May the words of
my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God,
for you are our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
Jeremiah
was born and raised in a retired preacher's home. Surrounded by priests and
priestly talk, it is hardly a surprise when he hears the voice of God calling
him to ministry. Ultimately, he became the most notable Hebrew prophet because
of the almost impossible mission that God tasked him to do. He preached before
and during the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, with God commissioning him to
recall the people of Judah back to an observance of divine law in a time where
they were poised on the brink of national and spiritual catastrophe. Jeremiah’s
life work was to deliver God’s word and bring change to the house of Israel and
the Book of Jeremiah is filled with stories of his living out the calling of
receiving God’s word and delivering the good news to the people of Israel. But,
in the beginning, Jeremiah didn’t want to be a prophet.
The
lectionary passage for today records the prophet’s call to ministry: one to
whom “the word of the Lord came.” Like many of the other prophets, Jeremiah is
called by God in four steps: commission of the prophet by God, objection of the
prophet, God's reassurance to the prophet, and God's sign to the prophet. But unlike
other prominent call narratives where God either introduces Godself or the
situation (Exodus 3:6 and following) or speaks to the prophet after his sins
are purged (Isaiah 6:7 and following), in Jeremiah’s call, God first
establishes the nature of Jeremiah’s birth and God’s intimate relationship with
him.
We
begin with God claiming Jeremiah as God’s own in four verbs: formed, knew,
sanctified, appointed (Jeremiah 1:5). Each of these verbs indicates a sense of
intimacy between the One who forms and the one who is formed. By establishing
an intimate relationship with Jeremiah at the outset of his call in the womb,
God communicates to the prophet that his birth and call are unique and special
because he was appointed when he was in the womb to be a prophet to the nations.
This is not an argument for predestination, but as a description of the nature
of the loving relationship between God and Jeremiah. Living with priests and
being one himself, Jeremiah would understand the nurturing and loving
relationship he would have with God. That’s not in question here. But Jeremiah is
most certainly objecting to his commissioning to be God’s voice to the nations.
That’s a way bigger task than being called to the local church!
Jeremiah’s objection echoes statements made by Moses, who claimed he has difficulty speaking (Exodus 4:10; 6:12, 30). Jeremiah says, “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” (6) Jeremiah is telling God that he feels inadequate to be God’s voice, that because he is so young, no one will listen to him. God counters Jeremiah’s objections by reiterating his having been chosen by God from the beginning and assuring Jeremiah that he should not fear because God will be with him. This is the same assurance that was given to Moses.
We can’t help but note the similarities between Jeremiah’s experience and Luke’s story of Jesus’ reception in his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:21-30). The passage from Jeremiah, placed on the fourth Sunday after Epiphany, accompanies the story of Jesus’ own announcement of his ministry in Nazareth, and of his near demise at the hands of townspeople (Luke 4:21-30). Like Jeremiah, Jesus is understood as a prophet (Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 4:24). Like Jeremiah, he is questioned and rejected by his own people, who attempt to kill him, though he survives to continue preaching (Luke 4:29-30). The people listen to Jesus at first, then turn hostile when he begins to condemn their unwillingness to accept him as God’s representative. Jesus is commissioned to speak difficult words to his people. He knows that if they listen to those words and carry them out, they will have cause to rejoice. No doubt Jesus, like Jeremiah, is disappointed when they reject him. Like Jeremiah, he becomes the ‘outsider’. Also, like Jeremiah, that does not stop Jesus following his calling. He seems resigned to the fact that the word he carries will bring its own difficulties; “no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown” (4:24). Jeremiah and Jesus both attest to the truth that the most difficult ministry for anyone is among his or her own people.
Jeremiah's call speaks to our own call as Christians. We are all called by God from the moment of our creation in the womb for one purpose: life with God. Witnessing through our words and actions is our "yes" to God's call. While we might not be called to be an international sign like Jeremiah, we are called to make a difference in our world. We are called to speak the Word of God – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah was so desperate to wiggle out of his called that he tried the strategy first attempted by Moses, who said he could not speak. Jeremiah and Moses, and so many others right from Adam and Eve, have made excuses as to why they couldn’t accept God’s call. We still make these excuses today – “I’m not good enough”, “I don’t have much to give”, “I’m just a (insert any descriptor here).”
But do not fear! God’s call is enveloped in love and God would never abandon us. Jeremiah is not left to his own devices. God tells him what to say to the people. After establishing the intimate relationship with Jeremiah – forming, knowing, sanctifying, appointing, touching his mouth, and giving God’s own words to him to speak – God invites Jeremiah to the arduous task explained in the six verbs found in verse 10: pluck up, break down, destroy, overthrow, build, and plant. Four of the six verbs God uses to describe Jeremiah’s appointment have negative connotations. Only two verbs (build, plant) have positive connotations. The use of twice as many negative verbs as positive ones affirms that Jeremiah’s message will largely focus on destruction and devastation. This isn’t a surprise because reconstruction and rebuilding are possible only with deconstruction and dismantling. Systemic structures of oppression rooted in denying dignity and humanity to God’s beloved children need to be overthrown in order to rebuild systems that are welcoming and affirming of God’s love for all. The positive words “build” and “plant” imagine a new world of possibilities where covenant faithfulness is restored.
Jeremiah’s call was to pull down those things which did not lead to life as well as to build up those which did. So too with Jesus. The fact that the crowd were ready to throw him from a cliff indicates that his message, what was fulfilled in their hearing (v. 21), was not simply the message of healing they wanted to hear (v. 23). This one, attested as the one who fulfilled the hopes of the people, was not what they had expected. Neither was Jeremiah called to be a prophet who simply gave the people the hopeful words they desired to hear. Epiphany is a time when we not only celebrate the presence of God with us in Jesus Christ, but also a time when we discover both sides of the message our saviour brings to us. Christ is here not only to build up, but to pull down as well so that he may build.
Jeremiah reminds us
of our baptismal vocation and createdness in one conversation. How often do we
sell ourselves short, forgetting that we have been created for the purpose of
partnership with God? Just imagine, God working with and through the human
creature, mere mortals: some of us tillers and tenders, some of us namers and
proclaimers, some healers, some teachers, each of us called and gifted – just
as we are. Jeremiah’s call and his subsequent ministry illustrate the risk of
discipleship. But they also testify to the joy of such discipleship. We are all
called to gospel proclamation, and we can be sure that God will support us as
we seek to make God’s Word known. So, let us hear the call and carry the
message to a lost and broken world. The life that we find when we give up our
lives to follow God’s call, is, after all is said and done, the life most worth
living. To become the people that God calls us to be, to become disciples of
Jesus Christ, is to become really and truly human at last.
Amen.
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