For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act
justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan,
and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not
go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this
place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors for ever and
ever. (7:5-7)
The people in Judah like to imagine that the presence of the temple
will protect them. It is all that matters, they believe. Jeremiah
comes along and shatters the illusion. The truth, he explains, is
that what matters is how you treat those who are weakest and most
marginalized in society.
Aliens—immigrants—matter because they have no support networks
in the place where they are settling. In Jeremiah’s society, the
fatherless mattered because they lacked the traditional support
network for survival; it was the father that provided food and
housing. The widow mattered because she had lost her
husband and was alone.
Let us all pause today and think about those in our society who are
weak and who lack a voice. Let us commit afresh to praying for
these marginalized ones and doing everything we can to provide
support for them.
—Ian Markham
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