Crying and Rising: Jeremiah 15:15-21 - 13th Sunday after Pentecost

  ¹⁵O Lord, you know;

  remember me and visit me,
  and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
 In your forbearance do not take me away;
  know that on your account I suffer insult.
 ¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them,
  and your words became to me a joy
  and the delight of my heart;
 for I am called by your name,
  O Lord, God of hosts.
 ¹⁷I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
  nor did I rejoice;
 under the weight of your hand I sat alone,
  for you had filled me with indignation.
 ¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing,
  my wound incurable,
  refusing to be healed?
 Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,
  like waters that fail.

 ¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:
 If you turn back, I will take you back,
  and you shall stand before me.
 If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
  you shall serve as my mouth.
 It is they who will turn to you,
  not you who will turn to them.
 ²⁰And I will make you to this people
  a fortified wall of bronze;
 they will fight against you,
  but they shall not prevail over you,
 for I am with you
  to save you and deliver you,
 says the Lord.
 ²¹I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
  and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

The Wailing Wall (creative commons) by Edwin Land on flickr. CC BY-NC 2.0

We say, “big boys don’t cry…” But history has nicknamed Jeremiah “the weeping prophet,” and in his defense, he had a lot to weep about. God’s people rejected God for idols. They pursued power and riches instead of justice and righteousness. The most vulnerable of their fellow Israelites suffered the consequences of their greed and violence. 

 

God raised up Jeremiah to proclaim that God’s judgment was imminent. The only hope was for people to repent of their sin and return to God. 

 

As you would assume, Jeremiah’s message didn’t make him popular. People didn’t listen to him. Instead, they listened to false prophets preaching a rosier message. When Jeremiah persisted, he faced harassment, ostracism, imprisonment, death threats.

 

This broke Jeremiah’s heart—because he loved his people and he prayed fervently for them. Nevertheless, things kept unraveling. What was true then is true now—a society cannot hold itself together if everyone is looking out only for themselves and their tribes.

 

In today’s first reading, we find Jeremiah in a deep despair. His spirit is broken. He’s worn out. He’s ready to give up. And I can’t say I blame him. 

 

The way things are right now, would you not love to escape the madness, to go to where you don’t have to a facemask and worry about Covid; where there’s no political attack ads on TV; where you’re completely safe from the horrible things people do, and the horrible things that can happen to you. But you can’t do that. So instead, you crave a return to the past—when today’s challenges were not an issue. If things could be like they were before, then you could be at peace.

 

But Jeremiah didn’t have that option. Nor do we. The only way is forward. And God makes no promise to Jeremiah, that if he gets back out there, he will not suffer. Ultimately, Jeremiah will face more death threats, imprisonments, and persecutions. The king will throw him into a cistern and leave him to die—only to change his mind, pull him out, clean him up—because he decided he really wanted to know what God commanded him to speak. 

 

There is but one promise God speaks to Jeremiah: “I will be with you.” My presence will be your strength; my purposes will be your peace. Your enemies will fight hard against you, but I will deliver you.

 

Today, Jeremiah challenges you to redefine how you understand peace, security, and a meaningful life, in a world gone mad. The gods of this world teach that the good life is gained through hard work; the accumulation of possessions; and the exercise of control, so that you can eliminate suffering. Peace is a life without change and challenge. Power means bending the world to your wishes and winning every battle; and laughing as the losers cry. 

 

Yet Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, teaches that obedience to God does not lead, and frankly cannot lead to a secure and cushy life. Righteousness can cost you everything—even your life itself. Christian maturity is all about trusting God when your hopes and dreams sometimes slip through your fingers; and risking everything to do what is right. 

 

When Jesus speaks about taking up your cross and following him, you are embracing the fact that you are constantly losing your life, and that your efforts to try and save it are, essentially, sin. You die every day. That’s not your choice. But it is God’s choice to raise you up every day; to forgive you of sin every day; to deliver you from evil every day; to give you a life that is deeper and more meaningful than anything the world has to offer. After all, living as a child of God isn’t all about you. It’s about God—and God working through you to love the world. It is not unusual; it is normal—that you will experience God’s power at its greatest when things are falling apart. And from Jeremiah, we learn that when things do fall apart, and your spirit breaks (and it will), it’s okay to cry. The reason why we have an entire biblical book entitled The Lamentations of Jeremiah, is because God ministered to Jeremiah in his darkest moments; that God shared in his grief for a world so consumed with evil. But as they wept together, God raised him up to carry on.

 

This is God’s promise for you in these dark days, and in the uncertainties that weigh heavy upon your heart. Your peace and your purpose are not dangling upon who wins the presidential election or the discovery of a Covid vaccine. Your peace and your purpose are your relationship with God, and God’s promise that when things fall apart and you can’t carry on, “I will be with you.”