From Darkness To Light, From Sorrow To Hope: Lessons From Jeremiah And LamentationsExemplo

"Second Sunday of Advent: 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel'"

It is surprising how rarely Jeremiah is preached at Christmas. It is not that preachers ignore the Old Testament. Isaiah certainly gets plenty of airtime, and even minor prophets like Micah come into their own in late December. Jeremiah has Messianic prophecies, too. Most of these come in chapters 30-33— chapters filled with such hope and joy they are sometimes called “The Book of Consolation.” The consolation begins with the promise that the Messiah will ransom his people—both Judah and Israel—from their captivity. This is a reminder of something Jeremiah’s people could never forget: they were captives, living as exiles in Babylon.

What was captivity like for God’s people? They endured slavery, misery, anxiety, and loss of identity. We must be careful not to trivialize their sufferings. Yet there are times when we ourselves are miserable or anxious. We experience physical suffering, family strife, unfulfilled desire, shattered expectations, daily drudgery, abject failure. 

Like the exiles of Babylon, we may feel alone in the world. Ultimately, we suffer for the same reason that the exiles were held captive in Babylon: iniquity. Captivity means bondage to sin, both our own sins and the sins of others. What we need is a Savior. We need someone to deliver us from bondage, which is exactly what the people of Israel needed. They needed someone to ransom them from their captivity to Babylon. 

History shows that God saved his people Israel the way he promised. He gathered them from Babylon and all the northern lands and brought them back to Jerusalem. Their exile lasted seventy years, and then it was over. God’s people came home to their land. Jeremiah’s promise meant salvation for Israel, but not for Israel alone. Jeremiah was one of the first prophets to bring news of a coming Messiah that will be for all the people (Luke 2:10). Under the leadership of Nehemiah, Jerusalem was rebuilt. But no king was put back on the throne. Jeremiah’s promises were not fulfilled, therefore, until the coming of Jesus. 

Jesus of Nazareth was born a king, a true son of David. He is also the Son of God, God as well as man. Jeremiah’s hope is summarized in the words of the well-known Latin hymn from the twelfth century that begins: “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” God is with us. The promise of God with us was a comfort to Mary and Joseph at the manger. It was the meaning of the first Christmas: Jesus is our Emmanuel, God with us. When Jesus was born at Bethlehem, God became man. Jesus of Nazareth is God as well as man, fully man and fully God. Thus he entered into our humanity, becoming like us in every way, yet without sin. This is the mystery of the Incarnation. God is with us to save us because Jesus came to be one of us.