God the Leveler

Passage: Jeremiah 39

Jeremiah chronicles the days leading up to the exile of God’s people into Babylon.  Jeremiah the prophet is commissioned by God first to warn his people against continuing to flout his laws and turn their backs on God; second to state plainly the judgment that will befall them for ignoring the warnings.  God tells his people that the instrument of his judgment will be the Babylonian Empire under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar.  In fact, God goes so far as to call Nebuchadnezzar his servant:

 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.  All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him. (Jeremiah 27:5-7)

The day finally comes that Nebuchadnezzar and his forces sack the city of Jerusalem and take its people captive.  And the story of the exile contains a very interesting detail:

But Nebuzaradan the commander of the [Babylonian] guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields. (Jeremiah 39:10)

One of the transgressions God repeatedly holds against his people is their failure to observe his law and take care of the poor; the displaced; the homeless and the marginalized.  When God commands his people to take care of the vulnerable and under-resourced, he adds that if they don’t take care of them, God will. 

And so God does.  God removes from his people the privilege of serving his purposes.  And gives that privilege to their enemies – the pagans whom God’s people have always condemned.  Here in a great reversal, God claims the Babylonian king as his servant, and passes his own people by in order to accomplish his purposes.  God once and for all wrests power and wealth from the hands of the powerful and wealthy.  And ensures that the poor whose cries have been ignored will receive the blessing he promised them, too. 

God offers us the privilege of serving his purposes.  Bringing the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ to our neighbors and the nations.  Acting as agents of justice and shalom – leveraging our resources and influence on behalf of those who have none.  But God will not hesitate to bypass us in order to fulfill his purposes.  And God will level out the inequalities that plague humanity – whether we participate or not.  God is in the business of reconciling the world to himself.  And God is in the business of renewing creation.  What a tragedy to pass up the opportunity to join God in this great work.  Be claimed as God’s child through Jesus Christ.  Having been claimed, claim your role as his servant.  Embrace God’s work of leveling and making right.