Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Chapter 29, “apparently, many of those prophesying in that day predicted a quick and easy end to the time of exile. Not Jeremiah..”get on with your lives,” Jeremiah says, “don’t just sit there, don’t’ give up or give in, live fully even when you are in exile.” No one who lives by the values of Jesus or longs for that image of the Divine Realm that Isaiah foretold can help but feel like you are living in exile. We live out our lives in a culture whose true gods are money, power and wealth, and whose true religion is capitalism….How could anyone who believes the vision and values of Jesus NOT feel like they are living in exile? Do you find the news discouraging?....Do you feel like a “stranger in a strange land?” GOOD! You are living in an age where we are exiled from how life truly should be and Jeremiah says that in such a time we cannot resort to isolation or succumb to despair. We cannot simply dream of the by-and-by and of the “future with hope” God promises later in this passage. No, we must engage the culture and try to improve it; we must pray for it and work for its welfare. We may not live to see God’s reign come on earth in our lifetime, but, even in exile, we must no lose hope. It is not given to us by our circumstances; it is given to us by our God.”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Chapter 29, “apparently, many of those prophesying in that day predicted a quick and easy end to the time of exile. Not Jeremiah..”get on with your lives,” Jeremiah says, “don’t just sit there, don’t’ give up or give in, live fully even when you are in exile.” No one who lives by the values of Jesus or longs for that image of the Divine Realm that Isaiah foretold can help but feel like you are living in exile. We live out our lives in a culture whose true gods are money, power and wealth, and whose true religion is capitalism….How could anyone who believes the vision and values of Jesus NOT feel like they are living in exile? Do you find the news discouraging?....Do you feel like a “stranger in a strange land?” GOOD! You are living in an age where we are exiled from how life truly should be and Jeremiah says that in such a time we cannot resort to isolation or succumb to despair. We cannot simply dream of the by-and-by and of the “future with hope” God promises later in this passage. No, we must engage the culture and try to improve it; we must pray for it and work for its welfare. We may not live to see God’s reign come on earth in our lifetime, but, even in exile, we must no lose hope. It is not given to us by our circumstances; it is given to us by our God.”
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