The Promise of Something to Hold

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land [Jeremiah 32:14-15].

In the late summer of 1977, one year after Jane and I had returned to Gastonia following my law school graduation, we decided that I’d take a short break from law practice in order that we might head down to Atlanta for a long weekend. Sunday morning, while we were still snoozing in “Hot-lanta,” Jane’s parents took Anna to church, dropping her off as we ordinarily would have in the toddler’s area at First UMC. They went on into the sanctuary. Soon thereafter—we don’t know exactly how—Anna fell while playing, cutting a nice gash between her upper lip and nose. One attendant rushed to the sanctuary to find Jane and me but, of course, we weren’t there. Another summoned one of several pediatricians who were members of the church. He quickly confirmed that Anna needed some stitches.

Still looking for us, the attendant asked Anna where we were. Between sobs, she said, “Lana.” Someone then recalled that Anna had been dropped off by Jane’s dad and so Jane’s parents were located, as well as Jane’s brother, Alan, and our sister-in-law, Nancy. The latter two volunteered to drive the now hysterical Anna to the ER for the necessary treatment.

With Anna loudly protesting that she wanted Mama, Jane’s own mom, whom the grandchildren called “Lu,” calmly bent down, kissed Anna on her forehead, gave her a tube of lipstick, and said, “Now Anna, as long as you hang onto my lipstick, everything will be fine.”

The promise of something to hold: With Lu’s tangible reassurance in Anna’s tight little fist, our daughter was driven to the hospital, where she endured the the strange surroundings, the lidocaine, and the stitches, all with relative calm. To be sure, she still fretted and fussed a bit. Alan and Nancy would later report, however, that she acted bravely. Yet until she saw Lu again several hours later, while we were still frantically driving back from Atlanta, Anna held onto that tube of lipstick.

In 588 B.C.E., the House of Judah, particularly those who lived in Jerusalem, needed the promise of something to hold. In the Old Testament lesson appointed for this upcoming Sunday, Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 [the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year C], we see that Jerusalem is undergoing its second siege. The inhabitants don’t know it, but the city will be overrun and destroyed in less than one year.

Not only is the city under seize, but the prophet Jeremiah is being held captive in the “court of the guard” [32:2]. He’s being confined by his own leaders because he has been the bearer of bad news. He’s told King Zedekiah that the city will be destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Jeremiah’s “news” includes the additional fact that King Zedekiah will be captured and carried back to Babylon. Bad news travels fast and furiously.

Yahweh, who knows what lies ahead for Judah and Jerusalem, then tells Jeremiah something that hits the ear as a non sequitur. Yahweh tells Jeremiah that his cousin, Hanamel, will come to the prophet saying, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours” [32:7]. Moreover, Yahweh tells Jeremiah that when Hanamel asks Jeremiah to buy the field, the prophet is to buy it.

Had I been Jeremiah, I likely would have said something marvelously intelligent like, “Say what?”

I might have added something like, “Yahweh, the barbarians are at the gates. Our days are numbered—You’ve said so. Are you seriously wanting to talk about real estate? Based on the impending disaster, no one in their right mind is buying property.”

Yahweh understands something that Jeremiah and those around him cannot yet fathom, overwhelmed as they are by the impending doom. Yahweh knows that they need the promise of something to hold, something to remind them that there is still to be a future, even if suffering separates that future from the present.

There, in the midst of Jerusalem’s impending destruction, Jeremiah makes an investment in Judah’s eventual restoration, when “houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” [32:15]. Using today’s investment language, with faith in Yahweh’s promise of tomorrow, Jeremiah is “going long.” The remainder of this week’s OT reading gives us the detailed nuts and bolts of land transfer at the Jerusalem “Register of Deeds” office.

To be sure, Jeremiah’s act of purchasing the property does not negate Yahweh’s word of judgment. Indeed, Jerusalem’s fate is sealed; it will be conquered. Judah’s king will be carried off as a slave. Yet, in the middle of catastrophe, Yahweh introduces a strong symbol of hope. As a preacher friend has said in his pulpit, “Jeremiah put his money where his mouth was.”

Jeremiah’s careful fulfillment of Yahweh’s command points to Yahweh’s careful attention to a future that seems all too distant and all too tenuous. And yet, for Jeremiah, the hope is certain. Moreover, Jeremiah’s careful observance of all the customary legalities gives the witnesses to the transaction a strong word: They aren’t present just to witness a real estate transaction. They are witnesses to the future redemption of the people by a LORD who always keeps His promises, even when the children of Israel do not. In sort, Yahweh has given Jeremiah—indeed, has given all of Judah—the promise of something to hold.

In time, the people would be allowed to return to Jerusalem. They’d have to start over. They’d have to rebuild the Temple. They also will need to rebuild their society and their relationship with Yahweh. Yet, for many years, they will remember the old days. They’ll remember their former disobedience. They will remember how they broke Yahweh’s heart. And they will remember the power of Yahweh’s promise, that in the face of utter devastation, Yahweh had given Jeremiah something to hold, some tangible evidence that things would eventually turn around.

Alas, long after Jeremiah’s death, the people would again fall into their old habits. They would turn from Yahweh to “ungods” — money, politics, social standing, and the like. Relying upon themselves instead of Yahweh, they would come under the thumb of the Roman authorities, who were, after all, quite good at exercising earthly, human powers. They would ignore Yahweh because they were busy. They would take Yahweh for granted because they were successful. They would turn their hearts from Yahweh because they trusted their own plans, not His.

And yet, Yahweh’s promises would always hold true. His love for Creation was/is as strong as it ever. As the first century of the common era dawned, the people in Palestine—no, the people of the entire world—needed the promise of something to hold. Yahweh responds with His only Son. While Yahweh earlier withheld Isaac, the son of Abraham, providing another sacrifice in Isaac’s place, Yahweh would not withhold His own Son, who took on our sin, though He knew no sin. Jesus Christ would become our scapegoat, assuring humanity that anyone who trusted and believed in the Light, anyone who embraced the Son, would in turn be embraced with boundless Love.

In His last days, Jesus Christ, knowing that he would soon die, that he would be raised from the dead, and later ascend to the Father, knew that Creation needed the promise of something permanent to hold. And so, He told his band of followers that He would give them something that would sustain them, that would nurture and undergird them, no matter what. This gift would provide them with assurance of God’s Love and Concern. That gift, of course, is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the “Comforter,” i.e., the One who holds us.

We have the promise of the Holy Spirit, not so much to hold with our hands, but rather to hold in our hearts. You see, Christ has other plans for our hands. For some of us, Christ desires that we use our hands to hold a serving spoon in the soup kitchen, a mop in the battered women’s shelter, or a stack of clothing in a second-hand clothing store. Some are called to hold a toy for a child with special needs, since she may not be able to hold it herself.

For quite a few of us, Christ desires that we hold the hand of someone who is dying. He may want us to hold a book and read it to a child with cancer. He may want us to hold a comb and a mirror for a fellow church member who is confined to her home. Depending upon our physical location, He may want us to hold the head of the leper, to wipe that leper’s brow, to risk our health in order that someone else might be comforted.

Because mainline Protestantism refuses to do so, Christ wants some of us to hold onto the lives of those not yet born since they, like their mothers and fathers, are our neighbors. He calls for active hands that refuse to ignore “the least of these.”

Christ sends the Holy Spirit to hold us, hoping that with our anxiety gone and our hands and arms free, we will extend our hands to others—as He willingly did for us on the Cross. Someone’s need is right there; grab hold of it.