Given By Rev. Madison Shockley September 29, 2019
Everyone understands the difficult and complicated process of selling a house. The reading today details such a sale. Jeremiah is offered some property by his cousin who needs the money. This was not a normal transaction though. During this period, Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians. Jeremiah was trapped and soon the Babylonians would storm the city and take them as slaves. The property was deep in already captured territory in Judea. Yet, Jeremiah bought the property as a sign and symbol that one day, God would redeem Israel, bring them out of captivity,, return them to the promised land, and they would flourish. Jeremiah was doing a short sale. He had faith that after their punishment, the people would be restored. Progressive Christianity is like Jeremiah. We are constantly pointing out how wrong things are. God will punish those who do injustice to others. Things must change. We preach all this bad news but we also have faith. The troubles we face today are nothing new. Do not be discouraged. Our faith will be rewarded. Our faith asks us to love our enemies. Try it. Love is stronger than hate. We trust in our faith. We are preaching the long game.
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