God
‘s people in Israel had found themselves in exile. The prophets tell us that
this was largely this people’s own fault. They had taken God for granted and
neglected God’s ways. Because their lives were not as they should have been,
they were a sitting duck for the invading military might of Babylon. Being
taken north into exile … all seemed lost! Loss of land, social and spiritual
connections; restricted freedom; living within a totally different culture –
all hope seemed gone!!
Sometimes,
because of the circumstances we face, we might think that all hope is
gone. At other times, it is people close to us that we feel deeply for, as they
go through struggles, and we sense that their hope is diminishing. There are so
many people in desperate situations. We can even feel like we are in
‘exile’ in this world with all that is going on – so much evil happening
in various parts of the world.
The prophet
Jeremiah at the time might have said something like: “she’ll be right – you’ll
be back home in no time”! But this would not be true – the situation the
people were in was not going to be resolved so easily nor quickly. This
would have been “false hope”, for it was not based in reality. Jeremiah was a ‘true’
prophet, and he was going to accurately reflect God’s take on the situation.
This political situation will take seventy years to resolve. Get used to the
idea, and settle down into some semblance of normal living.
So where was hope
to be found? God would be with his people in this exile, and in their
struggle (to adjust)! God would not leave his people to flounder in
their difficulty and in their feelings of lostness! God remained available to
them; while it is true that they couldn’t worship in the places of their
choosing, God was still intimately close to them. This might be of
encouragement to those we know, who in later years have moved into facilities
where they would prefer not to be. God is mobile … not restricted to any place.
As God’s people
began to carve out a new life for themselves in Babylon, and did so with
integrity in terms of their relationships with all people, God would look after
these people’s ultimate well-being – 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. Hope for these people would not be found in their
surroundings (whether good or bad), not in their material resources (whether
lots or little), not be found in physical places of worship (whether lavish or
meagre), but rather purely in a relationship with God.
And for God to
have “plans” for us, means that God really knows us well, and surely
this suggests an enormous amount of loving intent. So when we cry out in despair,
we know for sure that God hears us, and desires the best for us. There is a
sense in this Jeremiah passage we have read, that when we come to terms with
what matters most … our relationship with God (and through our relationship
with God our relationship with our neighbour) … our future will be better than
either the past or the present.
Seeking God with
all our heart is the road to experiencing hope!! There is no barrier left to
finding God – God certainly doesn’t put up any walls of separation – I will
let you find me, says the Lord. And thus we can be refashioned and reformed
… being prepared for eternity.
Now
if this still seems a little illusive, then we can personalise this even more
through our New Testament reading. You couldn’t have children disrupting Jesus
could you!?! Jesus had more important things to do!?! Even his disciples, who
should have known better, were party to stopping these children running up to
Jesus. [These disciples had heard Jesus teaching on the need for humility (like
you naturally see represented in children) just one chapter earlier.]
Here is a real
downer … the natural and beautiful excitement of children being squashed by
adults with misplaced priorities. Children had very low status in the society
of that time, and Jesus would want to counteract that thinking, but also went on to
elevate children as the ones we would have to emulate if we want to be fit for
God’s kingdom. We don’t want to be repressing children and destroying their
optimism. We know that a lot worse has been done to children that requires so
much repentance and reparation.
Jesus of course
senses better than anyone else what is at stake here: Let the little children come to
me, and do not stop them. Jesus will not let hope be taken away! And not
only that – Jesus presents an invitation to come to him that we can all respond
to. Despite all the baggage and hurt that we have accumulated during winter,
now that spring has arrived and Jesus is present, we can come to Jesus with all
the humility and innocence of a child – it is to such as these [children]
that the kingdom of heaven belongs. I’m sure Jesus touched every one of
these children that were brought to him that day.
So much hope is
lost through finding out that what we had invested most in turned out to be not
worth as much as we had thought … things like work, achievement, status,
material gain. So much hope is lost when some seem to rise while others get
left behind. So much hope is lost through disappointment in other people. Yet
hope is regained through a little trust and a bit of openness toward Jesus – a
beautiful friend, wonderful Saviour, and the Lord of lords.
What
a tremendous amount of hope there is in these scriptures. No matter how grim
the winter has been, God is there, close available for the finding; bringing
renewed opportunities of life and love. Spring comes around each year without
any help from us! The same God that has set the seasons in place offers us new
hope. We can allow the troubles of winter to dominate our spring, or
embrace anew the hope that is in God.
And when other
things and other people have tended to get in the way, Jesus makes way for us
to come to him, and then places his hands gently upon us … such that hope
springs eternal!
No comments:
Post a Comment