Jeremiah 32:8-15 Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel,..Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
Reflection Writing to his fiancée from prison on 12th August 1943 (a letter not in most editions of ‘Letters and Papers from Prison’) Bonhoeffer wrote of a faith which does not flee the world, but which ‘endures the world and which loves and remains in the world in spite of the suffering which it contains for us…’ He goes on to say, I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon earth also stand with only one leg in heaven’. On 21st July the following year he wrote that Christians must have an attitude of ‘this-worldliness’, which means ‘living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities.’
Our response to these words might be, ‘we don’t have any choice!’ But what Bonhoeffer is at pains to emphasise is the need for Christians to have a positive attitude to living in the world, not the negative one that some have had down the centuries, and others have today. A phrase used to describe the situation of Christians in the world is that of ‘resident aliens’. Those who use this phrase often do so to express the ‘this world is not my home’ attitude, which emphasises the word ‘aliens’. Bonhoeffer’s attitude of ‘this-worldliness’ puts the stress on the word ‘resident’, This is consistent with the centrality he gives to Christ, in whom ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us’ (John 1.14), or, as The Message’ puts it ‘moved into the neighbourhood’.
In the letter to his fiancée Bonhoeffer mentions the prophet Jeremiah who, at a time of national crisis, bought a field, as a sign of hope, and declared that houses and fields would again be bought in the land. Like Jeremiah, we should never lose hope in the future, but we are called to live in the present, in a positive spirit, as those who have faith in the God revealed in Christ.
Prayer Loving God, amidst all the complexities of our lives and the life of the world, help us to live unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities in a positive spirit; having faith in you in the present and hope in you for the future. And help us to help other people to do the same. Amen.
Today’s writer
The Revd John Matthews is a retired Baptist minister and member of Wellingborough URC.
