Investment Opportunity in Anathoth: A Field of Hope

In January of 1943, three months before he was arrested and subsequently killed by the Nazis, the Lutheran Pastor and Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote these words about Christian hope and faith when times are dark: “…There remains for us only the very narrow way, often extremely difficult to find, of living every day as if it were our last, and yet living in faith and responsibility as though there were to be a great future. It is not easy to be brave and keep that spirit alive, but it is imperative.”

These words are stark and bold and jarring. They are words written in response to a dark and tragic moment in human history. Bonhoeffer’s words invite us to a faith not simply of social benevolence and charity but to a faith which calls the powers and principalities of the day to account.

If we were to find ourselves in a prison cell – alone – waiting for our impending death – with war and social upheaval raging outside the prison walls – what would be our word to the world? What would we do or say as a testimony that the darkness of the times is not going to prevail? What would we do to inspire future generations? In regard to these questions, it is clear that Dietrich Bonhoeffer had much in common with the prophet Jeremiah.

The book of Jeremiah is famously one of despair and woe. In 588 B.C.E., during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, Jeremiah found himself imprisoned in the royal palace of King Zedekiah of Judah. He had been charged with desertion and treason and insurrection. Jeremiah had been forcefully pleading for Israel to turn from their ways. He saw the gathering storm of Babylon coming from the north. He spoke God’s word of judgment and divine condemnation of social injustice and idolatry.

But with war raging and despair undoubtedly growing, Jeremiah gets a new word from God. This word is in regard to some family business. A plot of family-owned land needs to be purchased. And by the right of redemption – a law found in Leviticus 25 which prevents the loss of family property – Jeremiah’s cousin, Hanamel, asks the prophet to buy the family field in Anathoth. It is an absurd request. This is not the time to invest in real estate. This is not the time to invest in the future. This is a time to panic about the present. War is raging. Terror is threatened on all sides. Exile is coming. For Israel the future looks bleak.

But Jeremiah doesn’t watch the nightly news or read the paper. Jeremiah doesn’t listen to the prophets on talk radio or doomscroll on-line. Jeremiah knows that neither King Zedekiah, nor Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, nor corporate executives or government officials, none of these truly run the world. In chapters 30-33 – known as the Book of Consolation – Jeremiah offers another perspective because Jeremiah knows that God’s final word is not destruction. God’s final word is renewal.

Jeremiah’s actions reveal an alternate response to tragedy and loss. – he bought the farm! Locked in jail for his preaching, Jeremiah buys the land – making plans for the future. What an audacious image of hope! The nation is at a precipice – defeat and destruction are on the horizon – yet the prophet takes a leap of faith buying a property he will never occupy.

All through the Bible you can find a recurrent theme related to property – to land – to who owns what. It all begins with a promise of land to Abram. It would be many centuries before Abraham’s descendants occupy the entire land for themselves but the idea of the land and its theological significance is prominent in the Bible almost from the get-go.

In the case of our text today, the simplest of real estate transactions takes on monumental and divine significance. It is like buying up a pile of stocks at the very moment the stock market is crashing – like purchasing a house and signing on the dotted line at the very moment when the foundations of the home are starting to slide down into a sinkhole – like donating a kidney to someone with terminal cancer and only weeks to live.

Jeremiah’s behaviour is prophetic – he knows the wonder of God – that Judah’s history is not over forever, though many at the time were convinced that it was. With his purchase of a field in Anathoth Jeremiah has announced more clearly than any other act could have announced that God is not through with Judah and God’s people just yet. There is a future, though at the moment that future seems dark indeed.

Israel is on the verge of being conquered by the Babylonians. The vandals are at the gates. The barricades are not holding. The land is being pillaged and it is only a matter of time before everyone will be carted off to a far away place. And if anyone knows that, it is Jeremiah because he has been the prophet of doom and gloom for quite a while already. Yet Jeremiah buys the land – not because it makes much sense to anyone in the moment – but because it points to a better and coming time. Jeremiah’s real estate transaction may not be counter-cultural exactly but it is surely counter-intuitive. By being counter-intuitive, God – through Jeremiah – opens up a new perspective, a new set of things that spell hope for all.

When we see a world hell-bent on destruction – when we think that the end has finally come to our hopes and dreams for justice and righteousness for all of God’s people, then we can watch the land deal of Jeremiah – watch him sign the deed, weigh out the money, give the deed and its copy to Baruch, witness Baruch put them in a jar – we can watch and know that the end has not yet come, because God has more for us yet to do.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” It won't be like the old one, says God. They didn’t get that one – didn’t understand. This time – this time… “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people… I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”

So, in the spirit and promise of the future, Jeremiah buys the land – land where houses and fields and vineyards will, yet again, flourish. Bonhoeffer called it Jeremiah ‘s token of confidence in the future.”

As people insipired by the word’s of Jeremiah – as people who know that God is the source of our lives – we are challenged to not despair but live lives of radical hope. Hope, which is not simply some sentimental feeling, but an orientation which is a commitment to action – that allows us to see the world differently and to bring that hope-filled vision to bear on all things.

Allegedly when Martin Luther was asked some 500 years ago what he would do if he knew the world was ending tomorrow, he said, “I would still plant a tree today.” The simple point he was trying to make was the importance of always living with a mind for tomorrow. It is not easy especially when overwhelmed by the needs of the moment. In the same way Jeremiah’s audacity reminds us that we are always planting seeds for tomorrows we may never see. Our small daily actions – resolutions about new life – social involvement – transform the world in ways we can’t imagine and may tip the balance between flourishing and destruction.

Our problem is that we focus on the present to the neglect of the future – so caught up in the moment that we fail to see the impact we are having on what is yet to come. Corporations and businesses concern themselves with this year’s profits and shareholder dividends, forgetting that wisdom joins present and future. Jeremiah alerts us to a broader perspective – the perspective of the “everlasting now” that emerges in this present time, embracing the past and leaning toward the future. Faithful stewardship is about planting trees of possibility and acting in light of a hoped-for future.

We look at our world and we see petty politics and racial strife, environmental devastation, poverty and sickness and apathy. Perhaps like in the book of Jeremiah, war and tragedy and destruction is inevitable and impossible to avert. It is easy to feel impotent and powerless. It is also easy to feel that things are hopeless – to feel it is better to shut our gates – shut our eyes – and let this be someone else’s problem. However, this is God’s world – and we are God’s people. Even in the midst of overwhelming trouble there is a reason to have hope for a future of restoration and healing. It is important not to give in to despair, but to respond in obedience and begin to create the reality of restoration.

This is meant to be a hopeful message, though I’m not sure everyone took it that way at first. Jeremiah’s listeners probably wept at the thought because it meant their doom was sealed. Few would escape the impending disaster of the Babylonian armies. The options were death or exile. They were hoping for God to stop the disaster. While it is too late for that, Jeremiah is trying to reassure people that God is with them even in disaster and God will bring a hopeful future – someday.

There are times when we reap the wonderful promises of God, and times when we must endure and keep hope alive, even if it is holding firm for another generation. We can have faith in God’s providence, even when disaster is upon us.

Who we are today has been passed from Jeremiah to Jesus of Nazareth, to Martin Luther and John Calvin and John Knox to Bonhoeffer and to First Church and to you – to me. We are the current generation entrusted with the great treasure once buried in a field outside Jerusalem – a field of hope – Anathoth. We are the living community of the saints, seeking to love God and have compassion for our neighbors. It is our responsibility to keep hope as a living reality, not merely a past legacy.

There are days – sometimes too many of them – when I get bogged down with my own anxiety and wonder if my struggle is worth it. I find courage in knowing that my wrestling is part of the wider human struggle – part of the ongoing work of Christ to redeem humanity. The challenge I put before us today is this: what is the concrete work we need to do this day to extend Christ’s work and pass it forward?

There is much in today's world that creates anxiety over the future. Perilous times require the faithful to put into embodied action the hope that God has announced, which is already here, but not yet. Jeremiah says to us today: buy the land – love the church – build up God’s kingdom – participate in God’s desire for justice and righteousness and peace. Invest in and prepare the ground for the future. Show the world that God’s spirit is alive and well here on earth. No matter the cost – no matter the risk – no matter the bad news of the day, may we – the church – have the courage and strength and faith to continue investing in the future God promises. Amen