Buying a Field for the Future

We stopped at a local funeral home last evening to give our condolences to a neighbour whose husband died earlier this week. As we stood by the open casket I noticed that the deceased man had a working watch on his left wrist that was precisely on time, the second hand moving steadily around the watch face. It seemed disingenuous to see a moving hand, albeit mechanical, in a casket.

But it made me think about how time moves ahead without respect for life or death, peace or war, order or chaos, good times or bad times. It is easy to over-focus on our present circumstances and lose the perspective of the past as well as hope for the future. 

Our pastor is teaching from the Book of Daniel in the adult Bible class. He completely avoids current political commentary and disallows divisive questions and comments from the class. He had a history degree before going to seminary and likes to illustrate that political turmoil, national divisions and international conflicts have always existed. Bad leaders rise and fall. And time goes on.

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem- Rembrandt (1630)

Last week, the Old Testament lesson was from Jeremiah 32. The king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem. Siege ramps had been built and famine, disease and death were rampant within the city walls. Zedekiah, the king of Judah had imprisoned Jeremiah in the courtyard of the royal guard because of his doomsday prophecies. The city of Jerusalem would soon be set on fire and Israel with go into exile. But Jeremiah was instructed by God to buy a field in the territory of Benjamin for seventeen shekels of silver. What a bad real estate deal! Verses 14 and 15 in the chapter say,

‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

The current news cycle is hard to ignore and people are worried about the future. Little leaders are making big shadows during their relatively short times in power. Nations will continue to rise and fall as they have in the past. I cannot let these things consume me. I want to live with optimism for the future for the sake of the children and grandchildren of my generation. I want to "buy a field" and promise them that change is inevitable but life will go on.

The attempt to throw Jesus off a cliff-
Steel engraving by Alexandre Bida 1853

The Gospel lesson two weeks ago was from the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Jesus read a scroll in his home synagogue in Nazareth quoting the prophet Isaiah.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour."

In championing the poor and weak, Jesus was maligned by the religious leaders of the day. The people in Nazareth tried to throw Jesus off a cliff when he said he had fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy. 

It is sad to see how the desire for power and wealth, at the expense of the poor, continues to feed corruption in governments, churches and other places of power. Our hope for the future must be for the good of all mankind, not just a select few.

These themes are repeated frequently in literature and the arts. We are watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy this week, a story inspired by Tolkien's grasp of history and legend along with his experiences in World War 1. The journey toward justice, freedom and healing may be slow and marked by sacrifice but we must demonstrate hopeful perseverance for a better future.