The Prodigal Children

Read Jeremiah 30-31, 33:10-13
 
Jeremiah 31:15-17 This is what the LORD says: “A cry is heard in Ramah – deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted – for her children are gone.” 16 But now this is what the LORD says: “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you,” says the LORD. “Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy. 17 There is hope for your future,” says the Lord. “Your children will come again to their own land.”
 
WE may be familiar with verse 15 because it is part of Jesus’ birth and early life story: Matthew 2:16b Herod sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. 17 Herod's brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A cry was heard in Ramah – weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.”
   And this verse refers to much more grief and sadness in Israel in Jeremiah’s day. Ramah and Rachel represent the entire history of Israel’s struggles.  
   Rachel embodies Israel’s mothers. In Genesis 29-35, we remember the long process of Jacob becoming the father of 12 sons. Rachel, Jacob’s most loved wife, birthed Joseph and Benjamin. From Joseph came Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s descendants became the two most powerful tribes in the Northern Kingdom, Israel. Rachel’s tears in verse 15 can represent all of Israel’s mothers through the generations mourning their sons who died in the wars leading to Israel’s exile.
   Ramah was located five miles from Bethlehem. Note it was in the vicinity of Bethlehem, Herod’s targeted area. And in Jeremiah’s time, Ramah was the village Nebuchadnezzar used to stage Jerusalem’s siege and conquest. Ramah, then, represented the death and destruction of God’s judgment on Jerusalem and Judah. Jeremiah, then, has given an overall view of God’s judgment and Israel’s suffering that has and will come to his people. And then we thank God he has more to say.
   Once more, God completes the message with a restoration promise. Remember, the gospel is in the “bad news” – “good news” format. We must remember our sin-caused sufferings, so we will seek the hope found only in God’s saving power.
   That hope is defined with the promise of the children coming back from a distant land to their own land. Here is the Prodigal Son story. The Father will await his children who have left him. He will look for them because he knows they are coming. He is the Father preparing the land to graciously welcome his children home. He will celebrate their return with their restoration to the land, to Jerusalem and to the Temple.
          Again we have the gospel promise: John 14:2-3 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. Rejoice your Father in heaven is looking forward to your coming from sin’s exile. He has prepared an eternal celebration. The weeping will be no more in the Father’s good land.