Day 18—Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Jeremiah 22:3

This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

This passage is part of a warning from the prophet Jeremiah to the king of Judah. The king – and likely the royal court as a whole – had evidently abandoned King Josiah’s commitment to follow the scriptures. Josiah’s sons Shallum and Jehoiakim were short-lived but evil kings who used slave labor to build bigger and more ornate palaces for themselves. They were oppressors and extortioners. Now Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, is on the throne doing the same thing as his father and uncle. God warns Jehoiachin to change his ways or face capture by Babylon. God tells Jehoiachin if he follows God’s word, the city will continue to be prosperous.

While these specific commands and warnings were given to a King of old, we can learn that God values kindness, compassion, mercy, peace and acceptance. God loathes violence, oppression, extortion and theft. We are also reminded that our actions have consequences. This passage should not be interpreted to support the prosperity gospel (do good, and you’ll be rewarded with material possessions) or to teach that God physically punishes us when we do something bad. Rather, the natural consequences of being merciful, kind and compassionate toward others are that we’ll probably have a better community, more friends, more joy. And the natural consequences of being evil are the opposite.

As we continue to journey through this Lenton season, may we seek the truth of Scripture as Josiah did, and may we uphold the values of mercy, kindness and compassion that God values. Amen.

-Alicha Grubb