately bad things happen to good people. Cataclysms happen from time to time. What happened in Jeremiah’s time is not what’s happening now. But there are lessons to learn:
It is okay to be upset that the world has changed. We need to acknowledge our negative emotions.
We need to intentionally establish a new routine.
Keep your relationships active
Phone
Email
Ask for help when you need it.
Offer help when you can.
Be safe: our food pantry continues to serve the community in an outside drive-by format.
Pray
I encourage those who have a mindfulness meditation practice to continue.
If you would like to learn more about this, call me.
We’re all in this together. We are not isolated individuals. We are part of as church community. As a church community, we will survive. In fact, with God’s help we will thrive.
