Loving God, by the power of your Spirit, give us the gifts of faith, hope and love, for we come to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Amen.

            Discerning truth from fiction, it seems, has never been more challenging.  People can say anything they want on social media and have thousands, or even millions of followers who believe them.  Technology exists that allows you to make it look and sound like somebody did or said something – even if they never did.  And then we hear competing messages all the time – one telling us that something is good and another saying that the same thing is bad.  Who do we believe?

         While the same technology was not in play, the same question was being asked by God’s people when the prophet Jeremiah was alive.  In today’s reading we hear him warning the exiles in Babylon that there are false prophets among them who are speaking lies in the name of the Lord (Jer. 29:8-9).  But how are they supposed to know what is true and what is not?

         In the previous chapter of Jeremiah we hear about a guy named Hananiah (and I’m guessing that very few of you have ever heard of him).  Hananiah also claimed to be one of God’s prophets, and was telling the people that all of the exiles would be back in Judah and Jerusalem within two years (Jer. 28:3).  Jeremiah, on the other hand, tells them that it will be about 70 years before any of the exiles can return home (Jer. 29:10).  Is there any way to tell who is actually speaking for God without waiting 2 years, or even 70 years?

         In this particular case, we see whose message is most trustworthy.  Jeremiah tells Hananiah that he will die within the year because he has spoken lies in the name of the Lord.  And in that same year, Hananiah dies (Jer. 28:16-17).  Throughout the Scriptures, the prophets who speak the unpopular message seem to be the real ones.  And God, it seems, sends prophets either to afflict the comfortable or to comfort the afflicted.  When the people are ignoring God’s covenant and living only for themselves, the prophets speak warnings about “war, famine, and pestilence” that is to come (Jer. 28:8).  However, when the people are suffering in exile or as slaves, the prophets come to them with messages of hope.

         In this letter that we heard today from Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon, it includes a message of hope, but it is going to take a long time to get there.  The crux of Jeremiah’s message is that they should settle in and get ready for the long haul – in this foreign country where they do not want to be.  They should build houses, start families, and even get involved in civic affairs, working for the welfare of the city.  They should do these things, because it will be at least 70 years before God intervenes to take them home again.  This is the “future with hope” that Jeremiah proclaims (Jer. 29:11).

         It is hard for us, one would think, to hear much good news in this proclamation.  For, especially those who are already older, will never see their homeland again.  However, in other passages in the Scriptures, endurance and hope are connected to one another.  There is that passage in Romans where Paul writes,

That suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:3-5).

         It takes slowing things down a bit to follow what Paul is saying here, but it seems that suffering, endurance and character ultimately lead to hope.  There is hope, even if you are suffering, because God always keeps God’s promises, and fills your heart with love even in the most difficult of circumstances.

         As we read the Scriptures, we have the benefit of hindsight.  We know that the exiles eventually did return to their own land and rebuild the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.  We also know that all of the promises of a Messiah found their fulfillment in Jesus.  It took many years for each of these things to happen, just as it took many years for the Israelites to be freed from their slavery in Egypt.  God is faithful, and God keeps God’s promises – but it is not always according to our schedule or our sense of timing.

         These days, we continue to search for hope.  God has promised that Christ will come again.  God has promised that all things – and the end of all things – are ultimately under God’s control.  And, in one of the best promises of all, Jesus says to us, “remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20).

         And so, who do we believe?  Those who have proven to be faithful, and those who live in love for God and for others.  For, just as Jesus warned, “you will know them by their fruits” (Mt. 7:16).  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Advent 1 (NL 4)                                Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14

November 28, 2021

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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