"Holy Spaces"
In an essay called "The Optimism of Uncertainty" published in The Nation this month, social historian Howard Zinn writes: "In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy? I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning. To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world. There is a tendency to think that what we see in the present moment will continue. We forget how often we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible.
Such optimism in the midst of uncertainty is seen in the actions of Jeremiah as recorded in the text we read. "For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land." This morning's lesson from Jeremiah ends with those words….houses and vineyards shall again be bought in this land. The text was written during a lull in the sieges of the Babylonian armies as they let their attention wander from Israel in order to deal with the approaching Egyptian armies. The prophet Jeremiah is in prison having been caught leaving Jerusalem so that he could reclaim some family property. He is charged with trying to desert the army. After serving some prison time, he is then placed under a sort of house arrest where he is allowed to have visitors and outside communication.
It is here, while still under house arrest, in this lull in fighting that his cousin Hanamel comes to him. According to Mosaic Law if a man needed to sell land he could approach a relative who would then have the right and obligation to buy the land so it would stay in the family. Hanamel comes to Jeremiah exercising this right of redemption for a piece of land that is in the midst of enemy territory. Ray Stedman tells a story to illustrate how ridiculous Hanamel's offer and Jeremiah's purchase is: "I was on a troop transport after the outbreak of World War II. We were convoyed by two American destroyers, guarding against attack by enemy submarines. Sure enough about three quarters of the way across, the general alarm sounded one morning. All passengers aboard were put down in the hold. The destroyers dropped depth charges, and they did indeed sink a submarine. We heard the terrible clang as these depth charges exploded and the concussion banged against the side of our vessel. About a thousand men were gathered in the hold where I was, and we wondered what was going to happen. It was a very tense and quiet time, until suddenly the tension was broken by a voice that cried out, "Does anybody want to buy a good watch?" He says he thought of that when in reading this account of Hanamel wanting to sell his property to Jeremiah." Hanamel's trying to unload his property that is located behind enemy lines is just as ridiculous as a man trying to sell a watch to a possibly sinking ship. Yet, to the ridicule of all, Jeremiah agrees to the purchase. The details of the sale are carefully recorded by the text. The sale is carefully recorded and the deed properly drawn up. A copy is kept by Jeremiah and another sealed away for safekeeping in an earthenware jar so the deed will last for a long time.
I can almost imagine a line of people coming to unload more property on Jeremiah after his foolish purchase of land that had already fallen to the enemy. But this foolish action becomes a symbol of redemption for Israel. It is a sign to the people of Israel that no matter how impossible it now looks, God will restore them in God's time. Their present situation is not the final word on their lives. Nor is what we see as our present the final word on our lives and times.
"For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land." In reading this text and in reflecting on the present days I was reminded of a section in "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis where he says that God's time can work backwards to redeem our hells. Israel could not go back to a time before the Babylonian exile. We can not go back in our own lives to more innocent days. We can not undo what is already done. As many of you know I dabble in making the Ukrainian Easter eggs called pysanky and often teach groups how to make the eggs. In making the eggs you work backwards, dying the eggs a series of different colors from lightest to darkest, applying beeswax to cover the portions of the egg that you want to remain a different color. One of the participants had gone too far ahead and wanted to go back to one of the lighter colors. I heard myself tell him, "you can't go back, you can only go forward and adjust your original design."
We can not go back, we can not wish away what already has happened. But we can live in God's time. In that we can dare to be like Jeremiah. He was faithful enough to add himself to the long list of people who have participated in God's redemptive work in the world. Our faith stories are full of such people who refused to accept what was as the final word, but instead dared to risk all in order to follow God's work in their lives. Noah built an boat on dry land, Sarah had a baby at the tender age of 100, Jeremiah bought land, the disciples dropped their fishing nets, John Wesley preached in the fields, Anna Howard Shaw dared to preach at all, Sojourner Truth dared to claim her humanity, and Mother Theresa worked with the hopeless. We stand with that long line of saints, God's people. In that line, we find that even what seems like the worthless parts of our lives can find restoration and redemption in God's time.
We live in difficult, fearful days. God's kingdom seems far away from us. None of us is entirely sure just how to respond to the massiveness of life right now. Who knows where to start in helping the people of Haiti reclaim their land after devastating storms? Where do we go in the increasing chaos of Iraq and other places of the world? And sometimes it is very personal….how do we deal with the uncertainties of our own lives when we can see no possibilities? In those times and places we often have no clue what restoration might look like
Yet know this: Just as Jeremiah was very public and deliberate with his actions, so we are called to be as we participate in God's redemptive work in the world. Now is the time for God's people to be a different voice to the world's calls for continuing violence and retribution. Now is the time for us to risk proclaiming that God can bring healing and restoration even in such a time as this. And that my friends will not always be easily heard…even we have a hard time hearing such words.
In these days we live with the foundation of a God who loves us so much that there are no limits on how God will act to show that love. We know that in the love of God given in Jesus, acted in the foolishness of the cross that breaks even the powers of hell and death. Howard Zin closes his essay with words that also appear in one of his previous works: "An optimist isn't necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in
the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved
magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."
"For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land."