Old Testament for January 21, 2024

A Note from Celeste:

One of Tom’s most requested sermons when he was appointed as a General Evangelist in the United Methodist Church was his Jonah sermon. I thought you might enjoy seeing/hearing it.

Here’s a link to a video of one of the last times Tom preached this sermon: Jonah sermon by Tom Letchworth on Vimeo (18 min. duration)

And now, back to the SOAR for this week’s Old Testament reading…

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Every child in Sunday School knows the story of Jonah and the big fish who swallowed him.  What they might miss is the strange paradox of Jonah — though he was one of the most successful prophets in all of Scripture, he detested his own success!

Naturally, we have to remember the context of these few verses that we read in Jonah.  We are not told where he is located, although we assume he is in Israel as the book begins.  Some commentators identify him with the Jonah mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam III (793-753 B.C.) of Israel (also known as The Northern Kingdom).  But in fact, we don’t know that for sure.

What we do know is that he is given a direct command from God to go to Nineveh and preach against it because of their wickedness.  Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the fact is that Nineveh was a wicked city.  The Assyrian Empire was ruthless and brutal, and devised many cruel methods to strike terror into those whom they subjugated.  For example, a form of torture later familiar to all Christians — the cross — was a cruel invention by the Assyrians long before the Romans borrowed it. The closest parallel to Assyria today, other than the Nazis during World War II, might be the so-called (and hopefully soon to be extinct) caliphate of ISIS.

But here’s the rub — Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh.  He catches a boat headed in the opposite direction on the Mediterranean Sea sailing to Tarshish (modern day Spain).  This is the occasion of the storm on the sea, and the “big gulp” when the big fish swallows Jonah up for three days.

Jonah’s repentance and cry for deliverance while in the belly of the fish set the stage for his preaching to the Ninevites.  He has been chastened by God’s discipline, and now does what God asked him to do in the first place.

For such a simple message, the fruit is phenomenal.  All Jonah says is:

 In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!

This simple, direct message accomplishes its purpose. The Ninevites believe God, and as a sign of repentance they fast and put on sackcloth.

Then there is yet another irony — God also repents!

 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.

When I suggest that God “repents” please understand that I mean that as a figure of speech.  Of course it is impossible for God to sin — but he “repents” in that he changes his mind, much as he does in Exodus when Moses intercedes for the sinful people of Israel and God chooses to spare them:

Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people. (Exodus 32:14).

So there is a change of heart on the part of Jonah, the Ninevites, and even God himself.  

This is a tale about a reluctant prophet who seeks to shirk his call. Despite his reluctance, he is successful at bringing the wicked to repentance!

APPLY:  

Most of us who take our faith seriously may have found ourselves in the position of Jonah.  God calls upon us to take on a task that we find unpleasant, or even repugnant to us.  We weigh the costs and the sacrifice, and we turn away from it.

Chances are very good that God will persist in calling us to his work. Let’s hope that our change of heart doesn’t require a big fish swallowing us up!   God may remind us through more gentle methods that he means to be obeyed.  And the truth is that only by remaining faithful to him and to his call can we possibly remain on dry land, as it were.

Can we think of someone that God is commanding us to love and to whom we should bear witness?  Someone who perhaps makes us uncomfortable morally, theologically, even ethnically or culturally?  We are reminded that if God loves them, then we are to love them as well.  And if God deems them worth saving, they are potentially our brothers and sisters in Christ. Like them, we were once strangers to his love, and now are accepted for his sake.

RESPOND: 

I am reminded of the poem, The Hound of Heaven, by Francis Thompson.  The protagonist in the poem is fleeing from the pursuing God, and Thompson writes:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter…
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

Like many people who have encountered God and experienced a sense of call to repentance and to service, I have resisted the call.  But I thank God that he is patient and persistent.  And I thank God for the opportunity to serve even after my initial reluctance.

Lord, I too have often been a reluctant servant.  Thank you for your patience with me, and that you use me despite my reluctance.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Jonah” by Jim Forest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for September 18, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The sense of foreboding and disaster that loomed over Jerusalem and Judah during Jeremiah’s time came from two sources,  the two opposing superpowers that hemmed in Judah from North and South — Babylon and Egypt.  But in Jeremiah’s mind, these forces were merely the weapons in God’s hands to carry out his judgment against unfaithful Judah.

Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet because no matter how earnestly he warns Judah and its kings and priests about the need to repent, they do not heed him.  He declares:

Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!

Jeremiah knows that Judah is placing their trust in Yahweh.  After all, the people declare:

“Isn’t Yahweh in Zion?
Isn’t her King in her?”

Ever since the time of Isaiah, many years before, Jerusalem in particular has been assured that they are invincible because it is the city where the temple of Yahweh is established, and where the eternal dynasty of David reigns.

But Jeremiah recognizes that they have a false sense of assurance.  While God did establish Jerusalem and the Davidic line, Judah and Jerusalem have broken covenant with God.  They have not been faithful to worship him alone and adhere to his law:

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,
and with foreign vanities?”

Now, Jeremiah discerns, there is a growing sense of apprehension among the people of Judah in particular.  An invading force from Babylon is drawing closer from the North, as their armies enter the northernmost cities of what was once Israel:

The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan:
at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles;
for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it;
the city and those who dwell therein (Jeremiah 8:16).

Now Jerusalem is beginning to realize that it may be too late to be delivered from the Babylonians:

“The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”

Jeremiah finds no satisfaction at all in this impending disaster.  He grieves for his city and his people:

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt:
I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

Jeremiah asks plaintively if there is no source of help and healing for his sick nation:

Is there no balm in Gilead?
is there no physician there?
Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Gilead was a region East of the Jordan River named for the grandson of the Patriarch Joseph, and settled by some of the tribes of Israel.  In Joseph’s time it had long since been overrun by Assyria and had become a vassal state.

But Jeremiah’s reference is to a highly valued balsamic ointment that was used as a medicine. The trade and use of this balm in ancient times could be traced back for centuries.  Jeremiah seems to be asking why people who were so sick from their idolatry could not find the antidote in seeking their God.

Jeremiah’s lamentation continues as he reflects on the suffering that Judah has already experienced, and no doubt anticipates what is to happen in the future:

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

APPLY:  

Throughout history there have been times that a sense of impending doom hung heavy over nations:

• In 1775 in the American Colonies, there was the growing sense of resentment toward the British homeland for perceived injustices.
• In 1860 in the United States, it was the regional division between North and South over slavery.
• In 1936 in both Germany and Japan, there was the menace of growing territorial ambitions.

We may wonder sometimes if our times are any different.  What is the apprehension and tension that makes the air of our times feel as though it is thick and heavy with growing storm clouds?

Jeremiah is aware of the storm clouds gathering over Jerusalem, but he senses his own helplessness to avert disaster.  He knows that his people are placing their trust in past platitudes and phony gods.  And yet they can’t seem to understand why they are not delivered from impending catastrophe.

Jeremiah knows that there is a balm in Gilead, and that healing is only to be found in repentance and return to the God of Israel.

This spiritual principle was true in Jeremiah’s time, and it is still true today.

RESPOND: 

There is a deep sadness to be the one who can see that disaster is coming, and yet be unable to avert it.  I am reminded of Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess in Greek mythology who could foresee the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, and the eventual murder of the Greek Agammenon who became her captor.  To be a Cassandra is to be one who is always right, but never heeded.

That was Jeremiah’s sad lot also.  And sometimes it is ours when we can see the eventual consequences of immoral or unwise behavior in our family, friends, or countrymen and women.

Yet we still have a responsibility to warn and to weep for them, even when they don’t listen.

The good news is that there is a remedy to the moral sickness that so many suffer today.  It is found only in the one whom T.S. Eliot describes in East Coker IV, from Four Quartets:

The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer’s art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

Then there is the famous African-American Spiritual, that reminds us that Christ is the source of healing:

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin sick soul.

Our Lord, sometimes we do sense storm clouds rising in our times. Thank you for the reminder that there is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“There Is a Balm in Gilead” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Old Testament for September 11, 2022

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jeremiah has the sad distinction of prophesying on the Lord’s behalf in a chaotic and foreboding time.

It is difficult to determine an exact chronology of most prophetic writings in part because they are written as poetic oracles.  However, Jeremiah’s mention of King Josiah in Jeremiah 3:6 may help us narrow down the dire warnings of this week’s Old Testament lectionary reading.

King Josiah reigned in Judah between 640 and 609 B.C.  We remember him from the book of 2 Kings as a good king, even great, and a religious reformer who sought to turn his people back to the Lord.

Unfortunately, from Jeremiah’s perspective, it was too little too late.  His message here seems to be that the hot wind that blows in from the desert won’t just separate wheat from chaff (as at the harvest), or cleanse the land.  This hot wind will destroy.

Hot winds in desert climates are common.  In Israel, the hot, suffocating winds of the spring and summer are known as khamsin, and are known for bringing with them violent sandstorms.  This may suggest the season in which Jeremiah writes his oracle.

The question is, if this hot wind symbolizes the judgment that is to come, does it signify an invasion by Egypt to the south, or Babylon to the east?  It is Pharaoh Neco of Egypt who would defeat and kill Josiah in battle in 609 B.C.  This wind blows from the desert, and the khamsin does blow from the south.  But the greater existential threat to Jerusalem will prove to be Babylon.  Jerusalem falls to Babylon in 587 B.C., while Jeremiah is still very active as a prophet.

In either case, the charges against Judah are clear.  The Lectionary Scripture picks up the thread at verse 22, in the voice of the Lord:

For my people are foolish,
they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but do not know how to do good.

Jeremiah seems stunned by the vision of the future that the Lord discloses to him — the earth is wasted, there is no light, there are violent earthquakes, all living creatures have sought refuge elsewhere, the fertile fields are now desert, and the cities are ruined.

Nevertheless, there is a measure of hope amidst even this despair:

For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

This is a common refrain in the prophets.  There will be judgment and dire consequences — however — there will also be grace.  In the prophetic literature, this grace is usually found in the promise that a remnant of Israel will survive the destruction and exile to come:

For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.”(Jeremiah 31:7).

Nevertheless, the judgment that is coming is dire, and inevitable:

Because of this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
I have not relented nor will I turn back.

APPLY:  

When we read prophecies such as this from Jeremiah, we can react in several ways.

One is simply to avoid such doom and gloom altogether, and tell ourselves that Jeremiah was writing to a particular nation (Judah) at a particular time.  We can tell ourselves that these words applied only to the context of the 7th and 6th century B.C., and only to the last remaining segment of the people of Israel.

Or, we can find parallels between Jeremiah’s jeremiads and our own time, in all of the usual suspects of sin.  Identifying the various social sins of our time probably will say more about our own perspective than God’s Word.  For example, some might denounce the factors contributing to global warming, pollution, racial injustice, and income inequality.  Others might rail against abortion and same-sex marriage.  Some would look at these issues and declare, “why not both/and?”

Of course it is ultimately God who determines what is just and unjust, good and evil.  And we believe his will is most clearly revealed in Scripture, although there are some issues that we face today that require careful thought and prayer.

The bigger question is — does God raise up nations and humble them today because of their moral choices?

Again, I return to the one paradigm I know reasonably well — the United States of America.  One might say that racism in general and slavery in particular were the “original sin” of our nation.  This was an original sin that created enormous national tension between North and South, and ended in a horribly violent war.  One might say that this war was an expiation in blood for the sins of our fathers.

If Thomas Jefferson could say, almost 80 years before the Civil War “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just” — what moral blindness, decadence and injustices do we see around us today that deserve justice?

The Bible teaches us that the Lord is a God of justice as well as mercy, and that as there are personal consequences for sin, so there are also national consequences for injustice.

The message is just as applicable today as it was more than 2,500 years ago — justice will be done — and yet there is still time to repent and change.

RESPOND: 

There have been times in history when we have paused and said, “where is God in this?”  We are certainly filled with nauseous wonder when we consider the gross injustice of slavery in the “Land of the Free;” or the Holocaust of millions of Jews and others by the Nazis; or the displacement of millions of families in the Middle East because of ongoing war and atrocities.

Sometimes the answers to these injustices have been glacially slow and unsatisfying.  But wars were fought to free the oppressed; and peaceful protest has been employed to bring justice nearer.  Honestly, both have been methods of working for justice.

I take some comfort in the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s observation:

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

Ultimately, it bends toward the coming Kingdom of God, when wrongs will be right, evil banished, and death destroyed.

Lord, like Thomas Jefferson, I sometimes tremble when I consider that you are just.  But I place my hope in your gracious mercy, that seeks to redeem and renew all of your world.  May we heed the warnings, and repent.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Indeed I tremble for my country…” by Jim McIntosh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for September 4, 2022

Throwing Clay

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 18:1-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Old Testament prophets were inclined to use concrete and sometimes very dramatic illustrations in their preaching.  In this case, Jeremiah is instructed to watch a potter at work on his wheel.  The pot that was being made collapsed in the potter’s hand and he remade the clay into a different form.

Jeremiah gets the point.  The clay represents the house of Israel in the hands of their potter, the Lord.  Israel is the passive object being shaped and worked by God for his own purposes.

As we see in the verses following today’s Lectionary Scripture passage, Israel is hankering after self-determination.  They will hear Jeremiah’s words and declare:

“It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.” (Jeremiah 18:12).

In contrast, in the Scripture the Lord’s freedom to act as he chooses is axiomatic:

Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

The Lord points out that he can destroy a nation or a kingdom if he chooses — however, he grants nations and people the freedom to repent and turn from evil if they choose:

but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.  And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.

God’s freedom is absolute — although it is based on his righteousness — whereas human freedom is completely contingent on God’s permission of freedom.

Ultimately, this is a call to repentance for Judah and Jerusalem before it is too late.  The chain of cause and effect has already begun, but there is still time for them to turn.  Jeremiah completes his metaphor:

Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

APPLY:  

The imagery of the potter molding clay while spinning his wheel seems charming — except that Jeremiah doesn’t intend it to be a cozy sermon illustration.

The imagery of the potter and the clay is intended to convey the message of God’s absolute power in our lives.  We belong to him, and he can shape us in whatever form he wishes, and use us for whatever purpose he designs.

However, Jeremiah also makes it clear that God’s compassion for us is such that he does offer the freedom to turn to him in repentance.

This is one of the key arguments against double-predestination (the notion that God destines some to salvation and some to condemnation).  Jeremiah’s description of the clay and the potter supports the idea that all are given the opportunity to turn to God, even up until the last moment:

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

RESPOND: 

Those of us who have been to the beach, or even to a sandbox, may have had the experience of building a sandcastle, or some other structure of sand.  I’ve watched children diligently working on their architecture, brows furrowed and tongues slightly stuck out between their lips in their intense concentration.

I didn’t have the heart to tell them that their work would soon be dissolved — either by wind or water, or even a bully’s footprint!

This is a reminder that nothing that I build will last.  The clay pottery of my life will collapse, no matter how much effort I put into it — unless my life and work are totally in the hands of the Potter.

His work will endure.  Mine will not.  Therefore I repent of my own efforts to establish my own kingdoms and achievements, and turn them over to God.

Lord, my life is like so much clay in your hands.  Shape me and mold me into your likeness, for your purposes I pray.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Throwing Clay” by Johnson Earls is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for January 24, 2021

 

A Note from Celeste:

One of Tom’s most requested sermons when he was appointed as a General Evangelist in the United Methodist Church was his Jonah sermon. I thought you might enjoy seeing/hearing it.

Here’s a link to a video of one of the last times Tom preached this sermon: Jonah sermon by Tom Letchworth on Vimeo (18 min. duration)

And now, back to the SOAR for this week’s Old Testament reading…

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Every child in Sunday School knows the story of Jonah and the big fish who swallowed him.  What they might miss is the strange paradox of Jonah — though he was one of the most successful prophets in all of Scripture, he detested his own success!

Naturally, we have to remember the context of these few verses that we read in Jonah.  We are not told where he is located, although we assume he is in Israel as the book begins.  Some commentators identify him with the Jonah mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam III (793-753 B.C.) of Israel (also known as The Northern Kingdom).  But in fact, we don’t know that for sure.

What we do know is that he is given a direct command from God to go to Nineveh and preach against it because of their wickedness.  Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the fact is that Nineveh was a wicked city.  The Assyrian Empire was ruthless and brutal, and devised many cruel methods to strike terror into those whom they subjugated.  For example, a form of torture later familiar to all Christians — the cross — was a cruel invention by the Assyrians long before the Romans borrowed it. The closest parallel to Assyria today, other than the Nazis during World War II, might be the so-called (and hopefully soon to be extinct) caliphate of ISIS.

But here’s the rub — Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh.  He catches a boat headed in the opposite direction on the Mediterranean Sea sailing to Tarshish (modern day Spain).  This is the occasion of the storm on the sea, and the “big gulp” when the big fish swallows Jonah up for three days.

Jonah’s repentance and cry for deliverance while in the belly of the fish set the stage for his preaching to the Ninevites.  He has been chastened by God’s discipline, and now does what God asked him to do in the first place.

For such a simple message, the fruit is phenomenal.  All Jonah says is:

 In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!

This simple, direct message accomplishes its purpose. The Ninevites believe God, and as a sign of repentance they fast and put on sackcloth.

Then there is yet another irony — God also repents!

 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.

When I suggest that God “repents” please understand that I mean that as a figure of speech.  Of course it is impossible for God to sin — but he “repents” in that he changes his mind, much as he does in Exodus when Moses intercedes for the sinful people of Israel and God chooses to spare them:

Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people. (Exodus 32:14).

So there is a change of heart on the part of Jonah, the Ninevites, and even God himself.  

This is a tale about a reluctant prophet who seeks to shirk his call. Despite his reluctance, he is successful at bringing the wicked to repentance!

APPLY:  

Most of us who take our faith seriously may have found ourselves in the position of Jonah.  God calls upon us to take on a task that we find unpleasant, or even repugnant to us.  We weigh the costs and the sacrifice, and we turn away from it.

Chances are very good that God will persist in calling us to his work. Let’s hope that our change of heart doesn’t require a big fish swallowing us up!   God may remind us through more gentle methods that he means to be obeyed.  And the truth is that only by remaining faithful to him and to his call can we possibly remain on dry land, as it were.

Can we think of someone that God is commanding us to love and to whom we should bear witness?  Someone who perhaps makes us uncomfortable morally, theologically, even ethnically or culturally?  We are reminded that if God loves them, then we are to love them as well.  And if God deems them worth saving, they are potentially our brothers and sisters in Christ. Like them, we were once strangers to his love, and now are accepted for his sake.

RESPOND: 

I am reminded of the poem, The Hound of Heaven, by Francis Thompson.  The protagonist in the poem is fleeing from the pursuing God, and Thompson writes:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter…
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

Like many people who have encountered God and experienced a sense of call to repentance and to service, I have resisted the call.  But I thank God that he is patient and persistent.  And I thank God for the opportunity to serve even after my initial reluctance.

Lord, I too have often been a reluctant servant.  Thank you for your patience with me, and that you use me despite my reluctance.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Jonah” by Jim Forest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for September 22, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The sense of foreboding and disaster that loomed over Jerusalem and Judah during Jeremiah’s time came from two sources,  the two opposing superpowers that hemmed in Judah from North and South — Babylon and Egypt.  But in Jeremiah’s mind, these forces were merely the weapons in God’s hands to carry out his judgment against unfaithful Judah.

Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet because no matter how earnestly he warns Judah and its kings and priests about the need to repent, they do not heed him.  He declares:

Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!

Jeremiah knows that Judah is placing their trust in Yahweh.  After all, the people declare:

“Isn’t Yahweh in Zion?
Isn’t her King in her?”

Ever since the time of Isaiah, many years before, Jerusalem in particular has been assured that they are invincible because it is the city where the temple of Yahweh is established, and where the eternal dynasty of David reigns.

But Jeremiah recognizes that they have a false sense of assurance.  While God did establish Jerusalem and the Davidic line, Judah and Jerusalem have broken covenant with God.  They have not been faithful to worship him alone and adhere to his law:

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,
and with foreign vanities?”

Now, Jeremiah discerns, there is a growing sense of apprehension among the people of Judah in particular.  An invading force from Babylon is drawing closer from the North, as their armies enter the northernmost cities of what was once Israel:

The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan:
at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles;
for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it;
the city and those who dwell therein (Jeremiah 8:16).

Now Jerusalem is beginning to realize that it may be too late to be delivered from the Babylonians:

“The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”

Jeremiah finds no satisfaction at all in this impending disaster.  He grieves for his city and his people:

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt:
I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

Jeremiah asks plaintively if there is no source of help and healing for his sick nation:

Is there no balm in Gilead?
is there no physician there?
Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Gilead was a region East of the Jordan River named for the grandson of the Patriarch Joseph, and settled by some of the tribes of Israel.  In Joseph’s time it  had long since been overrun by Assyria and had become a vassal state.

But Jeremiah’s reference is to a highly valued balsamic ointment that was used as a medicine. The trade and use of this balm in ancient times could be traced back for centuries.  Jeremiah seems to be asking why people who were so sick from their idolatry could not find the antidote in seeking their God.

Jeremiah’s lamentation continues as he reflects on the suffering that Judah has already experienced, and no doubt anticipates what is to happen in the future:

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

APPLY:  

Throughout history there have been times that a sense of  impending doom hung heavy over nations:

• In 1775 in the American Colonies, there was the growing sense of resentment toward the British homeland for perceived injustices.
• In 1860 in the United States, it was the regional division between North and South over slavery.
• In 1936 in both Germany and Japan, there was the menace of growing territorial ambitions.

We may wonder sometimes if our times are any different.  What is the apprehension and tension that makes the air of our times feel as though it is thick and heavy with growing storm clouds?

Jeremiah is aware of the storm clouds gathering over Jerusalem,  but he senses his own helplessness to avert disaster.  He knows that his people are placing their trust in past platitudes and phony gods.  And yet they can’t seem to understand why they are not delivered from impending catastrophe.

Jeremiah knows that there is a balm in Gilead, and that healing is only to be found in repentance and return to the God of Israel.

This spiritual principle was true in Jeremiah’s time, and it is still true today.

RESPOND: 

There is a deep sadness to be the one who can see that disaster is coming, and yet be unable to avert it.  I am reminded of Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess in Greek mythology who could foresee the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, and the eventual murder of the Greek Agammenon who became her captor.  To be a Cassandra is to be one who is always right, but never heeded.

That was Jeremiah’s sad lot also.  And sometimes it is ours when we can see the eventual consequences of immoral or unwise behavior in our family, friends, or countrymen and women.

Yet we still have a responsibility to warn and to weep for them, even when they don’t listen.

The good news is that there is a remedy to the moral sickness that so many suffer today.  It is found only in the one whom T.S. Eliot describes in East Coker IV,  from Four Quartets:

The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer’s art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

Then there is the famous African-American Spiritual, that reminds us that Christ is the source of healing:

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin sick soul.

Our Lord, sometimes we do sense storm clouds rising in our times. Thank you for the reminder that there is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“There Is a Balm in Gilead” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Old Testament for September 15, 2019

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jeremiah has the sad distinction of prophesying on the Lord’s behalf in a chaotic and foreboding time.

It is difficult to determine an exact chronology of most prophetic writings in part because they are written as poetic oracles.  However, Jeremiah’s mention of King Josiah in Jeremiah 3:6 may help us narrow down the dire warnings of this week’s Old Testament lectionary reading.

King Josiah reigned in Judah between 640 and 609 B.C.  We remember him from the book of 2 Kings as a good king, even great, and a religious reformer who sought to turn his people back to the Lord.

Unfortunately, from Jeremiah’s perspective, it was too little too late.  His message here seems to be that the hot wind that blows in from the desert won’t just separate wheat from chaff (as at the harvest), or cleanse the land.  This hot wind will destroy.

Hot winds in desert climates are common.  In Israel, the hot, suffocating winds of the spring and summer are known as khamsin, and are known for bringing with them violent sandstorms.  This may suggest the season in which Jeremiah writes his oracle.

The question is, if this hot wind symbolizes the judgment that is to come, does it signify an invasion by Egypt to the south, or Babylon to the east?  It is Pharaoh Neco of Egypt who would defeat and kill Josiah in battle in 609 B.C.  This wind blows from the desert, and the khamsin does blow from the south.  But the greater existential threat to Jerusalem will prove to be Babylon.  Jerusalem falls to Babylon in 587 B.C., while Jeremiah is still very active as a prophet.

In either case, the charges against Judah are clear.  The Lectionary Scripture picks up the thread at verse 22, in the voice of the Lord:

For my people are foolish,
they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but do not know how to do good.

Jeremiah seems stunned by the vision of the future that the Lord discloses to him — the earth is wasted, there is no light, there are violent earthquakes, all living creatures have sought refuge elsewhere, the fertile fields are now desert, and the cities are ruined.

Nevertheless, there is a measure of hope amidst even this despair:

For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

This is a common refrain in the prophets.  There will be judgment and dire consequences — however —  there will also be grace.  In the prophetic literature, this grace is usually found in the promise that a remnant of Israel will survive the destruction and exile to come:

For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.”(Jeremiah 31:7).

Nevertheless, the judgment that is coming is dire, and inevitable:

Because of this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
I have not relented nor will I turn back.

APPLY:  

When we read prophecies such as this from Jeremiah, we can react in several ways.

One is simply to avoid such doom and gloom altogether, and tell ourselves that Jeremiah was writing to a particular nation (Judah) at a particular time.  We can tell ourselves that these words applied only to the context of the 7th and 6th century B.C., and only to the last remaining segment of the people of Israel.

Or, we can find parallels between Jeremiah’s jeremiads and our own time, in all of the usual suspects of  sin.  Identifying the various social sins of our time probably will say more about our own perspective than God’s Word.  For example, some might denounce the factors contributing to global warming, pollution,  racial injustice, and income inequality.  Others might rail against abortion and same-sex marriage.  Some would look at these issues and declare, “why not both/and?”

Of course it is ultimately God who determines what is just and unjust, good and evil.  And we believe his will is most clearly revealed in Scripture, although there are some issues that we face today that require careful thought and prayer.

The bigger question is — does God raise up nations and humble them today because of their moral choices?

Again, I return to the one paradigm I know reasonably well — the United States of America.  One might say that racism in general and slavery in particular were the “original sin” of our nation.  This was an original sin that created enormous national tension between North and South, and ended in a horribly violent war.  One might say that this war was an expiation in blood for the sins of our fathers.

If Thomas Jefferson could say, almost 80 years before the Civil War “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just” — what moral blindness, decadence and injustices do we see around us today that deserve justice?

The Bible teaches us that the Lord is a God of justice as well as mercy, and that as there are personal consequences for sin, so there are also national consequences for injustice.

The message is just as applicable today as it was more than 2,500 years ago — justice will be done — and yet there is still time to repent and change.

RESPOND: 

There have been times in history when we have paused and said, “where is God in this?”  We are certainly filled with nauseous wonder when we consider the gross injustice of slavery in the “Land of the Free;” or the Holocaust of millions of Jews and others by the Nazis; or the displacement of millions of families in the Middle East because of ongoing war and atrocities.

Sometimes the answers to these injustices have been glacially slow and unsatisfying.  But wars were fought to free the oppressed; and peaceful protest has been employed to bring justice nearer.  Honestly, both have been methods of working for justice.

I take some comfort in the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s observation:

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

Ultimately, it bends toward the coming Kingdom of God, when wrongs will be right, evil banished, and death destroyed.

Lord, like Thomas Jefferson, I sometimes tremble when I consider that you are just.  But I place my hope in your gracious mercy, that seeks to redeem and renew all of your world.  May we heed the warnings, and repent.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Indeed I tremble for my country…” by Jim McIntosh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for September 8, 2019

Throwing Clay

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 18:1-11
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The Old Testament prophets were inclined to use concrete and sometimes very dramatic illustrations in their preaching.  In this case, Jeremiah is instructed to watch a potter at work on his wheel.  The pot that was being made collapsed in the potter’s hand and he remade the clay into a different form.

Jeremiah gets the point.  The  clay represents the house of Israel in the hands of their potter, the Lord.  Israel is the passive object being shaped and worked by God for his own purposes.

As we see in the verses following today’s Lectionary Scripture passage, Israel is hankering after self-determination.  They will hear Jeremiah’s words and declare:

“It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.” (Jeremiah 18:12).

In contrast,  in the Scripture the Lord’s freedom to act as he chooses is axiomatic:

Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

The Lord points out that he can destroy a nation or a kingdom if he chooses — however, he grants nations and people the freedom to repent and turn from evil if they choose:

but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.  And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.

God’s freedom is absolute — although it is based on his righteousness — whereas human freedom is completely contingent on God’s permission of freedom.

Ultimately, this is a call to repentance for Judah and Jerusalem before it is too late.  The chain of cause and effect has already begun, but there is still time for them to turn.  Jeremiah completes his metaphor:

Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

APPLY:  

The imagery of the potter molding clay while spinning his wheel seems charming — except that Jeremiah doesn’t intend it to be a cozy sermon illustration.

The imagery of the potter and the clay is intended to convey the message of God’s absolute power in our lives.  We belong to him, and he can shape us in whatever form he wishes, and use us for whatever purpose he designs.

However, Jeremiah also makes it clear that God’s compassion for us is such that he does offer the freedom to turn to him in repentance.

This is one of the key arguments against double-predestination — the notion that God destines some to salvation and some to condemnation.  Jeremiah’s description of the clay and the potter supports the idea that all are given the opportunity to turn to God, even up until the last moment:

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you,  not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

RESPOND: 

Those of who have been to the beach, or even to a sandbox, may have had the experience of building a sandcastle, or some other structure of sand.  I’ve watched children diligently working on their architecture, brows furrowed and tongues slightly stuck out between their lips in their intense concentration.

I didn’t have the heart to tell them that their work would soon be dissolved — either by wind or water, or even a bullies’ footprint!

This is a reminder that nothing that I build will last.  The clay pottery of my life will collapse, no matter how much effort I put into it — unless my life and work are totally in the hands of the Potter.

His work will endure.  Mine will not.  Therefore I repent of my own efforts to establish my own kingdoms and achievements, and turn them over to God.

Lord, my life is like so much clay in your hands.  Shape me and mold me into your likeness, for your purposes I pray.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Throwing Clay” by Johnson Earls is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for January 21, 2018

 

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Every child in Sunday School knows the story of Jonah and the big fish who swallowed him.  What they might miss is the strange paradox of Jonah — though he was one of the most successful prophets in all of Scripture, he detested his own success!

Naturally, we have to remember the context of these few verses that we read in Jonah.  We are not told where he is located, although we assume he is in Israel as the book begins.  Some commentators identify him with the Jonah mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam III (793-753 B.C.) of Israel (also known as The Northern Kingdom).  But in fact, we don’t know that for sure.

What we do know is that he is given a direct command from God to go Nineveh and preach against it because of their wickedness.  Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the fact is that Nineveh was a wicked city.  The Assyrian Empire was ruthless and brutal, and devised many cruel methods to strike terror into those whom they subjugated.  For example, a form of torture later familiar to all Christians — the cross — was a cruel invention by the Assyrians long before the Romans borrowed it. The closest parallel to Assyria today, other than the Nazis during World War II, might be the so-called (and hopefully soon to be extinct) caliphate of ISIS.

But here’s the rub: Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh.  He catches a boat headed in the opposite direction on the Mediterranean Sea sailing to Tarshish – modern day Spain.  This is the occasion of the storm on the sea, and the “big gulp” when the big fish swallows Jonah up for three days.

Jonah’s repentance and cry for deliverance while in the belly of the fish set the stage for his preaching to the Ninevites.  He has been chastened by God’s discipline, and now does what God asked him to do in the first place.

For such a simple message, the fruit is phenomenal.  All he says is:

 In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!

This simple, direct message accomplishes its purpose: the Ninevites believe God, and as a sign of repentance they fast and put on sackcloth.

Then there is yet another irony — God also repents!

 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.

When I suggest that God “repents” please understand that I mean that as a figure of speech.  Of course it is impossible for God to sin – but he “repents” in that he changes his mind, much as he does in Exodus when Moses intercedes for the sinful people of Israel and God chooses to spare them:

Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people. (Exodus 32:14).

So there is a change of heart on the part of Jonah, the Ninevites, and even God himself.  

This is a tale about a reluctant prophet who seeks to shirk his call. Despite his reluctance, he is successful at bringing the wicked to repentance!

APPLY:  

Most of us who take our faith seriously may have found ourselves in the position of Jonah.  God calls upon us to take on a task that we find unpleasant, or even repugnant to us.  We weigh the costs and the sacrifice, and we turn away from it.

Chances are very good that God will persist in calling us to his work. Let’s hope that our change of heart doesn’t require a big fish swallowing us up!   God may remind us through more gentle methods that he means to be obeyed.  And the truth is that only by remaining faithful to him and to his call can we possibly remain on dry land, as it were.

Can we think of someone that God is commanding us to love and to whom we should bear witness?  Someone who perhaps makes us uncomfortable morally, theologically, even ethnically or culturally?  We are reminded that if God loves them, then we are to love them as well.  And if God deems them worth saving, they are potentially our brothers and sisters in Christ. Like them, we were once strangers to his love, and now are accepted for his sake.

RESPOND: 

I am reminded of the poem, The Hound of Heaven, by Francis Thompson.  The protagonist in the poem is fleeing from the pursuing God, and Thompson writes:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter….
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

Like many people who have encountered God and experienced a sense of call to repentance and to service, I have resisted the call.  But I thank God that he is patient and persistent.  And I thank God for the opportunity to serve even after my initial reluctance.

Lord, I too have often been a reluctant servant.  Thank you for your patience with me, and that you use me despite my reluctance.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“Jonah” by Jim Forest is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.

Old Testament for September 18, 2016

Start with Scripture:

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The sense of foreboding and disaster that loomed over Jerusalem and Judah during Jeremiah’s time came from two sources,  the two opposing superpowers that hemmed in Judah from North and South — Babylon and Egypt.  But in Jeremiah’s mind, these forces were merely the weapons in God’s hands to carry out his judgment against unfaithful Judah.

Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet because no matter how earnestly he warns Judah and its kings and priests about the need to repent, they do not heed him.  He declares:

Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!

Jeremiah knows that Judah is placing their trust in Yahweh.  After all, the people declare:

“Isn’t Yahweh in Zion?
Isn’t her King in her?”

Ever since the time of Isaiah, many years before, Jerusalem in particular has been assured that they are invincible because it is the city where the temple of Yahweh is established, and where the eternal dynasty of David reigns.

But Jeremiah recognizes that they have a false sense of assurance.  While God did establish Jerusalem and the Davidic line, Judah and Jerusalem have broken covenant with God.  They have not been faithful to worship him alone and adhere to his law:

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,
and with foreign vanities?”

Now, Jeremiah discerns, there is a growing sense of apprehension among the people of Judah in particular.  An invading force from Babylon is drawing closer from the North, as their armies enter the northernmost cities of what was once Israel:

The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan:
at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles;
for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it;
the city and those who dwell therein (Jeremiah 8:16).

Now Jerusalem is beginning to realize that it may be too late to be delivered from the Babylonians:

“The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”

Jeremiah finds no satisfaction at all in this impending disaster.  He grieves for his city and his people:

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt:
I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me.

Jeremiah asks plaintively if there is no source of help and healing for his sick nation:

Is there no balm in Gilead?
is there no physician there?
Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Gilead was a region East of the Jordan River named for the grandson of the Patriarch Joseph, and settled by some of the tribes of Israel.  In Joseph’s time it  had long since been overrun by Assyria and had become a vassal state.

But Jeremiah’s reference is to a highly valued balsamic ointment that was used as a medicine. The trade and use of this balm in ancient times could be traced back for centuries.  Jeremiah seems to be asking why people who were so sick from their idolatry could not find the antidote in seeking their God.

Jeremiah’s lamentation continues as he reflects on the suffering that Judah has already experienced, and no doubt anticipates what is to happen in the future:

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

APPLY:  

Throughout history there have been times that a sense of  impending doom hung heavy over nations:

• In 1775 in the American Colonies, there was the growing sense of resentment toward the British homeland for perceived injustices.
• In 1860 in the United States, it was the regional division between North and South over slavery.
• In 1936 in both Germany and Japan, there was the menace of growing territorial ambitions.

We may wonder sometimes if our times are any different.  What is the apprehension and tension that makes the air of our times feel as though it is thick and heavy with growing storm clouds?

Jeremiah is aware of the storm clouds gathering over Jerusalem,  but he senses his own helplessness to avert disaster.  He knows that his people are placing their trust in past platitudes and phony gods.  And yet they can’t seem to understand why they are not delivered from impending catastrophe.

Jeremiah knows that there is a balm in Gilead, and that healing is only to be found in repentance and return to the God of Israel.

This spiritual principle was true in Jeremiah’s time, and it is still true today.

RESPOND: 

There is a deep sadness to be the one who can see that disaster is coming, and yet be unable to avert it.  I am reminded of  Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess in Greek mythology who could foresee the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, and the eventual murder of the Greek Agammenon who became her captor.  To be a Cassandra is to be one who is always right, but never heeded.

That was Jeremiah’s sad lot also.  And sometimes it is ours when we can see the eventual consequences of immoral or unwise behavior in our family, friends, or countrymen and women.

Yet we still have a responsibility to warn and to weep for them, even when they don’t listen.

The good news is that there is a remedy to the moral sickness that so many suffer today.  It is found only in the one whom T.S. Eliot describes in East Coker IV,  from Four Quartets:

The wounded surgeon plies the steel
That questions the distempered part;
Beneath the bleeding hands we feel
The sharp compassion of the healer’s art
Resolving the enigma of the fever chart.

Then there is the famous African-American Spiritual, that reminds us that Christ is the source of healing:

There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin sick soul.

Our Lord, sometimes we do sense storm clouds rising in our times. Thank you for the reminder that there is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
“There Is a Balm in Gilead” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.