Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

Pentecost +19 — Year C

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

We ignore verses 3b-5 at our peril. This is where important energy for the passage resides. Without this clear announcement of harm and exile, the action of investing anyway loses its punch.

We are so inured of what little we have that we would never think of anything as foolish as burying our deed to present property going to seed against the great uncertainty of either finding it again or having it carry the day any better than indigenous people's treaties have fared in a colonialist economy.

Without a vision of exile this whole deed scenario loses its way. With it we can see how foolish are hopes of resurrection and to note how much stronger and wider our hope needs to be cast.

In the face of exile, a return: in the face of death, new life (resurrection, reincarnation, re-cycled nutrients, ...).

In light of mini-deaths beyond orgasms, we might yet learn from all the revolutions or stage-transitions we have gone through and willingly invest in a next one. Knowing resources will be available to us on the other side eases our resistance to finally go into our next good night both rejoicing and railing.