Homecoming - by Rev Gilbert Wong
Sermon Text: Jeremiah 31:7-14
 2 January 2005 

7 This is what the LORD says:    

    "Sing with joy for Jacob;

    shout for the foremost of the nations.

    Make your praises heard, and say,

    'O LORD , save your people,

    the remnant of Israel.'

    8 See, I will bring them from the land of the north

    and gather them from the ends of the earth.

    Among them will be the blind and the lame,

    expectant mothers and women in labour;

    a great throng will return.

    9 They will come with weeping;

    they will pray as I bring them back.

    I will lead them beside streams of water

    on a level path where they will not stumble,

    because I am Israel's father,

    and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

   

    10 "Hear the word of the LORD , O nations;

    proclaim it in distant coastlands:

    'He who scattered Israel will gather them

    and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.'

    11 For the LORD will ransom Jacob

    and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.

    12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;

    they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD -

    the grain, the new wine and the oil,

    the young of the flocks and herds.

    They will be like a well-watered garden,

    and they will sorrow no more.

    13 Then maidens will dance and be glad,

    young men and old as well.

    I will turn their mourning into gladness;

    I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

    14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance,

    and my people will be filled with my bounty,"

    declares the LORD .

Introduction 

Jeremiah speaks of a returning people of God.  The opening words of Jeremiah are declaring that God’s victory is finally accomplished.  These words were written towards the end of 57 years of exile in Babylon and finally they are returning home. 

God affirms that he is about to brings the exiles home, no matter how far away they might be.  It is noteworthy that explicit mention is made of precisely those groups who would find the journey, mostly on foot, of some thousand miles most arduous and forbidding: the blind, the lame, pregnant woman and those giving birth.  Their journey will be made possible because God will provide an even path (rather than a straight path) which is well provided with water.  Behind this language is the image of the shepherd leading his flock, finding the best pasture, and paying particular attention to its weakest members (c.f. Ezekiel 34:16). 

The description of the life of the returned community in Jerusalem is one which draws on those images that most adequately express a perfect existence in the harsh world of subsistence farming.  “They will be liked a well-watered garden” (Jeremiah 31:12), and those things that sustain the necessities of life (grain, wine, oil, flocks, and herds) will be abundantly blessed.  The dancing of young women and the rejoicing of young and old men symbolise the peace (i.e. the lack of danger from enemies) that Jerusalem will enjoy. 

Its value is that it is a sublime expression of the compassion of God: a God who, because he regards his people as his very own offspring, can never be indifferent to their plight and their sufferings; a God who, because he has scattered, will gather his people.  Then why has he scattered, or allowed his people to be scattered? 

The parent image partly answers this question.  How can children grow up if they are always to be under parental control?  The good news is that God will never give up on his people – including ourselves.

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