All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV)
My latest post was kind of academic, but like usual, ignited by a little personal incident. I started writing it, and then the good seasonal distractions. It almost didn’t make it as a 2025 model; finally hit publish on New Year’s Eve! This one in front of me now has no incidental ignition. It is merely ‘thinker material'. Here it is, thanks to whatever has accumulated to date!
Theology
is a large subject that most people steer clear of. So I do not expect many to read this because there is no interesting sparkplug opener. Instead of reading
theology the preferred option for most people is to find a tradition or a conviction or a
“comfortable pew,” as Pierre Burton once put it,[i] or the standard go-to for many, which is ‘nothing.’ No readers? That's okay with me; this still must be written.😀 These days many things are changing; given new demographics and humanitarian conditions, along with increasingly autocratic
politicians. The inhabitants of this world (that's us) are having second – or hundredth –
thoughts about religion! Theology will never be outdated.
I
have been thinking about the Babylonian captivity, right there in my Old
Testament college memories of long ago. Interesting how when reflecting on new things, it is old things that come to mind. At this point the stimulus for me is my involvement in an Interfaith community in our city. Ironically, it is
conversations with persons of other faith traditions that is getting me to
review some so-called familiar stuff right there in our Bible. Muslims, Jews, Aboriginals, Latter Day Saints, Sikhs, Seventh Day
Adventists, and a variety of both evangelical and progressive Christians provide a good environment to talk about and think Old Testament history, more-so than in the
years when I was preaching sermons.
I am fascinated (inspired, relieved) in a new way to review some basics about our Bible - the helpful way our sacred text is arranged. There is law, prophets, and writings in the O.T. and gospels, epistles, and a bit of review, or overview (e.g. Hebrews and Revelation) in the N.T. Interestingly, there is an O.T. - N.T. pattern: Law - Gospels; Prophets - Epistles; Writings - Overview. [No footnote needed here; just a recent observation, thanks to paging around in my favorite book 😋]. There is some New Testament in the Old Testament and also vice versa.
This morning, again in usual routine, my wife and I
were reading from Jeremiah 31, and suddenly a surprise - surprised that we got a surprise! This chapter is uncharacteristically positive in a book generally thought of
as the scolding “weeping prophet” warning his fellows, the people of Judah,
that they have much suffering ahead of them because the Babylonians are coming, and this is consequences for their lackluster self-centered living. Now,
near the end of all that gloomy doomy material, near end of the book, surprise,
we have that same prophet’s message of a joyful people coming back.
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor together; a great company, they shall return here (:8).
All is well? Happy? Time warp? Coming back from where? What
gives? Is this a prediction of those same people coming back - or an even
further look into the future? That opens a centuries old interpretive scenario.
Given that this was written well before they returned, and we kind of know some subsequent history - good vantage for me to think about this. It is clear not all people left for Babylon in 587 BC, some already in 596. Some got taken, some stayed back; unresolved tensions, different voices,
family issues even, along with the grumpy prophet. And when they landed in Babylon they spent some 70 years trying to figure out what to do in the strange land (read Jeremiah 29). But there will be a coming back, so we read this morning.
Furthermore, there are other religious communions with origins and lineages also involved here. As per earlier Old Testament history (Genesis 16), it was Hagar, the 'other wife' of Abraham, who became mother of Ishmael who had twelve sons (12 tribes) one of which, Quraysh, was the tribe of Mohammed, the Prophet who became the father of Islam about a millennium later. Mormons claim their space here also. Their extra-biblical, but historic records have this time as essential in their formative story. Prophet Lehi and two sons Laman and Nephi) [ii] avoid the Babylon captivity by loading up their tribespeople on ships, crossing the ocean to the Americas and they are now part of that new world history. The return to Jerusalem for them is an anticipated apocalyptic scenario.
Then there are those of us who accept only the Bible as sacred text. Yes, as per the epigraph above, we believe in the whole Bible, complete with its firm packaging at the end of the last chapter. If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll (Revelation 22:18-19). Within ranks of all who live by this canon we still have a huge variety in our denominational palates. There are the Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, the Reformers, the Anabaptists (including dunkers and sprinklers), with evangelical and charismatic and progressive and fundamentalist variations in almost all of these. So, even as a believer in the adequacy of the Word in our Bible, I do find it interesting that, although not highlighted, the O.T. has some historical ingredients not recorded, yet with consistent prophecy of a messiah. The N.T. is celebration of that Messiah - Savior available for even those whose story line deviates from ours.
Anyway, this is long-haired thinking, and now I'm reminded of some good advice also in our Bible, Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body (Ecclesiastes 12:12). At the moment I do not need to go on and on about this. Now my head is back to the next Sunday School lesson in our church. It is based on John 14, including some verses about Jesus going to prepare a place for us, no specifics about how many (144,000?) or who (only those who say Lord, Lord correctly? Matthew 7:21). This first lesson of the new year - January 4, 2026 - nothing complicated or long-haired about that; just good material for us to chew on with one another.
Back to the Jeremiah 31 passage, that 'happy return' passage, including the extra-biblical content just referred to. Both of us in conversation about all of this, Verna makes a catch-all statement, “They’re coming back from captivity not because they have been perfected, but they've learned something of the grace of God.” Yes, so true! We found ourselves rejoicing, suddenly hit by that New Testament message of grace already so present in the OT. Right there in the prophets is beginning of the New Testament! God’s grace, God’s unmerited favor already there, and very much what we need to claim these days. Nothing new really, but a pleasant discovery, even among all as us of the faith communions look sideways at, or relate with one another.
The biblical message of grace, the birth of a child come among us. This next Sunday of the Epiphany we will note that Good News so very important also to those kings coming from Persia or Iraq.
So surprise. It's good news heading into this New Year, and we need it regardless of the
circles of comfort or discomfort we find ourselves in. Happy New Year!
[i] Pierre Burton, The Comfortable Pew (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1965).
[ii] 1 Nephi chapters 1-3, The Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Intellectual Reserve, 2013).
