Scripture (NRSV):
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 kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
IF SOMEONE ASKED ME to come up with a title for today's OT reading, I would probably say that it should be called, "You Are The One." You see, it's the account of the calling into ministry of one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel: Jeremiah -- someone who didn't aspire on his own to be God's spokesman, who apparently had continual misgivings about his own fitness to be the Lord's mouthpiece, and who needed quite a bit of persuasion to get him about the work which the Lord had for him.
It's a good thing that Jeremiah had such a powerful vision to launch his career as a prophet, because he ran into enough opposition to discourage even the most fearless person. Jeremiah was among the OT prophets what the English play "Mousetrap" or the American "Cats" have been among stage productions: his work went on and on, spanning the forty years between 626 BC and the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. When he began his work as a young man (probably in his early twenties), the great king Josiah was on the throne in Jerusalem, restoring the rightful place of God's Law among the people of Judah, and urging an end to the idolatry and unfaithful practices of three generations. After Josiah's death in battle at Megiddo, Jeremiah saw four other men ascend David's throne, all of whom were corrupt and three of which were carried in chains to foreign lands. Jeremiah's ministry spanned the darkest period of Judah's history. His dire warnings of doom and desolation earned him the hatred of kings (who saw him as a defeatist), priests, the official prophets of the royal court, and even the common people.
He was persecuted for his predictions; and worse yet, he lived to see all of them come true -- for his homeland was overrun, and his people were carried into exile in a foreign land. Yet Jeremiah's words were remembered, written down, and treasured; for he spoke God's own truth to his people, and held out the hope of a day when God's mercy would overtake His judgment, and when the very hearts of the people would be changed from within (chapter 31, verses 31 ff.).
Yet, at the beginning, Jeremiah didn't think he was the man for the job.
God's commissioning would seem to have left little room for doubt [Jer 1:4]: "I formed you [molded you like a potter molds clay]; I knew you [and selected you especially for the task]; I consecrated you [and made you worthy to bear my word to the people]; I appointed you a prophet [not only concerning Judah, but also about the destinies of the nations round about]."
It's a powerful word. It would seem to leave little room for anything other than a positive, even an enthusiastic, response. But still, we can relate to Jeremiah's response, can't we? "Surely not me, Lord. Not Jeremiah. You must have the wrong man."
What's Jeremiah's hesitation? There are several of them -- all fears well-known to those who have received God's call to service, whether in the Bible or in the present time.
I.1. First, look at his response: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy."(1) (v.6) This is the fear of inexperience, the fear of not being ready, the fear of taking on the responsibility for speaking God's word and for effecting change. Jeremiah is not the only one to know this feeling; Timothy also, in the NT, had to be encouraged by Paul to set aside his sense of youthful inadequacy, and to live up to the office entrusted to him (1 Tim 4:11-12).
We Christians, living today, face this problem as well, regardless of how many years we have lived. As we look at the world around us and see the problems facing us, facing our society, our nation, our planet; as we begin to come to grips with their depth and complexity, we become overawed. As a congregation, looking at our community: the areas of need, the many places where we could be in service but aren't yet, and the scope and challenge and size and cost of the vision that we do have for ministry, likewise, we can relate to Jeremiah. We want so much to be able to drop our hands, and say, "Lord, I am just too young" or "my life's experience isn't broad enough for that", or "my family couldn't handle it if I did that", or "our church isn't big enough", or "there are others who can tackle this problem so much better than we can." We want so much to stay with the familiar, the well-worn paths, what we know.
2. Related to the fear of lacking knowledge or experience is the fear that we lack authority. We see it in Jeremiah: to be youthful means that no one will listen to him, no one will pay him any heed. In the Scripture, Moses knew this fear as well: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" (Ex 3:11)
We know this one, too, don't we? In a world where so many voices say, "Get what you can while you can", "do unto others before they do unto you", "look out for number one", how can we say that we ought to "prefer one another in showing honor" (<Ro 12:10)? When we hear time and again that it's healthiest and best to give free rein to our instincts, and follow them wherever they lead us, how do we dare insist on absolute standards of morality? And when the prevailing wisdom says that "it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you're sincere", how can we claim that the one we worship as Lord is "the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6)? It would be so much easier to "lighten up", to "chill out", to "go with the flow".
In fact, we live in a time when the very idea of authority is open to question. This is one of the signs of the "postmodern" age. So, we are challenged: "Who are you, anyway?"
This is an issue we never "outgrow"; it affects Christians at every station of life and ministry.
Recently, I read a story about Brother Andrew, the Dutchman who began his ministry carrying Bibles and pastor's libraries into then-Communist Eastern Europe, but whose semi-autobiographical book on that subject became so popular that he was effectively stopped from doing that work.(2) His core ministry, however, was encouraging the Church wherever it was under pressure; and he began to have a heart for the people of the Middle East, and the Church there. One country especially close to his heart was Lebanon.
During the fighting in the 1980's, when it was not just religiously-defined groups (Christian, Muslim, Druze) fighting each other, but even factions among those groups, Brother Andrew became aware that there were two factions led by generals who were both Maronite Christians. He wondered how two Christian generals could be fighting one another, and why the Church couldn't stop them. So he visited the Maronite archbishop, and asked him: "Isn't General A. a Maronite Christian, part of your flock?" "Yes." "And isn't General B. also part of your flock?" "Yes, he is." "So, why can you not just tell them to stop fighting each other?" To which the archbishop replied, "Andrew, you just do not understand. I cannot do anything." In other words, I don't have the authority.(3)
Even leaders of the Church can be afflicted with this fear, and convinced that they just don't have the authority to do what is called for.
3. If the twin fears of inexperience and lack of authority aren't enough, we find ourselves buffeted by the fear that our witness is already compromised before we begin -- that we can't be part of the solution, because we're already part of the problem.
Jeremiah knew this one: how could he be called to be a prophet, when his father, Hilkiah, was a priest? Read your Bible carefully: time and again, the voices of the prophets, the agents of change, bump up against the priests, who represent the status quo. Jeremiah must have wondered how he, the son of a priest, a member by birthright of the religious establishment, could be called upon to be a reliable witness to God's word of judgment against that establishment. And in our minds we can hear echoes again of Isaiah's plea: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." (<Isa 6:5)
We know the problem, too: even as we sense God's claims upon our lives, we remember all too clearly how we falter and fail in our discipleship; while we call for justice, we know how our interests are entangled in social systems which perpetuate injustice:
• One of the great social problems of our country is the crushing debt load of people. Yet we all participate in this system - if we so much as have an account with a bank, we benefit from the system.
• We all want a "greener", cleaner world - but how often do we make choices which contribute to the problem of pollution? We may plead, "We have to do these things (like drive our cars, wash our clothes, use polluting products) to live" - and while that may be true, we are still contributing to the problem by our participation.
• We have problems around immigration in this country - and particularly in this area! We need a sane, sound, reasonable policy - yet while we desire this, how much do we depend upon the labor of those whose ability to work within our community is compromised by public decisions (and indecision)?
As we yearn to move forward as God's people, our minds bring up fresh memories of those whom our congregation has failed to minister to in the past. How can we be witnesses, when our own witness is compromised?
Even in our families: how many times have I heard parents express their sense of hesitance around talking with their kids about important, critical issues - because they knew what they did when they were young (whether their kids know or not), and they feel compromised already!
Yes, we know this fear, and feel finished before we begin, because of our past failures and present hypocrisies.
4. Fourth, there is the fear of irrelevance -- that even if we can get ready, and find the authority, and claim the integrity, even if we can do all these things -- there is that fear that my witness, that our witness together, won't make any difference. Jeremiah certainly knew this fear, as did Gideon, who twice tested the Lord with the fleece (Jud 6), fearing lest he should raise an army for Israel only to have it utterly destroyed on the field of battle.
Don't we know this fear, deep down? That somehow, our witness in the community won't make a whit of difference? that we will be ineffectual in dealing with the real hurts and struggles in the lives of those around us? that our children, though carefully brought up in the faith, will abandon it? that all of our sweat and tears and prayers and labors will come to nothing?
II. Well, then, if these are our fears, and if they were known to Jeremiah and to others in the Scripture to the point that they wished to dodge God's call completely, where can we find encouragement?
To the young Jeremiah who knows only too well his own inexperience, God says: "To all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak. Be not afraid of them." (<vv. 7-8)
To the unknown Jeremiah, wondering who in the world will listen to him, God says, "See, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms." (<v.10)
To the imperfect Jeremiah, who is afraid that he will stand in the way of God's message to His people, God reaches out and touches his lips, and says, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth." (<v.9)
And as for the Jeremiah who fears failure -- well, his words are not heeded, and God executes His judgment on Judah, sending the people into exile to Babylon. The prophet himself dies in Egypt, far from his home. Yet even out of the prophet's most grievous laments comes a message of hope for his people:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is thy faithfulness. (Lam 3:22-23)
And in the exile and return of Judah we see also a sign and foretaste of the young Teacher from Galilee, whose ministry of preaching and healing ends in the failure of death on a Roman cross, but who is alive again! and whom we hail as our King of kings, and Lord of lords!
III. Church, the message of the call of Jeremiah for us today is that it's not our readiness or our authority or our record or our sense of relevance which counts: what counts is that God has called us -- and has a purpose for each one of us. The enemy of souls wants us to focus on our inadequacies, on the size of the tasks in front of us, on our fears. But God says to us, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you."
The story is told of a chaplain who came across a dying soldier. "May I pray for you?" he asked the young man. The soldier looked up, but his relief at seeing the chaplain was choked off when he saw the crucifix hanging from his neck. "But Father, I don't belong to your church," he said. To which the chaplain replied, "But you do belong to my God" -- and prayed with him.(4) Our God is the God not of "no's" and limitations, but of "yes'es" and possibilities. Even where God says "no", it is in order to speak to us a deeper, stronger "yes" of possibility -- no matter who we are, or where we've been, or what we have done or failed to do.(5) It is never too late to embrace God's calling in your life.
And that's not just true for us as individuals, it's true for His Church as well, and for this congregation as part of that universal Church. Before the first person turned up for worship on this plot of ground along Montrose Road 43 years ago, before the first block was laid or the first course of bricks put down, God had a plan and a destiny for this congregation.
Sometimes, the tasks look huge, and the challenges daunting. Whether it's reaching out effectively for the Gospel, working with other congregations to meet needs in the wider community, ministering to our oldest members or to our youngest children, lining up resources to build new facilities, or planning adequately for our future ministry here, it would be easy to begin feeling overwhelmed.
But the means, the answer, rests today - as in Jeremiah's day - not with us, but with God.
Once, a man was walking along the beach about dawn, and noticed a younger fellow up ahead of him picking up starfish that had gotten stranded on the sand, and flinging them back into the sea. With a little effort, the man caught up with the youth, and asked why he was doing this. "If I don't throw them back, once that sun comes up, they'll die," came the answer.
The older man was incredulous. "But the beach goes on for miles and miles, and there must be millions of starfish," he said. "Your effort is noble, but how can it make any difference?"
The young man picked up another starfish, looked at it, and then tossed it into the waves. "It makes a difference to this one," he said.(6)
That young man was on to something. It was the same thing that the prophet Jeremiah heard from the Lord, the very thing I hope each of you, and our church together, hears today. The results, the fruits, are up to God. The responsibility to respond, the call to faithfulness, is yours. You are the one.
Sources:
The Holy Scripture
Brother Andrew and Al Janssen. Light Force.
Cv, Comm.
IB
IDB (s.v. Jeremiah)
JBC
Charles L. Harrell
Rockville, Maryland: Faith United Methodist Church
28 January 2007
S.D.G.
1. The Hebrew word here is na'ar [], which technically refers to a child from babes in arms or toddlers, through a youth - but typically very young. We probably should not take this literally; rather, we should see it as Jeremiah saying, "I'm still wet behind the years" or "I'm just a kid!"
2. The book: God's Smuggler.
3. The story is told in Brother Andrew and Al Janssen, Light Force. (Revell, 2004)
4. Hom. 3(4), Jan-Mar 1992, 13.
5. Cf. 2 Corinthians 1:15-22.
6. From Hom. 3(3), Jul-Sep 1991, 45.