A reflection on Jeremiah 31:7-14 and Psalm 147:12-20 for the Second Sunday After Christmas Day, January 2, 2022.
For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labour, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.’
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says the Lord.
Jeremiah 31:7-14 (NRSVA)
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
He grants peace within your borders;
he fills you with the finest of wheat.
He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down hail like crumbs—
who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 147:12-20 (NRSVA)
Jeremiah begins with a call to prayer:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
‘Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
It is, like our psalm, a song of praise – a celebration. It is not, however, a celebration of what God has done. Rather, it is one anticipating what God will do. This is an invitation to sing in faith.
An invitation to respond to what is to come.
For a people in captivity, the seer’s vision is good news – and one worth taking to God in prayer. God is promising their return – despite their brokenness and the vast strength of their oppressors. God is envisioning a straight path back to the promised land and reaffirming what was always true – God’s relationship with God’s people:
‘I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.’
God never abandoned Israel. God was never an absent ‘Father’. It may have felt very much like God was not present, but it was never true. The prophet’s words affirm this reality- which is surely an acknowledgment that it is a needed perspective.
In captivity – or any other situation where we suffer a lack of control – it is hard to trust that God has not abandoned us.
Perhaps the most striking stanzas in this whole passage point Israel in this direction. They assure that God is not re-entering their community or coming back beside them. God – strangely – was with them all along. God was beside them in both the ‘scattering’ and ‘gathering’:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.’
It reminds me of the famous words of the Catholic mystic, Lady Julian of Norwich who boldly wrote of the grace of God in the following terms: ‘First the fall, and then the recovery. Both are the mercy of God’.
How often we are tempted to imagine God’s abandonment of us when we ‘fall’. It is never true. The grace of God encompasses our failure as much as our ‘ransom’. We may abandon God – but God never participates in this with us.
The Apostle Paul also pointed us to such a reality while writing to his missionary apprentice, Timothy. It is worth taking to heart:
‘…if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.’
God is faithful – even in exile.
Conversation Starters:
Are there aspects of your life where you feel the presence of God is absent? What if this is not true?
Have you ever dared to imagine that the mercy of God is demonstrated not only in salvation – but also as you sin, fail, and fall? Why do you think this is so difficult to accept?
How might you apply this insight to the church community – not simply to you as an individual? Have you ever witnessed God working even in the failing church?