Texts: Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Date: September 26, 2004
Rev. Dee Eisenhauer, Eagle Harbor Congregational Church


Suppose I am in the real estate business, and I've got a proposal for you.  I know you people have money, and I've got an idea for an investment for you.  Beachfront property.  Beautiful area.  White sand, blue waves, hardly any houses, not much traffic.  Well, to be honest, there are a number of fragments of houses on this beach, homes that have recently been blown off their foundations by 2, maybe 3 recent storms, well, hurricanes really.  And the traffic is way down since, well, since the roads have been drifted over with four feet of sand relocated by the tidal surge during the little weather events the last few weeks.  The property's in Pensacola Beach , Florida .  The seller is "motivated," wanting to find a buyer pretty quick, hopefully before tropical storms Jeanne and Lisa hurricanify themselves and leave their calling cards. 

So, are you interested?
No?  Well, I've got another parcel of land you should consider.  This is zoned commercial, and I think it would be a good place to build a hotel or something because there has been a lot of coming and going in the city lately.  The property's right in the heart of the city, right where all the action is.  The streets are broad and there's plenty of parking, and not a whole lot of competition in the hospitality business right now.  What an opportunity!  It's 2.5 acres, and here's a bonus, it's located right next to the police station…in Fallujah , Iraq. 

You want me to draw up the papers?
If a real live real estate agent came to you with these proposals, the most likely response would be "What are you, nuts??"  These are not very practical investments at this point in time.  Why would anyone think of sinking their hard-earned money into property in places like these right now?
I just wanted to give you a sense of the sheer lunacy of Jeremiah's action which we heard described in our scripture lesson today.  At first blush it sounds like a rather boring, more-information-than-you-really-wanted account of an ancient real estate deal.  Why would anyone besides the buyer and the seller care?  To get the real flavor of the story, you need some background information.

Jeremiah has been working as a prophet for about forty years.  He's been irritating the kings and the high priests for four decades already.  Basically his message has been that the people of God have been unfaithful to the covenant, and there will be serious consequences if the people from the humblest to the highest don't repent and get back on track.  He has been saying this sort of thing like a broken record for forty years, and King Zedekiah for one has had quite enough of it.  The King has got enough problems without this irascible prophet continually heckling him at his news conferences about how his next home is going to be a maximum security lock-up in Babylon .  So King Zedekiah has charged Jeremiah with treason and locked him up in the royal jail.

The charge of treason then, as now, was serious.  Jeremiah might be put to death if he was judged guilty, or he might not.  I don't know what kind of legal protections he might have enjoyed, or whether the powers that be were afraid to execute him in case he really was speaking for God.
At least people knew he was in jail, and knew how to find him, so it could have been worse.  Sometimes those accused of treason get buried in secrecy before they get buried, don't you know, but this doesn't appear to be the case with Jeremiah.  Jeremiah's cousin Hanamel comes to see him.  Jeremiah has been alerted by God that he's on his way.  Hanamel offers to sell Jeremiah a piece of property, since by Jewish law his kinsman had the right of first refusal.  

It was important in that social and religious culture to keep land in the family.  That convention rose out of Israel's understanding that they were God's people living on God's land, that God had given the land as a gift to Israel as fulfillment of a promise made first to Abraham.  The land was a powerful symbol of God's grace for these people, a symbol of the way God had rescued them from homelessness and brought them out of the wilderness.  Land was not bought and sold purely for profit, since it was seen as a means through which God sustained the people and provided them with some stability in the world .  Ideally, land would only change hands through family inheritance.  But if a family got so desperate they needed to sell their land, they were obligated to go first to someone within the clan.  That's what brought Hanamel to Jeremiah even though Jeremiah was in jail.

The field was in Anathoth.  You know Anathoth, don't you?  Well, think Fallujah.  You see, another thing you wouldn't necessarily know from these few verses was that after forty years of saying that Israel was going to fall to a foreign power because of its unfaithfulness, Jeremiah's prophecies were coming true.  Babylon , a virtually unstoppable military power in its heyday, was at the gates.  Jerusalem was under siege by a Babylonian king who was furious over a recent attempt at rebellion by King Zedekiah.  Within weeks or even days Jerusalem would fall and the Temple would be destroyed.  While Hanamel is visiting Jeremiah the Babylonian forces were pounding on the city gates.

Ananoth was on the way to Jerusalem for the Babylonian army.  We are not told why Hanamel wanted to sell his field, but it's likely that it has already been overrun by the Babylonian forces.  The army had probably already ravaged the countryside on the way to Jerusalem to supply the soldiers with food.  The livestock was probably already roast beast sandwiches in the rations, the orchards were picked clean, the grain harvests stripped or burned.  The farmers were clearing out; there isn't going to be any harvest there for the foreseeable future.  Hanamel might have been selling the land to finance his flight as a refugee.  He was abandoning it, as in all likelihood were all his neighbors, and that land, gift of God or not, was looking pretty worthless.  

Have I got a deal for you, Jeremiah.
How long has Jeremiah been telling people this disaster was going to happen?  Forty years.  And here it is happening just like he and the Lord said.  Seems like a good opportunity for a giant "I told you so," does it not?  Further, it seems like an excellent time, if given the chance, to abandon the sinking ship with the rest of the rats.  And he'd probably want every last red cent he had to finance his flight out of town, the further the better.

So what does Jeremiah the prophet do?  Buys the land from his cousin, and in a very public way has the transaction signed, sealed and notarized, and makes use of the best technology for document storage to keep the deed safe so future generations will know what he did.  And when he explains himself, this prophet who usually speaks in paragraphs before ever pausing for breath, for once his words are few and precise: "Life is going to return to normal.  Homes and fields and vineyards are again going to be bought in this country."

This is what the scholars call a "prophetic symbolic act."  This is an act that symbolizes pure hope.  It's not a sermon about hope, it's not a poem about hope or a prayer about hope.  It's a concrete act of hope in the most concrete realm of economics and real estate.  Things are bad now, you betcha.  But they are going to be back to normal one day, and God is not abandoning our land even though we are tempted to abandon it. 

Cash on the barrel head for a field that is currently overrun by foreign invaders.  Crazy.  Brilliant.  The prophet invests in the future with more than words, staking his claim on God's promise of restoration with nothing less than his wallet.  Putting his money where his mouth is.  You've got to admire the guy's chutzpah, even if you raise an eyebrow about his business sense.

He doesn't seem too wound up about hanging on to his cash as a means of securing security, does he?  In our culture we take action to shelter our cash because we're pretty sure money is going to shelter us.  Jeremiah, that nut, actually seems to believe the words of Psalm 91, about living in the shelter of the Most High.    He didn't just say the words about God being his shelter while keeping all his cash on hand as a backup; he in essence sent his money ahead into the future as a sign that he believed God was his ultimate shelter both now and later. 
The lectionary epistle lesson for today puts "riches" in the same sentence with "uncertainty," rather jarring to the contemporary mind which always wants to link wealth with certainty about future security.   "As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life." [1 Timothy 6:17-19].  The good foundation for the future, the life that really is life has to do not with the uncertainty of riches but with a profound trust in God that is expressed in real life with nothing less than one's wallet.  Jeremiah demonstrated his trust and figuratively laid his brick in the foundation for the future of God's people by his prophetic action.

In this day and age, when there are so many demands on our resources, investing in the ministry of a church or putting money into a church building amounts to a prophetic act.  Just think about it.  We're not in the exact same situation Jeremiah was in-we're not in an armed conflict on our property, nor about to be bundled off into exile for an indefinite period of time.  However, there are some who would look at making a significant capital investment in a 108 year old wooden building in a rainy climate as a little loopy. And it's not just the building.  Lots of our friends and neighbors have long ago given up "organized religion" and look a little askance at those of us who continue to be part of any church community, and no doubt think we're really wacky to give such a community real money that could be used for comforts for our families.  Even those of us who are committed to the faith community probably have doubts from time to time about whether this thing called church is going to survive another generation.  Face it; our church growth has not kept up with population growth, and in the mainline Protestant church membership has been shrinking for 30 years.  What we're facing is not as serious or immediate as an invading army banging on the city gates, as in Jeremiah's day; but it's no horizon of obvious security and prosperity, either.

Imagine God is saying to us, "Have I got a deal for you."  Look at this territory called Church that I have entrusted to you.  Sure, lots of people think it's a worthless property.  Lots of people think you should abandon it as a lost cause.  But I'm offering you an opportunity to invest your heart, soul, and even a portion of what you have in your wallet in this property, this people, that is still a sign of my grace.  I have big plans for this property and this people.  This is one of my outposts, one my refuges from the scourge of materialism that is decimating my people.  This is one of my colonies from another world.  This is one my broadcast stations that is quietly and steadily broadcasting the cadence of a different drummer than the dominant rhythm of conformity.  This is one my shelters, a warm place of love and acceptance desperately needed in a cold world.  I need this property and this people, here, now, and at the end of the lifespan of the fifty-year year roof you've got a bid for, and at the end of the roof after that and the roof after that.  

Now, we can take the money we've been entrusted with and we can invest it in securities and mutual funds and real estate and all those things that people with good business sense encourage us to invest in.  And we should probably do that with some of our money.  But Good Business Sense isn't what saves us from hopelessness.  Securities aren't real security.  Big Bank Accounts aren't what gives life meaning and purpose. Hope, love, ultimate security, meaning, purpose--that's God's territory, and God has issued an investment invitation in a lot in that territory.  God knows and we do, too, that in order for that hope to be made concrete in our lives and the lives of our neighbors and our descendents and the descendents of our neighbors that we have to put something as concrete as real money into it.    

That's the beauty of Jeremiah's prophetic symbolic action.  His investing in the land as a sign that God was still Lord of the future tangibilitated his hope and made visible his trust.  Do you believe that such prophetic symbolic action is still possible in our day?  Then have I got a deal for you.