Leo Perdue, Hebrew Bible Professor at Brite Divinity School, says this about Jeremiah, “Perhaps more than anyone in his time, Jeremiah provided the means by which a despairing people could hope for a new future.” (Harper Collins Study Bible, 1993, Pg. 1113)
I wouldn’t call Jeremiah a dark book, but it has much that shows despair and depression. I would not want to be Jeremiah. I believe he had a VERY tough life; mostly because he did what God called him to do, and his own people were against him. Nevertheless, his ministry spoke of God’s enduring love in the midst of troubled times.
Jeremiah has a subtly different point of view from some other prophets. Perhaps most notably is Isaiah. To appreciate Jeremiah we need to turn the clock backwards 400 years to the time when Solomon became king. An event happened there that marked Judaism for centuries.
King Solomon’s father was King David. David is the one who really brings all the Jews together into a nation. David was a brilliant military leader. He was also a savvy politician. Among his many savvy moves was making Judaism the state religion. David had two chief priests: Zadok and Abiathar. When David died Abiathar backed David’s son Adonijah as the next king. Adonijah was the heir apparent after all. Zadok backed Solomon even though Solomon had far less right to claim the throne. When Solomon became king he killed all those who had opposed his rise to power. Zadok continued as the high priest. However, Solomon was merciful to Abiathar and rather than having him killed he banished him to the town of Anathoth, several miles north of Jerusalem.
In all of this remember that David did not build the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon did. And Zadok was the high priest during its construction and his descendants continued after him. Just like the king, the high priest passed down through the family. The Zadokite priesthood was always close to the royal family and it ran the temple in cooperation with the royal family.
Abiathar’s blood line and his family’s religious work did not die out with him. It also continued. And so 400 years later we have Jeremiah the prophet, a descendent of Abiathar.
I hope that helps us realize that Jeremiah is an outsider to the positions of religious and political authority, but he is still of a religiously prominent family. And it comes as no surprise that he is critical of the powers that be.
It is helpful to make a contrast between Jeremiah and Isaiah, even though they lived 100 years apart. Isaiah was part of the ruling class. Not surprisingly he supported the ruling class even as he was harshly critical of them. Isaiah called for faithfulness in God and if that was done then God would stay true to the promises to King David and his ancestors are leaders, plus the eternal importance of Jerusalem and its temple.
Jeremiah says that the Davidic monarchy, Jerusalem, and the temple are not the center of promises with God. They are secondary. For Jeremiah the centerpiece of Judaism is the covenant God made with the people through Moses. So we’re talking Egypt, the wilderness journey, the religious law, and conquering the Promised Land. This an older convent than the one with David.
We can feel these two threads of thought throughout the Old Testament prophets. Some say the David covenant is central. Some say the Moses covenant is central. They aren’t opposites but there is a contrast. When you look at the writing of the gospels and the beginnings of Christianity, early Christians were trying to establish Jesus’ authority by saying he is the fulfillment of both the David and Moses covenants.
That is a lengthy background to Jeremiah but it is important to remember as we spend the next few weeks with him.
Today we read Jeremiah’s call story. Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet. He did not want to do it. But God called him, and as we will see in the weeks to come, he felt he had no choice.
1:5 is a famous verse where God says, “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.”
Even though we know this calling is going to lead Jeremiah into a very difficult life, the idea that God has a specific and clear plan for Jeremiah is very inviting.
The Rev. Henry Langknecht, pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Great Falls, Virginia notes:
…let us assume that God knows everyone before they are formed in the womb. But does God also consecrate and appoint all of God’s people to specific vocations or only those destined to become prophets? If all, does that mean that God has an “authored plan” for each of our lives? What are the means by which God communicates our consecration and appointment? And what are the consequences should we pursue another line of work?
(Working Preacher website, August 22, 2010)
Rev. Langknecht’s words get at a very sticky point. Perhaps Jeremiah’s call was resoundingly clear. But what about many people’s? I find very few people who have a resounding clear sense of God’s call for them. I find few people who can truly say they are in the line of work they are because God called them to it; that they are married to the person they are married to because God called them together; that they have kids, or don’t have kids, or they have the number of kids that they have because God called them to it; or that they live in the home in which they live because God called them there.
No, few people, if anyone, can describe such a divinely planned life. Most people of faith do quite a bit of stumbling around as they seek and discern what God is calling them to do. And perhaps even that is a mistake. Or maybe that misses the point.
While a person like Jeremiah clearly and solidly felt God’s call, (although in the weeks to come we’re going to find that he hated it) few people do. What does that mean for the rest of us?
Quite often when people are confused or feeling out of control I hear people say, “I know God has a plan. I just have to trust that God will bring it about.” That is a sincere and faith-filled statement. But I don’t like it.
For one, it’s not biblical. Let’s take a subtly but significantly different approach, and one that is from the Bible. St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “We know that in all things God works for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
That means that when your life is directed according to God’s loving purposes, God is going to be working through you to bring about good. That means that life is going to be an ongoing discernment of what is the loving thing to do, and then acting on it with the best of your knowledge, knowing that your knowledge isn’t perfect and that you will mess up.
Consider the verses immediately preceding 8:28, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit…” (8:26-27a)
If you read Jeremiah you’re going to discover that he did not know a divine plan for his every action. He lived out of the overarching call of God.
The exact same thing goes for us. If you must know a “plan” for your life it is this. These are not my words. They are Ephesians 2:10. These are words to impress deeply into your heart, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” Got it? Pretty simple. It actually sounds a lot like the call of Jeremiah!
When you don’t know what to do take the path of good works. When you can’t feel God’s nudge or guidance, always do the most loving thing. Be critical thinking in that love, but love boldly and daringly. That is God’s plan for you. That is God’s purpose for your existence.
Maybe tying all of it together is this. I think some people get too hung up on discerning God’s plan for our lives. Life is not a riddle from God to solve. God is not standing above you giving you tiny tweaks and nudges hoping you’ll get it right. God is not like that. That isn’t very loving. God doesn’t play games.
Instead recognize that you are what God has made you. You are a creature made by God in God’s image and loved by God. I can give you no higher praise than that. And never never never let anyone convince you that you are anything less than the goodness of being created in the image of God.
I know my thoughts would completely kill the advertising industry and much of our economy. The quest of most people is to find purpose, meaning, and value within themselves. They can’t find it in a satisfying way so they keep buying more stuff that doesn’t fulfill.
But you need not take that quest. You know who you are. You know whose you are. You know where your value lies.
So yes, before you existed God knew you. God appointed you a doer of good, inspired by his love. Live it every day until you die and you will have fulfilled God’s will for your life.
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