Jeremiah 31.27-34; Luke 18.1-8
When we lived in northern Wisconsin, I owned an 18-ft white fiberglass canoe … it was a beauty … a lot of fun … lake fishing … running the rivers …
We had some decent white water, and I’d go out with a friend for the day …
We knew the rivers, changing depth of water, whether we had rain recently, or not; winter run-off … on the quite stretches of the river, we’d relax … let the current take us … when approaching some serious water, we’d beach the canoe, walk ahead to look ahead, to see if we could scope out a safe way through the rapids … without damaging the canoe, or capsizing …
Looking ahead proved helpful, but not entirely so … there was no way of really knowing until we were on the water … and then, it was a lot of quick thinking and fast paddling …
What lies ahead for any of us?
That’s the direction we’re headed in … no one is going backward … forward is the only option …
And so we come to Jeremiah … writing to people in tough times … encouraging them to look ahead … look ahead for the better day … be a wild-eyed optimist - not foolishly so, but faithfully so, because God is the future God .. from the future, God touches the present … from the future, God speaks to us … from the future, Christ beckons - to put our hand to the plow and not look back! Onward to the future.
Jeremiah writes:
In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.
What in the world is Jeremiah talking about?
Let’s do some work … you’ve heard the commandment, wherein the LORD God says: for the iniquity of the parents, I will punish the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me.
Which is to say, the failure of one generation has consequences for generations to follow … history makes it clear: we pay the debts of those who came before us … we know that to be true!
But such thinking became a handy excuse … an excuse to do nothing: blame it on the past - it’s my parent’s fault … I had lousy teachers … the times were against me … I didn’t get fair breaks … any or all of that may be true, but is that the whole story?
It became a cliche: The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
Jeremiah says, Nope, you can’t say that. What another generation did, or failed to do, is no excuse for you to do nothing. And don’t get smart about it; you’ll leave your own mess for another generation to clean up. You can always do something, because the future is open!
We’ve got possibilities … always, possibilities … always a way through … whatever the moment, whatever the limits, whatever the difficulties, we can find our way through.
A friend of mine recently asked of my study group: “What do you hope to accomplish in the next five years?”
One of the members replied, “You’re assuming we’ll still be here!”
And we laughed. And we agreed … being on the older side of things, the future is a whole lot shorter for us than our past.
Yet, as the poet, Langston Hughes said: “Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”
In our youth, we can hardly wait to grow up.
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
School, graduation, a driver’s license, a diploma … a job … marriage and family … we work hard to make a living, we work hard to make a life … and then, one day, the clock ticks loud … calendar pages fall like autumn leaves … we face the inevitable end of our lives.
The Christian Faith encompasses all of life … the Christian Faith climbs the highest mountains, and plumbs the deepest graves … with good reason, we say of Christ, crucified, dead and buried; he descended into hell. In dealing with the worst, Christ has the right to talk about the best!
Death does not have the final word … death cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our LORD … as the poet says, Death, be not proud!
A little girl asked her mother, “Will my Grampa be in heaven?”
Her grampa had just died.
Her mother, a theologian … quickly realized a theological lecture would not do, so the mother simply said to her daughter, “Everyone you love will be there.”
My theology professor, a man of learning and wisdom, fluent in many languages, a scholar of renown, an expert canoeist, said in a lecture, “I’ll be canoeing in heaven.”
He explained: “I believe all the good things God has given to us here and now will be there, too.”
In heaven, we’ll still be human beings … we will love what we’ve always loved … our children, our flowers, good food, a shelf of books, and some stories to tell - all the things that enrich our lives and give us depth of character.
We look ahead for the new day:
In politics, we look for new solutions to ancient problems … new answers to primordial questions … new technology to improve how we live with one another and manage the world in which we live.
In religion, we look for God’s presence - in new forms and places … we discover, God is God, always and forever, but always in surprising ways … God makes sturdy clothing for Adam and Eve on their way out of the Garden … God parts the Sea so the people of Israel can head for the Promised Land … God sends manna in the morning, and quail at night … God is the cloud leading the way, the pillar of fire guarding the night … God born in Bethlehem and dying on Calvary, God in the tomb, and God raised from the dead … God always on the road, here and there and in between … God of love, God of hope, God of life, God of death, God of the resurrection and the life everlasting.
In the days of our life, from the first breath to the last, to be those who look ahead … to the bright sun of Christ, to the work that must be done while the day is upon us … to be informed by the news, and transformed by the good news … to put our hands to the plow, and not look back … to make Christ our priority …
To look ahead …
In the short run, so we can be faithful.
In the long run, so we can hopeful.
Pete Seeger said it well:
I can see a new day
A new day soon to be
When the storm clouds are all passed
And the sun shines on a world that is free … Amen and Amen!
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