Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-october-21-2025
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14
A Letter to the Exiles
1This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
4This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
It’s pretty uncommon for us to base a Reflection on a passage from the book of the prophet Jeremiah. This is going to be one of those ‘pretty uncommon’ occasions. That’s because this passage has some unusual resonances, for people in our time as well as for the people who read it first some 2800 years ago.
Some back story seems to be in order, to set the scene for this reading. It takes place during the Babylonian exile, which was one of the most catastrophic events in the history of the Hebrew people. During the siege which led up to the destruction of Jerusalem and its surrounding towns, the prophet Jeremiah had been preaching publicly that God had willed the destruction of the city. As you might imagine, this didn’t sit well with the king and the leaders of the city, who were desperately trying to rally the people for a common defense. At various times Jeremiah had been imprisoned as an enemy of the state, even thrown into a cistern (a kind of underground water storage tank) where he squatted in the mud for days.
Eventually the city had fallen as Jeremiah had foretold. Most of the city, including its public buildings, its temple, its palace and the city walls had all been destroyed. Most of the population who had not died in the initial attack on the city was dragged off into exile in the Babylonian empire. They were forced to live in backwater towns, where they knew almost no one and were surrounded by a hostile pagan population.
It was during this period when the Judean population was in exile that today’s passage, a letter from Jeremiah, was written. I say “a letter from Jeremiah,” but it would be more accurate to say, “a letter from God, dictated to Jeremiah.” The letter tells the exiles that they should attempt to live peaceably among the pagan population. They should encourage their children to marry and flourish in those places in the Babylonian empire. And not only that, but also the letter encourages them to pray for the prosperity of the cities in which they had been settled.
This must have seemed like strange and surprising direction being passed along by God through Jeremiah. To people who had been subjected to the siege and destruction of the Babylonian invasion, the population in the cities and towns around them must have seemed more like enemies than neighbors. So to be told to pray for the flourishing of that Babylonian population must have been downright shocking to the Hebrews who heard it.
Of course, there’s more to the letter than just that. God was promising that there would be an end to the exile and that the people would be restored to their own land. That promise was kept in 523 B.C., when the Babylonian Empire itself was conquered by the Persians. The Judean population was given permission to return to Jerusalem, although the historians tell us that the majority of the Judean population chose to remain in place where they had settled. They became, we might say, ‘Persian citizens of Jewish descent.’ And it seems that through them, the word of God spread, causing millions of pagans to become followers of the God of Israel.
The reason this passage seems to me too important to skip is that it seems to me that many followers of Jesus have a sense of being in exile in a hostile culture. It’s a hedonistic and materialistic culture, one that doesn’t seem to share the values we understand to be a part of Christian discipleship. This perception seems to be expressed more commonly by conservative Christians, but my sense is that liberal Christians feel much the same way, just from slightly different perspective.
But it seems to me we’re meant to hear what God said to the exiles through Jeremiah, and that what we hear is meant to condition how we interact with the culture around us. We could be hostile and antagonistic, but it seems to me this passage suggests that God wants us to be seeking to advance the peace and prosperity of the culture around us and to be praying for its flourishing and His blessing upon it.
When I read this passage, I can’t help thinking of some of the themes in the letters of Peter. He encourages us to think of ourselves as exiles and aliens in a foreign culture, but to live in such a way others admire our way of life and want to know more about the God who inspires it. You could try to do that by telling everybody who will listen that they’re going straight to hell unless they straighten up and “get saved.” But I think we all know it will work better to be a cheerful counterculture working for the flourishing of those around us, and demonstrating the way of life characterized by Paul’s fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, goodness, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control.
It’s interesting how much the content of this ancient letter, 2800 years old and written in the time of a national catastrophe, has to say to people who like us living in the digital age and our time and place.
Let’s pray. Lord, we pray that by the power of your Spirit at work in us we will be moved to live in such a way that our lives contribute to the flourishing of those around us, and that our way of life causes others to want to know more about the master we love and serve. In his name we pray. Amen.
Grace and peace,
Henry
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