Preached at Christ Church, Billericay on 2 January 2022
Readings: Jeremiah 31:7-14, John 1:10-18
Introduction
I’m going to look at each of these readings separately, then think a little about the common theme they both express – “Children of God”.
Jeremiah – prophet of Doom
We don’t hear a lot about Jeremiah in our regular lectionary readings, so it’s worth a quick recap. Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry began in Judah in 626 B.C. His prophecies ended in 580 B.C. and occurred during the reign of Josiah (640–609) Jehoahaz (609), Jehoiakim (609–598), Jehoiachin (598–597) and Zedekiah (597–586). This was the time of the rise of Babylon, and the destruction of Assyria. Josiah was sympathetic to Jeremiah and listened to him, but the following kings were hostile. That maybe because Jeremiah was known as a prophet of doom. He had heard from God what was coming and relayed it faithfully to the leaders, it was mainly an unpopular message.
Not this time
That’s not true of our reading today. It starts “Sing with Joy for Jacob” because the scattered exiles are coming home. God is bringing his Children home. There is quite a debate about the ‘land of the North’ in verse 8. Some say Babylon, because although Babylon is to the east, the armies would have approached Israel from the north. Some say that it’s Assyria, because Assyria is at least in the stated direction, and it generally fits better with the timeline than Babylon.
Favour Assyria
Another reason to favour Assyria is the following words, “Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labour”. The Assyrians, in particular, had been exceedingly cruel towards pregnant women: now the women with child, and those in labour, joined the great throng of returning exiles. God is redeeming the specific hurts that the Israelites have suffered.
Abundance and Joy
The main message of the passage is one of redemption, and the promise of a better life. This is what God wants for his children. It was promised before as ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’. It’s a similar message here in verse 12 “they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD— the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.”
In this war torn land there is to be an extended time of peace. You cannot benefit from the fruit of the vine until the fourth year according to Jewish law, so that gives about five years of peace.
When the time arrives, these things will be a great cause of celebration and joy.
Start of John
The start of John’s gospel is completely different to the start of the other three. Instead of the readers finding out who Jesus is by following his birth stories, John sets it from the very beginning. There it is in verses 1 and 2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”
Straight away we know that Jesus, the Word, is God. Two thirds of the trinity is already established, and one of the biggest questions of the other gospels, - ‘who is this man?’ is answered. Then we are introduced to John the Baptist, a man who John’s readers may have heard of, so that the gospel is set in a time and place that the readers can relate to.
How to recognise God
Then we come to our reading (v10-11) “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
How would you recognise someone in this world, who had made this world? It seems obvious that you couldn’t.
Discworld
In Terry Pratchet’s Discworld novels, there is a planet made by the wizards called round world – it’s supposed to be planet earth. It is kept in a glass dome in the Unseen University, where it is looked after by one particularly incompetent wizard. In one story, they need to make some changes to the way the society on 'round world' is operating, so they magic themselves into the round world. They, of course, look just like the people there, and no one knows who they are. Needless to say, the wizard's attempts are hilarious and disastrous. It’s an entertaining story.
Atheists invent God
Don’t you just love the way that atheists have to invent God to make their view of the universe work – but that’s an aside, the point is the ‘natives’ of 'round world' cannot spot the gods (small g) who are invading them.
Real world
In 'real world', where we are, our real God has the same problem. He needs to adjust the way things are going, and to do that He needs to be here. The difference is that Pratchet’s gods did not want to be known, but our real God does, because He knows that the only way to affect real change in His world is to go and show the ‘natives’ (us) how life should be lived.
So, he has a problem, how will He be recognised, as He will have to look just like us, but behave just a little differently.
Well, God has been speaking to people the whole time, through prophets, like Jeremiah, trying to direct them in the way they live, and in the way they relate to other nations. So there is plenty of evidence (the whole Old Testament, and some other writings) for the people at the time of Jesus’s arrival to recognise who he is.
If you know …
If you know what God is like, if you’ve read the scriptures carefully and prayerfully, if you have understood how He wants you to live to get the best out of your existence, you should recognise Jesus for who He is. And some did.
v12-13
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Adopted Children
Paul says that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.” Sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture, and applies to all those who recognise Jesus.
Grand children
I have seven grandchildren:
one that is starting to have more adult conversations;
one that is becoming a good mimic;
one that is the class clown;
one that is empathetic, even with my dog;
one that has a world of their own and invites me in;
one that has just come running up to me for the first time with arms in the air saying ‘grandad’;
one that just smiles and grins and smiles.
Delight
I delight in each one of them, in their own different ways, I look for them to grow and to flourish in whatever they enjoy doing and encourage them as much as I’m able. I’m sure that I’m not unusual in that respect, so if I can know and delight in my grandchildren that I see relatively infrequently (especially recently), just imagine how God, our creator and adopter delights in each of us, whom he knows intimately. This is where we put ourselves when we recognise Jesus as the son of God, which He is because John says “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (v14)
Jeremiah 31:9
In our Old Testament reading, God describes Himself as Israel's father, and Ephraim as his firstborn son. The picture is the same as in the reading from John. God has always cared for and delighted in His children.
That should be an encouragement to us, and is a good reason for us to celebrate, as we head into an uncertain 2022.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “Man’s chief purpose is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” So, if you’re making new year’s resolutions, try something like “This year I’m going to enjoy God’s love for me more and more”
Then we will truly begin to understand what it means to be a child of God.
Amen.
