Sermon for November 25

The reading

Jeremiah 1:4-10; 7:1-11

1:4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." 6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." 7 But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, "I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." 9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: "This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." 5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, 6 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, 7 then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever. 8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are safe!"—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord.

The message

As we continue our wait for Christmas, we are now in the time of the prophets.  We heard news of social justice and a demand for community change from Micah, we heard real news of hope in a hopeless situation from Isaiah and this morning, we hear a call to repentance from the Prophet Jeremiah.  It can be difficult to hear and understand the words of the prophets, both what they meant when they were spoken in their first context and what they can mean for us today.

The book of the prophet Jeremiah is a very complicated collection of different prophesies and messages. The organization of the book is difficult, its order, timeline and the connections between chapters reflect a great deal of editing, reorganizing and compiling of different scrolls and materials. 

We do know that Jeremiah served as a prophet during a horrifying time in Israel, years of declining faith, collapse, defeat by the Babylonians and exile from the promised land God had given them.  This is the time when the temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon and serving as the center of Jewish faith, is destroyed (586 bc). For Jeremiah, the reason behind this, how God could let this happen is obvious. The covenant, the promises between God and the people, that I will be your God and you will be my people (which we heard earlier this year spoken to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) are conditional. The people have not lived up to their side of the agreement, they have not even come close or really tried to keep the promises of their ancestors. This is a warning he shares with the community again and again.  Following the example of Hosea, Jeremiah calls God’s people an unfaithful wife or disobedient child.

We do not start with Jeremiah’s hard words for the community.  Instead we start with his call story, a young boy sent to pluck up and pull down nations, to destroy and overthrow leaders, to build new nations and plant a new world.  Like most of the prophets, Jeremiah is reluctant.  His first response is pick someone else, Jeremiah lays out his reasons, I am only a boy and I do not know how to speak.  Jeremiah is young, not exactly the person people would see as a prophet.  He will have to convince religious scholars, high priests and kings he is a prophet. He will have to tell powerful people their ways are going to destroy everything, he will have to say “has this house, which is called by the Lord’s name has become a den of robbers under your watch” to the authorities entrusted to maintain the temple.  He will have to say great doom is coming, trying to scare and shock people into repentance (which may or may not even help them).  Jeremiah fully believes this is work for someone else, a person more qualified, more respected, more educated, more faithful, a person with more resources.

God responds to Jeremiah’s excuses directly.  First God notes, the real reason Jeremiah does not want to go is that he is afraid of them, of the people and leaders he will confront,  Perhaps Jeremiah is afraid of being ignored or laughed at, of being arrested (which he will be), of being killed or of failing. What words could he possibly say to avoid that, how could he get people’s attention, what could he tell a prosecutor or judge looking to convict him.  God only has a few word answer to these “what will I say” and “I am too young” excuses: God says of course you cannot do this alone, you cannot think of the perfect words or be safe, that’s why I am with you to deliver you and now, I have put my words in your mouth. Those are hard things to trust, so they come with a tangible sign, a vision, an encounter with the Lord’s hand.  This works, on and off in Jeremiah’s time as a prophet, he goes back and forth between complaints and faithful speaking, in getting distracted by himself and letting the Lord speak through him.       

After the call of Jeremiah, a young boy who gets chosen, equipped and empowered by God to be a prophet, we hear part of his work, what he says. Today is part of a message known as the temple sermon (which, once delivered, is one of the things that gets Jeremiah arrested.) Here is one of the main ways Jeremiah sees the people’s side of the covenant being ignored, the ways of religious life Jeremiah condemns. The situation in the temple is infected with a sort of mental disease, people’s belief that they can do anything, break any law, rewrite any rule and get away with it by saying, Our ancestors assured God’s protection for us, This is the temple of the Lord, we are safe here, this the temple of the Lord, no harm can come to us from anyone.  We can ignore the widow and the poor, this is after all, the temple of the Lord.  The temple of the Lord was sort of a get out of jail free card that people kept playing again and again.   Now Jeremiah says enough with the “this is the temple of the Lord” crap, First, the temple of the Lord is not a building, a pile of stone, the temple of the Lord is people, people you are abusing, taking advantage of and constantly failing to care for. Second, these promises that you think are going to protect you are conditional, and we, as a community have failed to keep up our end for a long, long time. God’s patience will not endure forever.  Really, no one listens, nothing changes in a meaningful way.  The temple of the Lord, the very building the people looked to as their cure all, is destroyed by the Babylonians. So much for “the temple of Lord means we can do whatever we want”    

We are under a different covenant, a different set of promises from and to God, not one spoken to Abraham on the top of a mountain but one spoken by Jesus through his birth, death and resurrection.   That does not mean if Jeremiah visited church today he would say “wow this is so great”.  First, I have spent the last 3 months completely distracted by caring for this building and dealing with issues here.  You are the temple of the Lord, not this place.  What about Evangelism, speaking our faith in the world, who in this church is ready to hear:  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord."  Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.  I mean the word Jeremiah is given is harsh, condemning, dangerous and he shouts it.  The word we are given is grace and love and we keep it quiet.  Many people do not even want to share good news. 

We are not called to amend our ways so that we can prevent something terrible or to save the temple.  We cannot stop bad things from happening by being very good people, we cannot make God save us by doing enough good works.  Sin separates people from God, distractions separate people from the work of ministry.  To care for the poor reminds people that God cares for everyone, forgiving reminds people that God forgives, to love your neighbors reminds people that God loves, to use your resources for good reminds people that God has given us more than enough.   To protect the weak reminds us that God stands with the least amongst us, to avoid sin reminds us we live and die, succeed and struggle as cared for children of God.   I end with Jeremiah’s pleas amend your ways and your doings and Let the Lord dwell with you in this place.