Betting the Farm
based on Jeremiah 32:1-15
by Rev. Randy Quinn

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him.

This is the reason he was confined:

Zedekiah had said, "Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the LORD: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape out of the hands of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; and he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I attend to him, says the LORD; though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?"

It’s a little confusing, but that’s what had said; it’s the reason he was in prison – well, it was more like “house arrest” than prison. It was there that the next scene takes place.

Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me: Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours." Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15


If you have been here for any of the Sundays since school began, you know I have been preaching from the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a character who has a reputation of being about doom and gloom. In fact, the book of Lamentations is often referred to as the “Lamentations of Jeremiah” – even though we aren’t certain he is the author.1 It’s just that he writes in a style that suggests he could have written them.

But there is much more to his story than doom, gloom, and lamentations, as our text for today suggests. Jeremiah is also a preacher who uses vivid visual images to make his point. A few weeks ago, for instance, we saw how he referred to the potter working at his wheel (Jer. 18:1-4). Another example of the flamboyant way he uses images is when he takes some of the same pottery and smashes it on the ground as a visual image of what God will do to David’s Kingdom if the King doesn’t change his ways (Jer. 19:1-2, 10). And then later on Jeremiah carries a yoke through town to draw attention to himself before telling about the yoke of slavery the people will be wearing (Jer. 27:2ff).

The book of Jeremiah records his sermons as well as the stories of his life – weaving his words and God’s words with the people’s reactions and historical vignettes in a way that makes his story significantly different from any of the other prophets. Since he tends to “act out” his sermons as much as he preaches them, it’s often hard to capture the essence of what his message is without a narrator. One of the people we meet in reading Jeremiah is a person who often serves as the narrator, Baruch. He is a scribe who writes down what Jeremiah says – and maybe was the first to collect his stories and put them into a single scroll. That scroll, however, the scroll that became the book of Jeremiah, isn’t written from a chronological perspective. Instead, the stories and sermons are gathered together under common themes.

Our text for today comes from a section commonly referred to by scholars as the “book of comfort”. It’s set in what may be the darkest hour of Israel’s history. The enemy can be seen outside the city’s gates. The King had hoped that Egypt would come to their rescue, but the Egyptian army fled when the Chaldeans arrived, leaving Jerusalem precariously perched on a hill that was about to topple (Jer. 32:24).

It was the fulfillment of everything Jeremiah had been saying. In fact, Jeremiah was under house arrest for saying so (Jer. 32:3). Some thought he was guilty of treason for suggesting that the King surrender to Nebuchadrezzar, so he was “locked up” – which is better than the time they threw him into a dry cistern (Jer. 38:6).

Not many people liked what Jeremiah had been saying, and you would think that this is the time to say, “I told you so,” since everything he had been saying is unfolding just as he had predicted.

Rather than smugly reminding them that he was in chains for telling the truth, though, Jeremiah does the unthinkable. He purchases the family farm, the farm that is currently occupied by the enemy. His cousin knows the land has lost its value; he knows there is no hope for raising another crop; he knows the only recourse he has is to sell everything and flee to the safety of Egypt. So Hanamel follows the current legal process and offers it first to the next of kin – who happens to be Jeremiah.

Jeremiah seizes the opportunity to act out yet another sermon – so he makes his purchase as public as possible.

We hear the details of how he had it witnessed and sealed and stored for future reference (Jer. 32:10-12). He takes careful steps to make sure everyone remembers what he has done. Then he offers a word of hope.

Hope. (Or is it craziness?)

The enemy is at the gate and he is speaking about the day when people will again live in the land, with plentiful harvests in the fields and vineyards (Jer. 32:15). He will never see that day, but he knows it will come.

In other words, their exile is not the end of the story. Jeremiah proclaims another truth they find hard to believe. In fact, Jeremiah finds it hard to believe himself, as we learn when we read the rest of this chapter. The very next line says he began to pray – essentially asking God if it was even possible to hope for that day to come (Jer. 32:16-25).

He acts in faith, even when he has doubt.

He trusts God, even when the circumstances say there is no reason for hope.

Please hear how radical this is. This isn’t Jeremiah buying land in Florida after a hurricane wreaks havoc. That’s a case where land is cheap in the short run, but even the locals know that eventually people will be drawn back to the sunny ocean beaches and land values will go back up. That might be a wise investment.

No, this is more like buying a hillside in Afghanistan from the grandson of the tribal leader who used to live there – maybe 84 years earlier. Not only is there no evidence that he currently has legal ownership of the land and can therefore offer it for sale; there is also serious doubt that mining in the hills will ever be more productive than using them as hiding places.

That’s how ludicrous it is for Jeremiah to offer his cousin enough money to pay the camel drivers to take him to Egypt in exchange for the family farm.

Now, I know there are farmers who feel like Jeremiah every time they put seed in the ground. There is no promise of a harvest. And even if the corn and beans produce plentifully, there is no guarantee that we will be there to witness it. And yet we plant every year. We do so because of hope.

I know that in every parsonage we’ve lived in, there is at least one tree we planted – and sometimes we never saw the leaves fall the first time. Still we plant trees because we have hope.

One of the few teenage foster children we had in our home was a 17-year old named, “Michael.” Michael’s story was complicated by the fact that his parents didn’t really want them in their home – so he was “couch hopping” until the state became involved and put him in our home. He was there until his parents were contacted – and then he essentially ran away and ended up in our home again.

Michael came and went on several occasions. One time he showed up at our door and asked to borrow $20. Several months later, he came and paid the $20 back – and then almost immediately asked if he could borrow it again. We invested in Michael because we could see the possibility of his life having meaning and purpose once he became an adult. It was our hope in him that kept us interested and concerned.

But in difficult times, our hope is tested and tried. The ultimate test came for Jeremiah that day when his cousin offered him a chance to bet on the family farm. He jumped at the chance because of hope.

For those of us who profess a belief in God, hope is always a part of the undercurrent of our lives. It’s why we build church buildings and maintain them. It’s why we invest in Sunday School curriculum and youth programs. It’s the underlying reason I belong to a small group – because I have hope.

Jeremiah’s hope, however, is proclaimed at a bleak moment in history. It is not only unfounded, it is also outrageous.

But Jeremiah’s acted out story serves as a reminder of the hope God has. It’s about what God is willing to do with us and for us. You see, when Jesus died on the cross, God saw it as a way to purchase our salvation, to redeem us. It was a ridiculous investment in a highly unlikely rag-tag army of followers that would become the church. This hope is God’s belief in them as much as it was their belief in God. And as ridiculous as it may seem, it’s about the unwarranted hope God has in us.

God is the one who makes a claim on us, a claim rooted in hope. Jeremiah’s hidden scroll is a reminder that God’s hope has been sealed for all eternity. And in baptism God’s promise is acted out for everyone to witness. It is a sign of God’s investment in our future.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.