On Living in Babylon

• 21st Sunday After Pentecost
with Luke 17:11-19 and Jeremiah 29:4-7

www.FirstChurchBville.com   @FirstUMCBville   @kerrfunk

• Luke 17:17, a favorite Halloween costume standby:
A button that reads “1/10” printed large,
with “Luke 17:17” printed small.

(think about it)

Some vocabulary from the Luke passage:

Verse 13 Have mercy. Eleison. Act with compassion.
Relieve my affliction.

Verse 14 ekatharsia purify, cleanse, remove impurity (also v17)
and as The Voice points out (augments, amplifies, annotates)
restores dignity & community connection to the outcast.

Verse 19 sesoke, same root as word “savior” (sozo). SAVE.
Original request: Relieve affliction. 

SALVATION offered AS WELL AS cleansing.

• I intended to go more here, but found the Jeremiah passage from the lectionary speaks to end of the week events.

Donald Trump’s pornographic remarks from years ago brings up at least two responses: the man shouldn’t be allowed to run for POTUS – from both sides! – AND the man should be forgiven, judge not, let the one without sin cast the first stone.
Both responses have been heard.

Seems to me no matter what, there will be some disappointed people in four weeks’ time. Actually seems could be a dangerous time, whoever wins. Some will be living in undesirable territory.

Like the people of Jeremiah’s time. They had witnessed (historically) the destruction of the northern kingdom 135 years earlier – but God had saved Jerusalem. And now Jerusalem destroyed and a fraction of its people marched 500 miles away.
The people are hungry for a word of hope.
Will God be with us ever again?
Will God rescue his people and strike down the Babylonians?

The people look at the current times and the political landscape and cry Lord save us. Have mercy. Kyrie eleison. Send us Emmanuel, savior.

• And Jeremiah, pastor-prophet, delivers a message to the people:
Settle. Move in. Plant gardens, have families.
Focus on me instead of where you are, in spite of where you are.
Learn that my presence and my power is not tied to geography or circumstances. Don’t worry.

• Some are going to be worrying way to election,
and some will be worried disappointed afterward.

But who is God?

• I think of Jesus’ words in John 15:5 :

Abide in me. Those who abide in me bear much fruit.
Apart from me you can do nothing.

Carried away to Babylon? Abide in me.
Worried about election? Abide in me.

It only takes the faith of a mustard seed.
I put myself into your hands, Lord.          

Turn to the Covenant prayer, hymnal 607

• Hymn 66 Praise My Soul the King of Heaven.

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 (The Voice)

29 The prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the rest who had been taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. ² (This was after King Jeconiah of Judah and his mother had been taken into exile, along with servants of the court, officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and many of the craftsmen and artisans.) ³ The letter was hand-carried by Elasah (son of Shaphan) and Gemariah (son of Hilkiah), whom Zedekiah king of Judah dispatched to Babylon on a diplomatic mission to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Jeremiah’s Letter: ⁴ This is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies and God of Israel, says to those He exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ “Build houses—make homes for your families because you are not coming back to Judah anytime soon. Plant gardens, and eat the food you grow there. ⁶ Marry and have children; find wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, so that they can have children. During these years of captivity, let your families grow and not die out. ⁷ Pursue the peace and welfare of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to Me, the Eternal, for Babylon because if it has peace, you will live in peace.”  X

Luke 17:11-19 (The Voice) 

11 Jesus was still pressing toward Jerusalem, taking a road that went along the border between Samaria (considered undesirable territory) and Galilee. ¹² On the outskirts of a border town along this road, He was greeted from a distance by a group of ten people who were under quarantine because of an ugly and disgusting skin disease known as leprosy.

Lepers (shouting across the distance): ¹³ Jesus, Master, show mercy to us!

Jesus: ¹⁴ Go now and present yourselves to the priests for inspection of your disease.

They went, and before they reached the priests, their skin disease was healed, leaving no trace of the disease that scarred them and separated them from the community.

¹⁵ One of them, the instant he realized he had been healed, turned and ran back to Jesus, shouting praises to God. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself facedown at Jesus’ feet.

Leper: Thank You! Thank You!

-- Now this fellow happened to be, not a Jew, but a Samaritan. --

Jesus: ¹⁷ Didn’t all ten receive the same healing this fellow did?
Where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Was the only one who came back to give God praise an outsider? ¹⁹ (to the Samaritan man) Get up, and go your way. Your faith has made you healthy again. X