Corporate Exile
All exile is sin induced. We were meant to be in community. Sin splinters, divides, and conquers. It leaves us alone in shame and regret.
Sadly, we are born in exile. Lost wanderers. But this is not the end of the story.
God pursues us. Where are you Adam?This was clearly not a question of information but one of relationship.
It is the question that the timeless God has been patiently posing through the millennia.
Where are you Lucy?
Where are you Xi?
Where are you Hawa?
Where are you Jose?
Where are you Chuck?
One would think he would get tired of asking but scripture reminds us that “the Lord is not slow . . . but patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish [in our exile] but that all should reach repentance” (II Peter 3:9).
Repent. Turn back. 180. About face. Fresh start.
God’s invitation is to leave exile and be counted as members of the royal family and citizens of his kingdom.
Even though some of us are rescued we have this reflex to return to exile. You can take the boy out of exile but you cannot take exile out of the boy.
Some of us return to exile because of our own sin choices but others are forced there because of the sin choices of others. And yet, these places of exile can become a calling to embrace rather than a condition to endure when we can choose to be on exile (on mission), even though being in exile can be painful.
There is another form of exile – Corporate Exile. It is when I am an innocent bystander and I get caught up in wake of the exile of my tribe or people. The Hebrew people of God introduce us to this form of “exile.” We sometimes refer to the exile as the years of dispersion. The fact that we name a people the Diaspora shows the significance of a corporate period of exile. We can actually find identity in exile.
Let me quickly remind you of the century long story line.
It began with Abraham and a covenant. Covenant is merely a technical term for promise. God promised to bless. The blessing would come in multiple ways.
But one of the most significant promises was land. To your offspring I will give this land . . .(Genesis 15:18).
Any person in geographical or homeless exile can understand the desire to occupy land. But to the patriarchs, our wandering forefathers and foremothers, it was the earthly antithesis to their daily nomadic existence.
How they came to occupy that land is a bit of a twisted story.
The exile of one despised brother, Joseph, saved the family line.
Saved from famine and extermination.
Saved to slavery; a long slavery – 400 years.
It seemed liked God had forgotten his promise of land during those 400 years but God is not slow as some consider slowness. Moses was God’s chosen person to lead the slaves on a mass Exodus. Out of exile. Headed to the Promised Land.
The Promised Land was only to be a marker of blessing. Once again the journey is not just about the destination. The journey was to bring character to the people as they moved from exilic family to settled nation. It took time.
But in the settling over several hundred years the people forgot their God of promise. They slowly drifted into a different sort of exile – a spiritual exile. LOST. This led to a political exile. Kings did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Priests followed suit. And the people were not far behind. The Living God of promise was deposed from the thrones of palace, temple and heart - replaced by dead gods of wood and stone in the high places.
So God left town. Warring armies captured the city of God. When God is not there, no army is strong enough to defend it.
The Promised People. Homeless. Dispersed. Deported. In EXILE once again.
But God could not abandon his people even though they had run him out of town. He has this thing about loving steadfastly – even his enemies. So he went with them to the lands of dispersion.
We now enter into some of the mystery of the Sovereignty of God. He is always directing yet not manipulating.
In the end, we come to realize that God was fulfilling his plan for his people to be ambassadors to the other peoples – their enemies. Light was not to remain in Zion, the holy city; it was to be spread to the nations.
So what were the exiles to do in their new contexts?
They were to flourish. They were to thrive within the Empire and work hard to bless the Empire; even though the Empire is always evil. Being in exile is never an excuse to avoid being on exile.
We have clear examples of deported exiles thriving in the spirit of Joseph, the first son of exile. And we discover that the same FAVOR that made Joseph successful also was available to empower the new exiles.
Daniel rose through the ranks of satraps and became chief advisor to the king of Babylon. He prayed daily in front of his masters. His faithfulness to Yahweh led him to be in exile within an exile – exile squared - a lion’s den. But it was in this forced place of corporate exile that the strong arm of the Lord was manifest in the closing of the mouths of lions. FAVOR.
Esther, also in Babylon, rose through the ranks of the king’s wives to stand in on behalf of her people. She got there through a beauty pageant. Did I mention the mysterious way of God’s working? Totally dependent on God – in corporate prayer and fasting – Esther was used by God to save the people. For such a time as this! FAVOR.
Nehemiah came along after Persia conquered Babylonia. Corporate exile within another corporate exile. But he too rose through the ranks of palace workers to become the cupbearer of the king. It put him in a place to be a channel of blessing for the dispersed and weakened chosen people. He to prayed. This time privately and a simple prayer, “grant your servant success before the king” (Nehemiah 1). God heard. God said yes. FAVOR.
Here is the calling of all exiles, including those caught up in the corporate consequences of the exile of others.
Live in God’s favor. And flourish!!
God was quite explicit to the lamenting prophet Jeremiah as he headed out in exile,
“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare”(Jeremiah 29:7).
That is a calling!!!
How can one flourish in exile?
Work hard to co-create with God.
Embrace kingdom values. Do the things of the kingdom.
Live purposely for justice for the marginalized. Wait – aren’t we the marginalized in exile? Certainly. But when we are on exile it does not matter. The marginalized (in exile), when they choose to be on exile, flourish by blessing the other exiles.
Being on Exile and moving in the Kingdom are not far apart. They are both a calling and a choice.
On exile with you in a long tradition of exiles.
