the readings
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David– that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful–
for he cannot deny himself.
Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
the sermon
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When I was ordained as deacon last year, I stood right here in front of our bishop as he addressed me in what’s called The Examination. In it he lists off many things that I am to do as a deacon in the Church before asking me the question…
“Do you believe that you are truly called by God and his Church to the life and work of a deacon?”
To which I respond, “I believe I am so called.”
One of those I’m instructed to do reads like this, “You are to interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world.”
This is one of the marks of diaconate ministry, to have one foot in the Church, and one foot in the world.
And I’m sure it’s not a stretch for anyone here to look around and see a world in turmoil.
It doesn’t matter where you fall on the ideological spectrum. It’s easy to see that we’re politically divided, socially fragmented, and many are living in economic uncertainty. This can leave any of us feeling alienated, like we’re strangers in our own culture.
Exile, if you will.
This isn’t a new thing, by any means. God’s people have always known this feeling. In our readings today, we hear from Jeremiah as he writes to the exiles in Babylon. And from Paul writing from a Roman prison. Both wrote to people tempted by despair or easy answers.
Through these readings we see that faithfulness doesn’t depend on perfect conditions.
It’s about living as God’s people right where we are, trusting that His grace goes before us and follows after us.
Let’s start with Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles and what it meant for them, and for us.
Jeremiah 29: Faithful Presence in Exile
I’ll set the stage first.
The year is about 597 BC. Jerusalem has fallen, and the first wave of exiles has been carried off the Babylon. They’re frightened, displaced, and deeply longing for home.
Just before our reading, we see a rival prophet tell everyone (basically), “Don’t worry! It’ll all be over soon… just two years!”
Then there’s our guy Jeremiah, the prophet who had a habit of telling people the things they didn’t want to hear. He’s not interested in offering comfort. He’s interested in telling the truth. He says to them, “Get comfortable… build houses, plant gardens, seek the welfare of the city.”
Just beyond our passage, Jeremiah tells them they’ll be there 70 years. And when the average life expectancy at the time is likely around 40 years (with the “lucky” ones reaching 50-60), this meant the people he was writing to would never see the end of exile. This is a multi-generational exile.
In fact, archaeologists have found cuneiform tablets from a settlement called Al-Yahudu, which means “City of Judah.” There were hundreds of them, mostly mundane, personal documents, promissory notes, marriage contracts, inheritance division, and receipts. And interestingly, they kept their Judean names.
It’s proof that they did exactly what Jeremiah instructed them to do. They built lives, raised families, and even in a foreign land, they maintained their identity as God’s people.
That historical evidence reminds us that God’s Word isn’t just spiritual, it’s deeply practical. It calls people to live, build, and bless right where they are.
Let’s take a closer look at these words… build, plant, marry, multiply.
These aren’t survival commands, they’re covenantal.
They echo the creation covenant in Genesis, “Be fruitful and multiply.” God is reminding His people of their first responsibility… to be image-bearers and life-givers.
Humanity broke that covenant in Eden, and we’ve been living in exile ever since. But God didn’t abandon His creation story; He kept writing it.
Even in Babylon, He begins to renew that covenant, pointing us toward its fulfillment in Jesus, who restores what was broken and calls us again to be fruitful in His grace.
And how about these words? Seek the welfare of the city…
The seeking is about active pursuit, not passive waiting. And the word for welfare here comes from the word for shalom, which is not just peace, but wholeness, flourishing, and harmony.
God is telling them to pursue shalom. They are not to withdraw from Babylon, but to work for its flourishing. In its shalom, you’ll find your shalom.
You know… I believe that sometimes exile is part of God’s plan, a season where comfort gives way to calling. When life doesn’t go the way we want, God may be shaping us for deeper faithfulness.
Let’s face it, we live in a world we can’t always shape to our liking. Faithfulness means not running from it, but showing up in it… planting, building, and praying for the shalom of those around us.
2 Timothy 2: Faithful Endurance When the Word Seems Chained
Fast forward six hundred years. Now Paul is in prison, writing to Timothy in Ephesus, a young leader facing false teachers, discouragement, pressure to conform, and the temptation to compromise.
While Timothy struggles, Paul sits chained like a criminal, branded an enemy of the state. In Rome’s eyes, Paul is a failure and a danger to the society they’re trying desperately to preserve.
Yet Paul sees beyond his circumstances, saying, “But the word of God is not chained.”
His message to Timothy is that they can bind the messenger, but not the message.
He knows that grace cannot be imprisoned. God’s truth and grace are never confined by circumstance.
That makes anything he might endure worth it. This is bigger than him.
And from that conviction comes his charge to Timothy, a reminder of what truly endures.
His instruction for Timothy starts with, “Remember Jesus Christ.”
The Greek words used here carry this sense of keep on remembering. It’s not a one-time act, but a way of life.
In our Eucharistic liturgy, we have prayers of anamnesis, memorial prayers that recall Jesus’ death and resurrection. And that word anamnesis isn’t just about remembering, it carries this idea of refusing to forget.
And that’s Paul’s instruction to Timothy. Don’t ever forget the unchained Gospel.
So he continues, saying, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.”
That verb, raised, is perfect tense. So it doesn’t mean was raised, as in a resurrection event that happened at some point in time in the past. It means is raised, as in the present reality we live in. It’s ongoing.
Again, pointing at something bigger than ourselves and our circumstances.
Paul eventually shifts to a message for Timothy’s congregants, telling them to, “avoid wrangling over words.”
I love this. I feel like so much of our society today gets stuck in this space. We seem to have this urge to state our points, and often tell others how wrong they are.
Paul even explains why he offers this instruction, saying, “[it] does no good but only ruins those who are listening.”
That sounds an awful lot like every single politically charged conversation I’ve ever witnessed on social media, where no one listens and everyone leaves wounded.
I’ve seen families torn apart over it.
Paul then encourages Timothy to rightly handle the Word of truth. That literally means to cut straight, like a craftsman making a clean line. The task is to handle the Word clearly, faithfully, and without distortion or hostility.
Like Timothy, we live in a culture that rewards noise over truth.
But our calling is not to wrangle over words. It’s to handle the Word rightly, with integrity and clarity, rooted in the risen Christ whose Word still runs free.
Unchained Grace and Enduring Hope
So here we are. Two very different settings, Babylon and Rome. Yet they carry the same story.
In both, God’s people learn that His purposes are not defeated or defined by exile, imprisonment, or loss of influence.
Rather, they show us that we’re not exiles of circumstance but image-bearers of a loving God, called to mirror His faithfulness even in hard places.
We see this truth echoed in both of their words.
Jeremiah says, ‘Seek the shalom of the city.’
Paul says, ‘Endure for the sake of others.’
One speaks of gardens, the other of chains. Both about peace and grace that keeps working.
This faithfulness in exile that we’re talking about isn’t about reclaiming power. No. It’s about embodying Grace.
Both prophets remind us that our calling is to remain who we are, even when we feel displaced.
It isn’t easy. It takes faith and endurance. But not the kind we muster ourselves. It’s about the grace that goes before us into the hard places and follows us out again.
Grace That Precedes and Follows
The exiles of Judah maintained their identity.
Paul remembered Christ raised.
We remember too… in our prayers, in our worship, in the way we live… because remembering anchors us in grace.
Every prayer, every Eucharist, every act of service is a way of saying we refuse to forget who we are and Whose we are.
That’s why our Collect today says, ‘Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us.’
That’s the whole sermon in a single line.
God’s grace goes before us into Babylon, into Rome, into our divided world… and it follows after, redeeming whatever we offer in faith.
No exile, no prison, no cultural storm can chain the Word of God or silence His grace.
Let us pray.
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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