Readings
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
We read this morning Jeremiah’s message for the exiles which, as usual, is unpopular but realistic. ‘The exile is going to last a long time, make the best of it’. They are to build houses for their families and even pray for the city they have been taken to.
This is a message for all displaced persons and a message of peace. It is the message about making a positive contribution to a new situation rather than looking back to a past that is lost. It is the message that has guided the Jews in Diaspora ever since. Maurice Andrew says that the aims of the Council of Jewish Women in New Zealand are based on verse seven and the command to seek the peace of the city.
Luke 17:11-19
Now ten lepers come to Jesus and he simply sends them to show themselves to the priest as if they were already healed and indeed they find they are.
So, we have a practical working out of a small faith for a big miracle—the faith in Jesus and the faith in the system, showing themselves as healed confirms their faith in Jesus’ healing.
The one who responds in gratitude is an example of the reformed mission motivation. We don’t do good works to earn salvation. We respond to the world in love as gratitude for the re-empowering love we receive from God.
Sermon
At end-2024 the United Nation Refugee Agency reported that there was 123.2 million forcibly displaced people worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order.[1]
73.5 million of those are internally displaced people,
36.8 million are refugees, 8.4 million, are asylum-seekers and 5.9 million are other people in need of international protection.[2]