Jeremiah 52 | Wayfarer

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
Jeremiah 52:31-32 (NIV)

Have you ever had one of those stretches of life’s journey in which seemingly everything that can go wrong does go wrong? Yeah, it’s been one of those.

I won’t bore you with all the details but the past two weeks have included a trip to the emergency room, stitches, illnesses, hospitalization of loved ones, multiple broken implements, breakdowns, and a cracked engine block. Ugh. Bob Dylan’s bluesy psalm Everything is Broken has been flitting through my head as I try to keep my bent towards pessimism in check:

Broken cutters broken saws
Broken buckles broken laws
Broken bodies broken bones
Broken voices on broken phones
Take a deep breath feel like you’re chokin’
Everything is broken

Anyone who has followed my posts for any length of time knows that I’m a baseball fan. And, every baseball fan knows that winning streaks and losing streaks are all part of “the long season.” When a team or player is in a funk, you’re waiting for that one clutch hit or amazing play that signals a turnaround. So it was last night that Wendy and I watched our beloved Cubs win on a two-outs-bottom-of-the-ninth walk-off grand slam by Jason Heyward.

I thought to myself, “Maybe this is a sign that this funk we’ve been in is over.” Hey, cut me a break. Baseball fans are superstitious. Rally caps work! (Sometimes.)

Today’s chapter is the last chapter in a long journey through the anthology of the ancient prophet Jeremiah’s messages. The unknown editor who put the anthology together concludes the book with a historical epilogue. Interesting enough, it’s almost a verbatim copy of a section from 2 Kings 24-25. It gives a Cliff Notes summary of the Babylonian exile and ends with a bright spot: King Nebuchadnezzar’s successor releases Judah’s King Jehoiachin from prison, raises him to a place of honor, and he remains there for the rest of his life.

In other words, a book full of pessimistic, apocalyptic doom and gloom ends with a base hit in the bottom of the ninth. “This game’s not over, folks,” the editor is telling us. Put on your rally caps!

This morning I’m mulling over life’s ups-and-downs. We all have them. They come and they go. Some weeks it feels like everything is flowing and you’re on a roll. Some weeks, well, everything breaks. C’est la vie. It is what it is. The further I get in my journey the more wisdom I have to know the winning streaks will eventually end, as will the losing streaks.

I just have to keep looking for that bright spot, that base knock, that reminds me this game’s not over.

Featured photo courtesy of the_matt via Flickr

When Jehoiachin king of Judah had been in exile for thirty-seven years, Evil-Merodach became king in Babylon and let Jehoiachin out of prison. Jeremiah 52:31 (MSG)

I’ve been amazed at some of the stories coming out of Japan after the terrible earthquake this past week. Amidst the horrific scale of the tragedy, the news is dotted with small stories of amazing courage and hope like the man who had been washed nine miles out to sea by the tsunami and survived by floating on what was left of the roof of his house. He was rescued by the Japanese navy days later.

The small ray of hope in the midst of overwhelming darkness is a universal theme. We need a silver lining around the storm cloud. We need a hope on which to cling in the midst of tragic circumstances.

It’s interesting that the editor of Jeremiah’s writings ended the volume with this footnote about King Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin was eighteen when he ascended to the throne. He was just a kid who found himself thrust onto the throne at a time of national crisis (anyone seen The King’s Speech?) as the Babylonian army was about to sweep into the city. He ruled three months and was then carried of into exile, where he rotted in a Babylonian prison for well over 30 years.

Reaching the end of Jeremiah, I feel the tragedy of the people’s rebellious spirit, the weight of Jeremiah’s woeful prophesies, and the stark reality of their fruition. Getting through Jeremiah feels like it’s been a long haul. Nevertheless, it ends with a small act of redemptive kindness for Jehoiachin, who was just a clueless kid tragically swept up in a historical drama that was so much bigger than him.

And with that, I walk away from my journey through Jeremiah reminded that even in darkness, light dawns.