Kingdom Building

September 23, 2019

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, ‘Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;

Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. –Jeremiah 32:1-2, 6-8

If we were being held in prison for telling the king that Babylon would besiege our city and take it and our cousin came to give us first chance of buying the family farm that would soon be under the control of Babylon would we buy it? Would we discern that this instruction was the word of the lord? Jeremiah had audacious faith that even though the land would be seized, it would someday be returned to him.

My dad was a youth during the depression. His father had died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1928 when dad was ten years old and his widowed mother had her hands full raising my father and his two younger siblings. He and his brother worked the farm but then the banks failed. Dad told the story of the panic that ensued among his family and their neighbors. Dad was a good storyteller and he told the following story as if he were there and saw the whole thing. It is possible but whether he saw it or had just heard the story himself, it gave hope to a hopeless people. It seems that one Gordon William Lillie, better known as Pawnee Bill, apparently stored some of his money at his ranch, suddenly appeared one day pushing a wheel barrel full of money up the street of Pawnee, Oklahoma to the bank and made the deposit that reassured the townspeople all was not lost. Pawnee Bill ran a lucrative wild west show and knew something about showmanship.

I think of this story when I read this story of Jeremiah’s buying his family farm amid a major crisis. Our world has minor crisis that could become major crisis popping up constantly. Our faith teaches us to trust in God and continue to remain in communication with God while we work to spread God’s love throughout the world.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for those who give encouragement when all seems lost. Help us not give in to despair and fear. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.