Jeremiah 24 recounts a vision which Jeremiah the prophet is shown. It is a vision of two baskets or cauldrons. One contained, “evil” figs. The other contained “good” figs. The evil figs represented leaders who curried flavor with the gods and leaders of the Babylonians. They sought to become gads themselves. The good figs represented people who were deported and enslaved by the gods and leaders of the Babylonians.
It is a fact of life. Those people who seek to follow God and the Word of God will always experience persecution. Yet, God’s eyes are always on them through this time of persecution and pain. God says, “I will set my eyes on them for “good,” and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them and not pull them down; I will plant them and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” (Jer. 24:7, 8). This is the thesis statement of the whole book of Jeremiah, and the vision of the prophet Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 1:10)
The vision of the figs is reminiscent of the picture in Genesis 2 and 3, where the primeval parents seek the “evil” figs instead of the “good” figs- the Tree of Life. They seek to become divine themselves, instead of seeking the Word of God. The people who remain in Jerusalem seek to do the same thing, so God calls them “evil figs.”
The Gospel reading, gives us an amazing picture of how Jesus the Messiah turns “evil” into “good.” In John 9, Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth. He makes a mixture of saliva and earth and anoints the man’s eyes. The man astonishingly begins seeing for the first time in his life, when he washes his eyes with water from the pool called Siloam, or the Sent One. The religious leaders, instead of rejoicing over this good miracle, turn it into a debate. The debate revolves around “Is this man, Jesus, a sinner? Is he evil or not?” Interestingly, the disciple’s question regarding the blind man also was, “Is this condition because of his evil or is it intergenerational evil?” Jesus does not enter into these meaningless debates. He just turns the impact of human evil into good.
All aspects of human condition- diseases, deformities, etc. are a result of human falleness. God became incarnate in Jesus the Messiah, to heal all these. He became incarnate to experience the impact of human evil on the Cross, so that humanity would experience his healing, and become the “good basket.”
May we in these days of Lent, come to Jesus the Messiah, so that we would experience the healing Light of the world (John 9:5).
Rev. Dr. R. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies
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