From Ordinary to Extraordinary
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | September 25, 2022
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Read Jeremiah 32:6 – 15
This morning, the Lectionary turns our attention back to the writings of the Prophet Jeremiah, the one you may recall who is often referred to as the “weeping prophet.”
God continually revealed things to Jeremiah that foretold of Israel’s destruction and devastation if they continued in their refusals to repent and obey God… and that was the main reason for Jeremiah’s tears…
Because in spite of Jeremiah faithfully delivering God’s messages of repentance… the children of Israel kept doing things their own way…. and that ultimately led to Jerusalem’s downfall… the temple was destroyed and the Israelites were taken to Babylon in captivity.
It does not seem too far of a stretch to say that we are living in a world today that is not so unlike the world in which the children of Israel were living… with people paying little or no heed to the Word of God… to the calls to repent and obey… people ignoring the warnings to turn back before it’s too late.
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like we are living in a day and time when it feels like anything goes…
When concern for our neighbors and the world in which we live is all but non-existent…
When immigrants can be lied to by government officials and shuffled around like pieces on a chessboard…
When climate change is denounced as fake news in spite of evidence to the contrary… with wildfires raging out west, record heatwaves in cities across the country, and hurricanes taking lives and causing devastation in various parts around the world…
When banning abortions and banning books are seen as critically important to saving the lives of our children but banning the assault weapons that are killing them is absolutely out of the question…
I dare say, Jeremiah would be weeping for us as well… and we should be weeping, too… crying out for God to save us from ourselves… before it is too late.
Now with that thought in mind, let’s turn our focus back to our text for this morning… a text where we can hopefully find a word of encouragement…
a word to sustain us even in the midst of chaos and confusion in a world that feels dangerously close to spinning out of control…
a word that can help take us FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY.
Now, in this passage of Scripture that calls for our consideration today… we find that Jerusalem had been besieged by the Babylonian army… and Jeremiah had been confined to the guard’s courtyard in the royal palace of Judah.
And that is where Jeremiah received a word from the Lord that his cousin, Hanamel, would be coming to offer him the opportunity to buy a piece of property that belonged to his family… an opportunity extended to him as the rightful next of kin.
This would have been a seemingly ordinary business transaction… transferring ownership of property from one family member to another… under normal circumstances… but it was certainly extraordinary when looked at in the context of what was happening around them.
Jerusalem had already been under siege for a year and the land that Hanamel was offering to Jeremiah had consequently been occupied by soldiers… some would call that a pretty poor investment by any stretch of the imagination.
Add to that the fact that Jeremiah was being kept as a prisoner in the palace and therefore, could not even get to the land… and this really starts to sound like something out of the ordinary was taking place.
But this morning, it is precisely the ordinary that calls for our attention within this passage of scripture.
The ordinary tasks involved in transacting the ordinary transfer of property… ordinary steps that are outlined in verses 9 – 12 of our text.
Step 1: Jeremiah bought the field at Anathoth from his cousin, Hanamel.
Step 2: Jeremiah paid Hanamel seventeen silver shekels, following all the proper procedures.
Step 3: Jeremiah wrote out the bill of sale, sealed it, and weighed out the money on the scales in the presence of witnesses.
Step 4: Jeremiah took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy that contained the contract and its conditions along with the open copy—and gave them to Baruch, the son of Neriah.
And as the Scriptures tell us, “All this took place in the presence of [his] cousin Hanamel and the witnesses who had signed the deed, as the Jews who were at the jail that day looked on” (Jeremiah 32:12, MSG).
Then after all the “I’s” had been dotted and the “T’s” had been crossed… Jeremiah told Baruch, his scribe:
Ordinary steps being taken in the course of an anything-but-ordinary day… given that these were folks who found themselves living in captivity…
And that is when God moved… shifting things FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY.
God gave His ordinary children who were being held captive an extraordinary word of hope and a promise for the future...
“Life is going to return to normal. Homes and fields and vineyards are again going to be bought in this country” (Jeremiah 32:15, MSG).
Keep in mind, this is the same God who… after warning the Israelites that they would spend 70 years in captivity… gave them these words of reassurance…
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
While God had frequently given Jeremiah prophetic messages about the consequences Israel faced because of their actions… God also wanted them to know that the promise of restoration and renewal was still theirs… if they would simply repent and turn from their wicked ways… if they would do that, they would still have hope and a future.
And although the Israelites may have been looking for something miraculous and extraordinary to occur as confirmation of that hope for the future…
God used the seemingly ordinary transfer of land to symbolize the plans He had for them… plans that would eventually take them from ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY.
Now, throughout the Scriptures, we find many instances of God taking His children FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY…
For example, God chose to bless the world with a nation that He said would outnumber the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the shore… doing so through an ordinary man from Ur, named Abram, and his ordinary wife, named Sarai… both of whom were both far beyond the prime of life for child-bearing…
Two very ordinary people that God blessed and used to become the matriarch and patriarch for a nation that has expanded exponentially… beyond anything either one of them could have ever imagined.
FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY
Like when God chose an ordinary shepherd boy… the youngest of the eight sons of a man named Jesse… an ordinary shepherd who had spent most of his life living in the shadow of his seven older brothers.
An ordinary shepherd; however, who would one day become King David… an ordinary man who would see and do extraordinary things and leave an extraordinary legacy… an ordinary man from whose lineage would come our extraordinary Savior.
FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY
And let’s not forget that ordinary teenage girl who was betrothed to an ordinary carpenter in an ordinary town called Nazareth… an ordinary couple who through some truly extraordinary circumstances would become the parents to God-become-flesh…
FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY… bringing forth the greatest, most extraordinary, gift ever given to humankind.
So, why does God choose so often to bring the extraordinary out of the ordinary?
Consider this for just a moment… anyone can see the mighty and the miraculous… but only those who earnestly desire to see God’s hand at work will witness what happens as God moves things FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY.
Think of it like this… anyone who attends a fireworks show can look up and see an awesome display of colors and lights… but only someone who made it their mission to look for signs of God’s handiwork will see the beauty and majesty that is contained in the glow of a single firefly.
Anyone can watch and witness the amazing display of power that happens when a volcano erupts with red-hot molten lava… but only someone who is intentionally looking will feel the wonder and awe of God’s creation as a caterpillar breaks forth from its cocoon and takes flight as the beautiful butterfly it has become.
Anyone can sit in an arena sized cathedral… surrounded by crowds that number in the thousands… while the head of a megachurch delivers a charismatic feel-good message about positivity and prosperity… but it takes someone who truly desires to have a closer relationship with the Lord to sit in rapt attention… in the midst of a modest-sized group of brothers and sisters in Christ… while an ordinary pastor brings a quiet word of encouragement…
That in spite of the difficult days that lie ahead… God is still in control.
That regardless of what circumstances may look like on the outside… in the face of economic uncertainty here in this country… hurricanes wreaking havoc in Puerto Rico, Bermuda and now even in Canada… not to mention the war in Ukraine, complete with those sham elections…
Even in the midst of all of that… we can still trust God’s promise to give us hope and a future…
Because no matter what politicians and pundits may say to the contrary… there is still only one true King who will always sit on the throne and reign forever and ever… and His name is Jesus…
From a baby born in a manger to the Savior of the world…
FROM ORDINARY TO EXTRAORDINARY
And even in the uncertainty of the ordinary days that lay ahead… God’s extraordinary promise remains true… Jesus is coming back for His church!
He’s coming back for all those ordinary people who have accepted Him as their extraordinary Lord and Savior…
Those ordinary people who believe in the promise that the best is yet to come…
Those ordinary people who have been called to tell the world just how good and how great God is…
Ordinary people just like you and just like me…
And if you are one of those ordinary people who truly believes in an extraordinary God, I want to invite you to stand now and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: How Great Thou Art #33. Back
