Image: Waters of Babylon (1920) by Gebhard Fugel
By now, you all know that I have several favorite themes and sources for my sermons. If you were to make a Pastor David’s sermon bingo card, you might put “Lutheran confessions reference”, “anti-empire rhetoric”, “anti-niceness rhetoric”, “mentions a Greek or Hebrew word”, or “refers to ‘shalom’ at least three times” squares. At this point, “mentions shalom at least three times” has become a veritable free space! For the last two or three years, the Biblical concept of shalom has been one of my favorite recurring themes. Part of it also has to do with the richness of the word shalom itself. Part of that, of course, has to do with the name of this congregation. And connected with that, the recurring theme of shalom has to do with my overwhelming conviction that the purpose of this congregation is in the name: to be a community centered around the peace, well-being, and wholeness we find in Jesus Christ.
Today, Jeremiah shows us what that shalom looks like, without any idealistic veneer. The shalom of God is not an academic concept or a nice idea for nice people. It is at the foundation of God’s vision for beloved community, which requires courage, grace, mercy, and love, perhaps even for those who have hurt us the most.
A bit of historical background: Jeremiah writes this letter to the exiles not long after the first deportation took place, around 597 BC. About 7,000 of Jerusalem’s residents were taken, including the young king Jeconiah and much of the ruling class. In their place, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, Jeconiah’s uncle, to serve as his client king and pay the annual tribute. As you can imagine, the exiles were devastated by this. They were suddenly removed from everyone they had known and everything they had, taken to a foreign land so Nebuchadnezzar could keep a close eye on them. It shouldn’t be surprising that a few self-appointed prophets sprung up among them, urging them to take up arms against their captors. From the ancient world to today, few things can galvanize people like a call for vengeance.
But when Jeremiah hears of this, he is appalled. Inspired by the Spirit, he writes this letter, which calls neither for the sword, nor for blood, nor for revenge. Rather, this letter urges the exiles to build their lives where they are. Just as in Egypt so long ago, the exiles are to live among their captors. They are to build and plant. They are to marry and have children and encourage their children to likewise marry and have children. All this in the middle of captivity, where they are under the thumb of their oppressor! And most shocking of all, they are to “seek the shalom of the city in which (they) are found, for in the city’s shalom, (they) will find their shalom.” That’s the literal Hebrew word, translated as “welfare” in our reading. They are to seek the well-being of the people who have hurt them the most. Not only that, the exiles are urged to understand that God’s hand was behind their deportation in the first place! Imagine how it would feel if we were uprooted from our homes, families, and livelihoods at the end of a gun. Further imagine that we’re told this is God’s plan for us. Such a message would shock and offend us.
After all, the message we get from the world is quite different. Namely, mercy is weakness. Forgiveness is for losers. Love is for suckers. Peace is for the clueless. It’s zero-sum and top-down. If you’re not the winner, you’re the loser. And if you’re not on top, you’re on the bottom. That was the message some false prophets were preaching to the exiles in Babylon. And that’s the message we can get brainwashed with too. A couple years back, there was an All Things Considered interview with Southern Baptist theologian Russell D. Moore, who noted this phenomenon in the pews:
…multiple pastors (told) me essentially the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount parenthetically in their preaching - turn the other cheek - to have someone come up after and to say, where did you get those…talking points? And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ, the response would not be, I apologize. The response would be, yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak.[1]
But Jeremiah knows better. What seems like weakness is actually strength and power. The exiles will find their power, not by continuing the cycles of violence and vengeance, but by ending them. Instead of taking matters into their own hands, they will entrust their restoration to God by working for his shalom, even among the enemy. Psalm 137 famously laments, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” It is precisely in working for God’s shalom that the Lord’s song is sung.
People of God, that shalom is what we are also called to strive for in these strange times. But it is never something we strive for alone. No, Jesus Christ equips us to live out that shalom in our community, in our state, in our country, in our world. He says as much to his frightened and grieving disciples in John 14: “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” And we are best able to receive his shalom when life’s suffering catches up with us. When the world is giving us one damn thing after another, Jesus gives us his peace. We know this because of his own life, death, and resurrection. When Jesus was given the cup of suffering and death, he didn’t shrink back. He didn’t raise an army or start an insurrection. He didn’t plot revenge on Caiaphas, Pilate, or Judas. He didn’t humiliate his enemies, like every tyrant has done from the beginning of time. And he sure didn’t set up yet another flawed, earthly empire. No, Jesus went to the cross where he exposed the powers of sin and death for what they are—empty and hollow—and won liberation and shalom for us all.
Jesus, the embodiment of God’s offensive shalom for all, is our future and our hope. We have the privilege of being his people who live differently. When the world tells us to keep score and hold grudges, we forgive. When the world tells us to be afraid, we are bold. And when the world tells us to hate, we love. God strengthen us all for lives rooted in the shalom of Christ. Amen.
© 2025, David M. Fleener. Permission granted to copy and adapt original material herein for non-commercial purposes with appropriate credit given.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2023/08/05/1192374014/russell-moore-on-altar-call-for-evangelical-america.
