…So it says in the Jeremiah reading from next Sunday’s Lectionary. Despite the tears, this is a happy piece of prophecy. The people have lived through a lot, the elite have been in exile, and cut off from their homeland … now they are to return. They’ll weep, and they will be consoled. Maybe not every return to the homeland is comparable. There’s not a hint in the Jeremiah passage (31:7-14) that this particular return will be contested. There’s no word in this passage about who might have been living in the land already – possibly many of the Israelites were there already: maybe under the supervision of the Persian empire this wasn’t an issue.
But anyway, they have lived through a lot of trouble – but their troubles will end, a remnant will return to the land. What does this say to you and me? Even in the dark times, hope is still valid. Even when you’re in a minority living in a world gone strange, hope is still valid. Even when the powers that be are too strong, God “has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.” The Way of Jesus is not dead yet, not by any means.