Our reading from Jeremiah gets at the age-old question Jews faced from their prophets. How do you tell if a person is a false prophet or a true prophet?
The
answer… Wait and see.
If
the things they predict come true then they are a true prophet. If the things they predict do not come true
then they are a false prophet. The fact
that Jeremiah has one of the biggest books of the Bible named after him, and
that you probably never heard of the prophet Hananiah before, it’s pretty easy
to conclude that Jeremiah was a true prophet and Hananiah was a false prophet.
That’s an easy enough answer from
our perspective looking back from thousands of years. But what if you’re in the midst of it?
Jeremiah and Hananiah both seem to
be well recognized and well accomplished prophets. Both of them know the prophetic style and how
to use symbolic actions. Both of them
know to start their oracles with the formula quote, “Thus says the Lord…” And, both of them appear to be saying
something that is quite plausible. In
other words, it’s orthodox.
-Given
history Jeremiah’s prophesy makes sense.
The prophets have long predicted devastation for the people’s
unfaithfulness.
-And
given history Hananiah’s prophesy also makes sense – God will deliver because God
made promises about the eternal nature of Jerusalem and the Davidic monarchy.
So, short term, both of them have
credibility.
We need to remind ourselves of a
little bit of history before we go further.
The Babylonian empire had risen quickly; over just several decades. I don’t believe any previous empire could
rival their power. They had destroyed
the mighty and long-lasting Assyrian empire.
Egypt, also mighty and a long time power, was retreating with its tail
between its legs. All the little nations
in between: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Judah – they were being overrun like they
weren’t even there. The Babylonians
seemed unstoppable.
In
597 B.C.E. the Babylonians conquered Judah.
They took control of Jerusalem.
And they took many of Jerusalem’s citizens into exile in the city of
Babylon. They also ransacked the temple
and took everything of value, including many of the sacred objects used in
worship. All the golden lampstands and
vessels, probably the ark of the covenant, and anything of value was hauled
off.
The
Babylonians were mighty, and they were probably arrogant, but they weren’t
stupid. In fact they were quite
clever. Rather than putting one of their
own officials in charge of Jerusalem after they ransacked it, they put
Zedekiah, who was in the blood line of David, in place as a puppet king. Also, the religious practices were allowed to
continue, just without all the sacred vessels.
All-in-all, if the Jews paid tribute and didn’t make a fuss the Babylonians
were more than willing to let Jerusalem stand, a puppet king in the bloodline
of David pretend to be ruler, and the temple could operate. The Babylonians were, after all, practical.
The
prophesies from Jeremiah and Hananiah are made in the years between 597 B.C.E.
when the Babylonians took over, and 587 B.C.E. after the Jews revolted and the
Babylonians came back and destroyed it all.
So,
if you’re living in that in-between decade what do you do? What does God really want? What is God’s will for you? Submit and live a shadow of your faith (that’s
Jeremiah’s message from God) or be more resistant believing God will bring
about divine deliverance (that’s more along the lines of what Hananiah said)?
People being people it’s no surprise
that the hearers liked Hananiah’s prophesy more than Jeremiah’s. Hananiah’s words preserved dignity, and
provided for short term hope. God would
divinely deliver them from their oppressors.
Jeremiah’s was very hard to
swallow. Jeremiah’s message was that the
Babylonians were God’s chosen instrument to punish them. The Babylonians were tyrannical conquerors
who were gobbling up all the nations around with their vastly superior
military. Jeremiah said not to resist
them.
That’s tough message to
stomach. How could God be on the side of
the conquering oppressors?
What is the American mindset? Whenever there is a threat you fight against
it. You use military might or economic
might or intellectual might and you fight and stay the course until you
triumph. Quitting is not an option. Failure is not an option. That’s not only an American mindset that goes
for just about every nation. That goes
for cultures as a whole and also for individuals. It was true for the ancient Jews too. So Jeremiah’s message to just be subservient
– basically be a doormat the Babylonians could wipe their feet on – just
doesn’t feel right. It is a message of
humiliation. It is really hard to
believe that God would want the chosen people to be subject to this.
So, even though Jeremiah’s message
was similar to many of the previous prophets his message is so counter-faithful,
so almost traitorous to their faith, that it is really hard to believe it is
from God.
I believe Jeremiah didn’t want to
give the message. You can see that when
he says to Hananiah about Hananiah’s prophesy, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the
words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the
vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles.”
I’m sure you can think of
politicians, leaders, social advocates, and the like who say all sorts of
condemnatory things. You can tell they
enjoy giving their nasty messages and tearing down people’s ideas. I don’t believe Jeremiah was like that. I believe Jeremiah truly didn’t want to say
what God was directing him to say. He
did not like being as harshly critical as he had to be.
We don’t have people in the role of
prophets the way they did then. And yet
there are many voices claiming to have the answers for a better future. Some of them are religious leaders. Some of them are political and economic
leaders. How do we know who to listen
to? How do we know who is bringing the
word from God?
Both Hananiah and Jeremiah had
plausible messages, but Jeremiah’s had an additional ring of truth to it. It is easy to follow the person whose message
is what you want to hear. I believe
that’s the way most of our political campaigns go. Those running for office determine what the
people want to hear and then they cater a message to it. Everyone wants to hear that problems will
take care of themselves automatically.
Or that problems can be solved quickly and easily. That was basically what Hananiah’s message
was. I’m sure the people of his day
wanted to believe he was right. Even
Jeremiah said he wished Hananiah was right.
But Jeremiah’s word carries with it a truth that God’s will usually
includes. Jeremiah called the people to
humility, to hard work, and to be ready for a long tough slog. God would bring about restoration to be
sure.
The world’s problems are
complicated. There’s no such thing as an
easy answer – unless of course you expect someone else to do all the hard work
for you. God made you capable. Don’t expect God to give you easy answers.
I want to conclude with one more
thing that is central to the text. It
deserves more time because it is a big part of Jeremiah’s message, and the
entire message of the Old Testament, but I’m only going to bring it up. We see it in 27:5. God says, “It is I who by my great power and
outstretched arm have made the earth, with the people and animals that are on
the earth, and I give it to whomever I please.”
God reminds them of whose really in
charge and of God’s perspective.
God’s perspective is much bigger than the human perspective. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking
that the world is all about us – us as individuals and us as humans. We forget that God is interested in the whole
creation – the plants, the animals, the earth, the solar system, the galaxies,
the billions of galaxies that exist.
Never forget how big this universe is.
It’s all God’s. Again, God is
interested in the whole thing.
The truth is that we are tiny and
insignificant nothings in the midst of God’s vast universe. We should remember to be honored that God
recognizes us at all, let alone comes to us as Jesus. And before we think too highly of being made
in the image of God, remember, we’re the only part of creation so messed up
that God had to come to be in our form to save us. So, God sees us.
God knows us. God loves us. But do not think we can impose our
perspective on God; or that God needs to act according to our standards. It’s not about us. Instead, as Jeremiah told the people, whether
days be easy or hard, full of honor or shame, whether they make sense or are
confusing, God’s got it. Trust
that. God will take care of what God
wants to get done in God’s own time. You
will be an important part of it.
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