Today’s
Scripture Reading (May 10, 2017) Ezekiel 25
On May 10, 1940, the United Kingdom
began its invasion of Iceland. The Invasion was somewhat of an unexpected
artifact of the Second World War. The problem was that Iceland had already declared
its neutrality, something it maintained throughout the British (with the help
of the Canadian and American militaries) occupation of the Island. But Germany
had already proved, with the invasion of Denmark, that they did not respect the
neutrality of any country. There is no evidence that Germany ever planned a full-scale invasion of the Northern Island. But
for the allies, the risk was too great
that they might make an attempt on the island nation and that the Germans, through their invasion of Iceland, would take
control of the Northern trade routes hampering both trade and the war effort in
Europe. The United Kingdom had attempted
several times to negotiate Iceland’s joining of the Allied War effort which
would afford the Island the protection of the Allies during the war, but at
every step Iceland refused. The Icelandic intention was to remain neutral
throughout the war.
So on the morning on May 10, 1940, the
British arrived on the shores of their northern neighbor. Iceland protested the
invasion but did not resist. The British invaders expected resistance at the German
Embassy, but even there they simply knocked on the door, heard a German protest
over the invasion reminding the Brits that Iceland had declared their
neutrality (and the British reminded the Germans that Denmark had declared
their neutrality which did not stop the Germans from taking control of the
nation on April 9, 1940, a little more than a month earlier) and the invasion
was over. There was no loss of life in the invasion unless you include a
suicide among the British forces that took place on the journey to the Island.
If Jeremiah had been listened to by those in charge of Jerusalem,
the Babylonian invasion of Judah, and Jerusalem, could have been carried out in
a similar way to the British Invasion of Iceland. The gates to the city could
have been opened, a protest given, and
the Babylonians could have gained control with little or no loss of life. This had been God’s plan. But the powers in
Jerusalem had resisted Jeremiah every time that he came before them. As a
result, the city was destroyed. The tragedy
is that it didn’t have to be that way. But the people’s resistance to the
message of Jeremiah simply proved that they did not know God. They had not
heard his voice, and so they believed that
Jeremiah had been lying.
In the midst of disobedience and a
lack of knowledge of God, God’s refrain is always “then they will know,” a
chorus that is lifted among his people.
God is willing to negotiate a peaceful surrender, ready to allow us to become allies of his efforts in the world, but
our lack of knowledge of God has too many consequences just to allow that to happen. And so our struggles multiply, and we experience, as Jerusalem did,
the “then they will know” moments of God.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 52
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