Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-march-30-2023
Jeremiah 26:1-24
Jeremiah Threatened With Death
Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”
7 The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the Lord. 8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die! 9 Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the Lord and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house. 11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!”
12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. 13 Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. 14 As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. 15 Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
17 Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people, 18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“‘Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.’
19 “Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!”
20 (Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. 21 When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king was determined to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. 22 King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Akbor to Egypt, along with some other men. 23 They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.)
24 Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.
I think it’s fair to say that most followers of Jesus don’t spend that much time on the Old Testament book of the prophet Jeremiah. It relates events that happened almost 2,600 years ago, and we have the tendency to assume that anything that happened that long ago can’t be all that relevant to us in the digital age. But I can’t help thinking that some parts of Jeremiah are becoming surprisingly relevant to us in the 21st century.
The story we’re reading and thinking about today took place in the years before the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, which took place in 587 BC. During that time, God sent the prophet Jeremiah to tell the people of Judea that unless they repented of their sinful ways, God would allow Jerusalem to be destroyed by their enemies. The way Jeremiah puts it is that God would make the temple “like Shiloh.” Shiloh had been the most important Israelite shrine before Jerusalem became the nation’s capital, but God had withdrawn his blessing from Shiloh, largely because its priests became corrupt. (You can read about these events in the opening chapters of First Samuel.)
In our reading for today, Jeremiah came calling the nation to repent of its sins, and it was the religious leaders who reacted with the most furious anger. They actually seized Jeremiah and demanded that he be executed. It’s only when the officials of the government show up that this religious mob is restrained and some order is imposed. The governmental officials point out that during the reign of an earlier king (Hezekiah), a prophet had come calling the people to repent, and because they did, God relented of his anger and the nation was spared.
However, a man named Jehoiakim was king during the period described in today’s reading, and Jehoiakim had already had one prophet hunted down and murdered for issuing a call to repentance like the one Jeremiah had made.
It’s probably important to keep in mind that there were two kinds of prophets in ancient Israel and Judea. There were official, “establishment” prophets who operated under the authority of the King and the temple. But the prophets who have books of the Old Testament named after them – people like Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah – those prophets were ‘outsiders.’ They condemned the corruption and unfaithfulness of the religious establishment, as well as of the government and the culture in general.
These outsider prophets condemned the worship of foreign gods, but they also spoke out against the oppression and neglect of the poor and the marginalized. And as happens so often to those who stand up in public and criticize the powerful, lots of these prophets came to a bad end. This story is an example of the hostility they met – Jeremiah narrowly escapes the ancient version of a lynch mob.
Some things don’t change much. In today’s world as in ancient times, those who boldly speak truth to those in power risk persecution and even death. In times of crisis – which seems to include most times – they can be labelled as “enemies of the state” and a threat to morale. And in today’s world, leaders in many countries have learned that they can cement their own power by making people feel threatened – as the Israelites literally were in today’s reading.
Of course, in spite of what leaders on both the left and the right insist, we’re pretty safe and secure in America and Europe – lots of Christians think we’re being persecuted if the cashier at Wal-Mart says, “Happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
But throughout the world, thousands of people are in prisons because they stood before the powers of the world and declared God’s truth. Many of them are our fellow followers of Jesus. Life is hard for the prophets. Abraham Lincoln was murdered. So was Martin Luther King. But it’s usually through those bold, endangered voices that God’s truth is most clearly proclaimed in every time and place.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you that you have chosen to speak into the world in moments of crisis – both in times of real crisis and in times of ‘manufactured crisis’ – and to call your people to repent of their sins and to turn back to ways of faithfulness and justice. Give us the courage to stand before the powers of our time and to issue that same call on your behalf. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 102 and 126; Romans 11:1-12; and John 10:19-42. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
Recent Comments