The Hope and Promise of Redemption

10-28-2018Weekly Reflection

The prophet Jeremiah prophesies the end of the Babylonian exile. He describes how the weak and sorrowful people now return with joy. These are the scattered people of God: the blind and the lame, the mothers and pregnant women. They shall be led along an easy road so that no one will stumble. The Lord’s kindness and mercy are on all these weak and broken people.

Here and in Psalm 126 we find the most lovely poetic images of God’s love and care for us. “Those that sow in tears shall reap rejoicing. Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, they shall come back rejoicing,  carrying their sheaves” (Psalm 126:5–6). Although God had to punish Israel for their many sins, God never forgot them, scattered as they were, and brings them all back to the land of their ancestors, there to flourish and be joyful again. We can see in this the hope and the promise of our own redemption gathered from the far corners of the earth into the great banquet of God.