Psalm 25; Jer. 44:1-14; 1 Cor. 15:30-41; Matt. 11:16-24
The word Jeremiah gives to the exiles who chose Egypt rather than Babylon is not comforting and promising of hope and a future. They are essentially rebels who have gone their own way, choosing what their forefathers in the wilderness wanted, some measure of the good life. They have chosen their place of exile as opposed to hearing the word of the Lord and going to Babylon. Jeremiah says that they will not receive the blessings promised to the exiles in Babylon, they will perish in Egypt because they have chosen to blend into the culture and to offer worship and sacrifice to the gods of Egypt. All exiles aren’t alike in God’s eyes, these have continued their wicked idolatry and will not return.
Jesus says the generation to whom He was sent lacked the wisdom and discernment necessary to recognize their own Messiah. They wanted control, they chose the song and expected the result to match their own preferences. John didn’t give them what they wanted, support and encouragement, but rather a call to repentance. Jesus didn’t mourn and fast, the bridegroom was among them. Their own arrogance kept them from seeing and responding to the movement of God, not He to them. All they saw was not enough to bring them to believe and because they saw God’s power and rejected the truth, there would be no mercy for them.
Even this body needs redemption. In the resurrection we will get new bodies because this one has participated in the fall. In a simple yet elegant metaphor Paul explains this by referring to agriculture, a seed sown into the ground dies as a seed and springs to life in a new form. He might have used the image of a caterpillar becoming a beautiful butterfly as well. To extend the first reading, there are those who have chosen the way of God, following Jesus, which may be compared to the exiles who went to Babylon and there are those who have chosen their own way, the exiles who went to Egypt, and that choice makes all the difference in the world for eternity. One resurrection is glorious but Paul doesn’t say what it looks like if you have chosen your own way.
O quickly come, great King of all;
Reign all around us, and within;
Let sin no more our souls enthrall,
let pain and sorrow die with sin.
O quickly come, for Thou alone
Canst make Thy scattered people one.
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