Advent 1: Hope Jeremiah Style

Hope is a word that is often used – I hope it rains or I hope we find a carpark, or I hope we make it on time. a child might say I hope we have spaghetti for tea.

Sometimes it seems we use the word hope when we mean wish.

““Hope is a feeling of desire and expectation that things will go well in the future”  ^[i], or to “expect with confidence” ^[ii]

Jeremiah is writing while imprisoned. Jeremiah was a prophet; he lived and spoke God’s word even when it made him unpopular.

Jeremiah spoke of the impending doom because of the sins of the people; “unethical economic practices, violating the Sabbath, sacrificing young children”; these actions, and others, hurt not only God’s people, but the land itself. ^[iii]

Jeremiah had predicted the coming destruction and exile, and the King of Judah puts Jeremiah in prison. [iv]

Jeremiah spoke the word of God, both messages of doom and messages of hope. In the midst of turmoil, where leaders were in exile, the people of Jerusalem who were still in the city were running out of food and water and Jeremiah was in prison, he spoke the words of hope we heard this morning.

This is not hope that things will return to how they were.

This is not wishful thinking.

Here Jeremiah anticipates the future messiah, the future saving by the hand of God. He announces what will be.

Jerusalem will hear the laughter of celebration; the land will be productive; the king will rule with justice and people will live in peace.

Hope is not necessarily happiness. Hope is trusting on God’s promises. Putting our faith in what is possible, even when it seems impossible.

A little earlier in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah buys a field. Who buys land when you are about to be overthrown by a neighbouring empire? [v]

Jeremiah did not speak of hope, he lived in hope and acted on that hope.

I have a story book now – A Child’s Garden: A Story of Hope.

The theme of advent 1 is hope. I wonder how hopeful the people effected by the ongoing drought are. I wonder how hopeful the people who have lost homes and animals and livelihoods and loved ones in the bushfires are feeling this advent.

In Advent we wait, with the people of Israel who waited, who yearned for a different future.

In Advent we wait, not just for the birth of the baby Jesus, though that is important, but we also wait for the coming of Jesus, day after day;

that our living may more closely resemble the life of Jesus

that we may see the signs of the kingdom, the green shoots of new life that grow in the midst of despair and turmoil.

And just as the boy in the story watered, protected and cared for the green shoots, we need to not only wait for a new future, but to actively work towards God’s promised future.

“In Advent, the church proclaims an alternative reality that grows out of confidence in God’s righteousness. The promise of God’s righteousness both convicts and makes new. Advent invites us to name the places in our lives and society that are at odds with the divine vision of justice and righteousness. There may be a wide gap between what is and what we wish were so. And yet the promise of Advent is that the Lord is our righteousness. This promise allows us to proclaim an alternative reality in which all things will be made new.” [vi]

This advent, what will you do in the waiting?

The waiting for God’s Kingdom – a kingdom of love, forgiveness, reconciliation over self-preservation. [vii]

“Advent is not about what God will do in spite of us
 or about waiting to be saved,
but about what God will do through us and
within us to save the world.”[viii]

How will you be like Jeremiah, not only speaking hope, but actively living into the hope we have in God.

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[i] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hope

[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope

[iii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4219

[iv] https://www.monasticpastor.com/2019/11/good-days-coming.html?fbclid=IwAR1umvrv8R9WP3g1teQ_JewzkYPKAlwl211n3n_zuMQoZtARKyEpMTshZfY

[v] Kathryn M. Schifferdecker | 2 Comments

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=448

[vi] Anne Stewart | 1 Comme

http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2693

[vii] https://www.pulpitfiction.com/narrative-notes/2-13?fbclid=IwAR1QH7lJisqwgp-zLesFdLkmIbjgf4INYanBJPJp73ecsn6fgI_9aUuB9K8

[viii] https://www.pulpitfiction.com/narrative-notes/2-13?fbclid=IwAR1QH7lJisqwgp-zLesFdLkmIbjgf4INYanBJPJp73ecsn6fgI_9aUuB9K8