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Working through the prophet Jeremiah in my own devotions has led me to an interesting Lenten reflection... Imagine the headlines "God is going to destroy the church"... what sort of furore would it create?
Yet this is akin to the message that Jeremiah brought to Israel: God is going to destroy you and remove you from the promised land, all at the hand of a godless nation. Seems bizarre. Do you think the Israelites would be predisposed to such a message? Of course not. The promised land was an integral part of their story. It was the place given as God's promise to their ancestor Abraham. It was the place to which the people were brought after being freed from slavery. It was the place where the temple was standing - a reminder of God's ongoing presence. It was the site of David's palace, with its reminders of great victories given by God. For Jeremiah to call Israel to leave it behind was tantamount to treason and heresy. This was the source of life. Yet Jeremiah tells the people that life will only be found in exile. Death will come to all who stay.
This required some new thinking. To leave behind that which came as the fruit of God's promise... why? Because the new could come only when the old was gone. The best could come only when the good had been removed. In spite of the Jewish hope for a messianic return to Jerusalem, they must leave if they ever wish to see it. To fight to stay would be to choose death.
Now how does this link in with Lent? Lent is the time when we are invited to examine our lives afresh. Instinctively our minds are turned to the sins which still beset us, and unhealthy attitudes. But what if the way forward was to let go of something God had blessed us with in the past? What if the way forward required us to let go of something good, something which was a real blessing?
In a critical moment with the disciples, Jesus had to challenge them in the same vein. When Peter tried to dissuade Jesus from this whole die-and-be-raised-again thing, Jesus rebukes him in the strongest way, then goes on to say that only those who lose their lives for the kingdom will gain life, and those who try to save their lives will lose it. In other words, to try and hold on to past blessings may actually destroy us.
Consider Jesus' own end. He was stripped of everything: his clothes, his friends... his last act was to hand responsibility for his mother over to one of the disciples. He lost everything at that point. And yet much more was gained. It was not a path Jesus readily welcomed (remember Gethsemane?) yet he followed it knowing that it was God's call.
Herein lies a major Lenten challenge: to be prepared to set aside not only the bad, but the good, in the hope of realising the path to something even better.
What might that be for each of us?
Posted by gary at March 5, 2006 08:33 PM
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