Release Date: December 17th, 2025Hope From the Weeping Prophet
- by Kandace Boos
The first 24 chapters of the book of Jeremiah paint a dark picture of Idolatry, corruption and rampant social injustice. Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet, and in times like that it’s not hard to empathize with him. He proclaims the judgement of Israel, the destruction of Jerusalem and ultimately the exile of the people of God under Babylonian rule.
So often in our own times of exile and separation from our own promised lands of happiness, financial stability, love, etc, we cry out to God asking why we have been sent into exile. We want God to take this terrible hardship from us and bring us back to our promised- to spare us the pain and struggle of walking through the consequences of our own actions. What I find especially interesting in this verse is that God's promise is not to shield us or punish us in perpetuity, but rather to bring us back from the exile they have sent us into. The promise isn’t to spare us, but to restore us.
God gives us a very present hope for restoration, yes, but also for a messiah coming from within the very people experiencing the exile and restoration.
God goes on to assure the Israelites that they will also judge the nations around Judah and Babylon itself. It's interesting to ponder that God will use Babylon and their rebellious nature to carry out the destruction of the Israelites, but that Babylon too will see their own destruction and the consequences of their sin come to fruition. The book ultimately ends with the promise of a messiah to come to restore the living and the dead. This promised messiah offers hope for the very physical world we occupy now, here, together - and for the world we hope to experience in the hereafter. God promises to transcribe a new covenant not on stone like the one he has already, but onto the very hearts of the Israelites.
Their promise is not that Israel will rebuild; it’s not that the consequences of their sin will be overcome; but rather that we can trust in the character and faithfulness of God to restore their people back to our former position of blessing and beyond. It assures us that we don’t need to wallow in this destruction forever or pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, so to speak. God gives us a very present hope for restoration, yes, but also for a messiah coming from within the very people experiencing the exile and restoration.
So then,
May we remember that our choices and our actions have consequences.
May we find the humility to admit and repent from the painful choices we do make,
And may we find the grace to forgive each other as we have been forgiven.
May we find the hope of restoration to hold in a dark world, Remembering that God is faithful to heal us even now.
Lord have mercy,
Amen
- Kandace Boos is on the pastoral team at St. Jacobs Mennonite Church