Advent 4: Love the City 1 (Jer 29: 4- 7)
1.1. The Energy: Most of us here live in either the suburbs or within the city. The first thing we notice when we go beyond the lower mainland, is how much space there is and how much of a relief we feel when we leave the built-up city. The city is intense. Intensity comes from forces within like an oven where something is cooking and the end-product can be great or it can be bad. Many forces come together in the city. Creative and destructive forces.
1.2. Why the City? We all know that human life got started in a garden but it will end in a city. A new city! (Gen 1, Rev 21). The New Jerusalem is going to be that ideal city and we see the blueprint of that city in Gen 1:28 - be fruitful and multiply, have dominion over all living things. This call is also told to the exiles in Babylon. Live, grow, create, and be a blessing to the city. Why? Because cities are places where people congregate and many things happen. The three favorite choices for new immigrants are Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Our 3 biggest cities. Today, I want to speak about 2 prophets who saw something in the city:
2.1. Agents of Redemption: The invitation for Yahweh’s people is for us to become agents of redemption and it comes from the principle of being blessed to be a blessing. Yahweh calls Jonah and sends him to Nineveh. (Old Nineveh today is just next to Mosul). Yahweh has already judged Nineveh but as he’s gracious, he gives them a second chance so he sends Jonah. What was Nineveh’s offence?
2.2. Nineveh’s Evil: very clearly Yahweh’s patience with Nineveh had run out. It was ruled by the Assyrians, who had: temple prostitution, infanticide, abortion and child sacrifice. There was no value on human life. Paradoxically, Nineveh was a place of great culture and learning. The world- renowned hanging gardens of Babylon originated there. And just like Sodom, judgment time had come but Yahweh sends the reluctant prophet - who had to be swallowed up and spit out – who goes unhappily but lo and behold, he preaches and the whole city repents. They are spared. Later, in conversation between Jonah and Yahweh, we see the prophet unhappy because the city was spared. Clearly, the prophet did not love! In fact, he says he’d rather die, Yahweh says to him, you pity the plant that died,
“And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city wherein are more than six score persons that cannot discern their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle” (John 4:11).
What we see from the Nineveh rescue is mercy by Yahweh who loves, and repentance.
2.3. Cities: are centers of civilization, culture, learning, and business. In 1910, about 10% of the world lived in cities; by 2000 it was 50%. In 2010, there were 23 cities with populations of more than 10M. In 2020, there were 25 cities in excess of 25M. Paul was strategic in where he went and it was usually to a city. Why? Cities influence the rest of the country and 1st tier cities like New York dictate what happens to the world. Vancouver may not be a big city but it is a place where the nations gather. What happens here impacts many countries. But, cities are also places where darkness festers. It is in the cities that evil is at its darkest. Nineveh was a cruel place. Jesus is sent to the city but unlike Nineveh, Jerusalem doesn’t repent. Jesus weeps.
3.1. Jeremiah Weeps: there are similarities between Jeremiah and Jesus. In fact, some of the things that Isaiah prophesied about were thought to apply to Jeremiah. Some rabbis thought that Jeremiah was the man of sorrows that Isaiah prophesied about (Isa 53). Both Jeremiah and Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Jer 9:1 and Lk 19:41); both had a message for Israel that was rejected; both were persecuted and imprisoned by the priests; both prophesied the destruction of the temple. Both warned that Jerusalem was to be destroyed but Jeremiah’s message was for Jerusalem to not resist the invasion.
3.2. The Word to the Exiles: The Northern Kingdom was invaded by the Assyrians and the people scattered. Then the Egyptians defeated the Assyrians and they became the dominant power; and then the Babylonians - led by King Nebuchadnezzar – became the overall power who invade Jerusalem, plunder the temple, and take the leaders and elite into exile. They are given freedoms but the exiles weep and say:
“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1)
The tendency of exiles is to lead separate lives away from the host people. Yahweh gives them an unexpected message.
It is the Lord of hosts that sends them to Babylon (Jer 29:4)
Live full lives by building homes, marrying and having children in Babylon (Jer 29:5-6)
Seek the peace (Shalom - welfare) of the city and pray for it because the city’s welfare of the city will be their welfare (Jer 29:7)
3.3. Invitation to Pray: A vision for the city begins with a stirring: a deep and disturbing sense of holy dissatisfaction with the status quo and a desire to do something about it. The alternative is let sleeping dogs lie. You can imagine the exiles in Babylon were reluctant to sink roots but Yahweh says do everything because this is your home and you go and do everything you can to bless the city of Babylon. What does that mean to us today? See the broken humanity within it.