Saturday 15 October

Jeremiah 31:15-32:25

Worse than Gordon Brown’s decision to sell our gold at 1/4 of its current price, worse than all the poor souls who ploughed money into Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and worse even than all the banks who thought they would invest in sub-prime mortgages,  Jeremiah’s decision to buy the field at Anathoth was a true abysmal investment decision.  The title deed to the land meant absolutely nothing; it was just another patch of dusty grass that the Babylonians were ravaging and were about to plunder.  Their siege ramps were about to take the city.  Jeremiah would be lucky if he would ever see the land, let alone live or work on it.  Jeremiah had completely wasted his money.  And we are called to copy him.  Jeremiah saw a land going into exile; he saw a land effectively destined for destruction and yet he spent his own laboriously-saved cash on buying it.  All around us are people going into the exile of hell.  All around us are people effectively destined for destruction.  We have cash that we have laboriously saved.  We have resources that we would like to invest in all sorts of high-interest schemes.  And yet the Lord calls us to waste it on these people.  The Lord wants us to pour our resources on them and to declare “The Lord Almighty says there is hope for you in the future”.  It is ludicrous.  But it’s what He did for us.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-18

Settle down and earn the bread you eat.  Paul has waxed lyrical about the majestic riches of the coming kingdom.  He has urged the Thessalonians to continually consider the approaching glory and to encourage one another with what is ahead.  So why does he have to go and spoil it by becoming so this-worldly all of a sudden?  Surely Paul should be encouraging us to spend our days gazing glassy-eyed at the distant clouds pondering the beautiful perfection of the heavenly realms rather than lugging stuff around to earn a bit of cash.  Hasn’t Paul read his own letter?  But, interestingly enough for Paul a focus on eternity is itself a drive to good living in the present.  Paul sees a strong tie between how we live now and what life will be like in eternity (maybe he’d watched Gladiator and picked it up from Russell Crowe).  His highly enhanced awareness of his future caused him to want to earn his keep now, to be a provider for people rather than a receiver from people.  Paul saw huge value in his canvas business as a beautiful reflection of the beauty of the Age to Come.  He wasn’t trying to escape for it or apologise for it - he was encouraging others to emulate him in his labour.  Most of us spend most of our time working.  Do we see that work as an unspiritual thing?  Or do we see it as an act of worship, a robust and beautiful reflection of the attractiveness of our God?

Proverbs 25:1-10

Oh, so that’s where Jesus nicked his idea about choosing the lowest seat at the banquet.