So Send I You

So Send I You

John Chapter 20

Mary Magdalene

This chapter contains three stories of encounters with the resurrected Jesus. Though it is not the first complete story, the chapter begins with Mary Magdalene. Her story is told in vv. 1-2 and 10-18. The name “Magdalene”, of course, means “of Magdala”, just as Jesus was known as the “Nazarene”, and Magdala was a small community on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The earliest mention of Mary Magdalene is in Luke 8:1-3, where she as mentioned as prominent among the women who, having been healed by Jesus, traveled with him and the Twelve and ministered to them out of their means.

All the gospels list Mary Magdalene as among those women who were with Jesus at his death, who came in the morning to the empty tomb, and who took the news of Jesus’ resurrection to the disciples. We do not know exactly how Mary came to be alone. There had been other women with her, and we are not told what had become of them. The disciples had also come and gone. In the Gospel of John, these details are swept away, and the focus is on Mary Magdalene from the beginning. She comes to the tomb, she fetches the disciples, she encounters the risen lord, and she runs back to tell the disciples.

Because of Mary Magdalene’s special role as messenger, some Apocryphal writings (The Gospel of Philip, for instance) call her, not only an apostle, but an apostle to the apostles, and there was, at least for some time, some contention over which was greater, the calling of Mary Magdalene, or the calling of Peter. In our own time, there has been fictional representation of and speculation about the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus – that perhaps it was more than what is presented in the Gospels. It may be that the Gospel of John, which we must remember was written later than the other Gospels, late enough that various heresies had begun to spread, deals with such speculation, as well, and that this is why the writer of the Gospel so carefully points out that, immediately upon recognizing Jesus, Mary Magdalene exclaims “Rabboni!”. This is not a term of affection, or a term of a woman who cooks and cleans for a man, but a term of a disciple devoted to a teacher.

The term “Rabboni” is used only one other time in the Bible, and that is in Mark 10:46-52. In this story of the blind man given sight, when Bartimaeus says “Rabbi”, “Master” or “Lord”, depending on the translation, this is the same word used by Mary Magdalene when she recovers her ability to see Jesus outside the empty tomb.

Before leaving this story we must consider this interesting business in verse 17, where Jesus tells Mary not to hold on to him because he has not yet returned to the Father. Some have speculated that there was some physical reason for this, that Jesus was still a spirit, and that he would be changed after returning to the Father. This is not at all clear, however, for while Jesus’ attitude is much different from the upper room, he does not forbid her to touch him, and in Matthew (28:8-10) when Jesus meets the women on the road, they do touch him. Of course, we do not know the timing of the return to the Father, and this meeting on the road may have occurred after that. These speculations are interesting, but there are things we will never know. Of course, there are also things that are unimportant, and, so far as we know, Jesus did not spend any time trying to explain. Instead, he wanted to assure everyone that he was the Way to the Father.

Two Disciples

Intermingled with the Mary Magdalene story there is the story of two disciples,which is recorded in verses 2-10. One of the two, Peter, we know very well as a man whose ideals are so high that he cannot always reach them. The other disciple is a man of mystery. (At least, we assume the disciple is a man.) He is identified in the Gospel of John as “the one whom Jesus loved” and Chapter 21, verse 24 is identified as the writer of the Gospel of John, but no name is ever given for the disciple in the text. Instead, some care is taken to refrain from naming the disciple. Tradition, of course, is that John the Apostle wrote the Gospel of John, the Letters, and the Revelation. Of these only the Revelation of John says within the text that it was written by John, and the name was as common at the time the book was written as it is today.

Biblical scholars (and I am certainly not among them) tell us that textual analysis of the various books attributed to the apostle shows a great deal of difference in style, more difference than might be expected for texts from the same author. Of course, the texts are quite different, in tone, audience, and purpose, but that is only my layman’s response. It should also be noted that “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is not mentioned until chapter thirteen, which may mean he was not one of the original twelve, but came to follow Jesus later on. Another analytical approach theorizes, in part, that no disciple would claim for himself the title, “the one whom Jesus loved” and that this title was given to the disciple by his own followers who learned from the disciple and wrote the Gospel. I think it possible that the disciple did not intend to say the Jesus loved him more than the others, but that Jesus’ love was more important to him than anything else, even than his own name.

Both tradition and scholarship are important to us, but neither can tell us the ultimate source of scripture. In believing in scripture, we put our faith in a process that starts with God inspiring those who wrote it, continues through God protecting his word as it is handed down and translated, and as God inspires us each time we encounter it. And, though the actual author of the Gospel is not so important, I will share with you that, in this passage, the image of Peter and the other disciple running together to the tomb has always been evocative of the story in John 1:35-42, where Andrew, having met Jesus, runs back to find his brother, Peter. I do not know who wrote the Gospel, and if it should be proved to be John the Apostle, or some other, I would not be disappointed, but I like the idea that the disciple who looked in the tomb and believed is the same disciple that, in the very beginning, said “We have found the Messiah!”

Thomas

In verses 18-20 and 24-29 (we will come back to the other verses shortly) we have the story of Thomas, or as he has so unalterably come to be known, “Doubting Thomas”. Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared to the others and, because of this, he refused to believe. This is why we have labeled him as the doubter. But we must remember that the other disciples were locked in their upper room having refused, as Luke tells us (24:9-11), to believe the women, either because of their emotional state, because they were women, or because they had not seen it with their own eyes.

And can we fault Thomas? Is it not true that “Seeing is believing”? In our day we see so much, and it certainly cannot all be true. We see things that are easy to believe, like the promises of advertisers, scientists, and politicians, which are not true in any lasting sense. And we see things that are hard to believe, the affects of famine, drugs, and natural disaster, which are so hard to believe that they do not seem to become real to us.

There is a Truth that transcends our experience and our comprehension, a Truth that reaches out and reveals itself to us.

So Send I You

In verses 21-23, the disciples are commissioned. Matthew and Mark both have the Great Commission. In Luke (24:48) Jesus simply says “You are witnesses”. In John, the call is to serve Jesus as he has served the Father. I have heard and read much discussion about forgiving and retaining sins, and I cannot explain it. Certainly, Jesus forgave sins, but I do not think it would be correct to believe that only those that had physical access to his presence during his ministry had access to forgiveness, nor would it be correct to think that God has abdicated his authority for forgiveness to us. While there may be some indication of authority in these verses, remember that Jesus sends us as the Father sent him. Jesus came with authority, but he acted with responsibility.

It is in the Gospel of John that we have the great promise to believe and have everlasting life, but it also the Gospel from which we receive the new commandment to “love another” (13:34). There is grace, and there is responsibility (Romans 10:9-14).

The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord

The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord,

the Temple of the Lord

Jeremiah Chapters 7-10

A Den of Robbers

In these chapters, the book of Jeremiah continues to challenge our image of the “Old Testament God”. From the historical books, particularly Kings and Chronicles, we might form an image of God as one who is stern, unapproachable, and unappeasable. Armed with this image, one might think that Jesus came not only to redeem us, but to redeem God, as well. This certainly could not be the case. Jeremiah, among other Old Testament voices, provides us with a view of God in Old Testament times lovingly calling people to repentance, just as Jesus did in his day.

In Chapter 7, The Lord begins, as recorded in verses 1-11, by calling the people to true repentance. Such repentance, says the Lord, is evidenced by righteous behavior. The people believed that they could come to the temple and offer sacrifices and go away cleansed. In so doing, they made the Lord’s house a “den of robbers”, which is the same situation Jesus found upon his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:12-13). The Lord’s answer to this view of morality is recorded in verses 22-28. At first glance, this passage is confusing in that it seems to say that the Lord gave the fleeing Israelites no instruction for the offering of sacrifice, but it is certainly true that a good deal of Old Testament law deals with the offering of sacrifice, and sacrifice is mentioned in the Exodus setting of God’s covenant through Moses (Exodus 20:24). We should note that the language used here is very similar to that of Deuteronomy (See Deuteronomy Chapter 6, for example, verses 17-18) where sacrifice is not mentioned together with the covenant account. Also, the book of Jeremiah is not alone in this sort of disdain for the practice of sacrifice. Sacrifice is also denounced in Amos (5:21-27), Isaiah (1:10-20), Micah (6:6-8), and Hosea (6:6-7). This last passage was so important to Jesus during his earthly ministry that he quoted it at least twice (Matthew 9:13 and 12:7).

There is a sense in which our conventional view of the Old Testament God is accurate. God is not approachable; God is not appeasable. When we are not right with God, no fancy words, no beautiful buildings, and no elaborate ritual will change our standing with God. God desires worship, but not vain worship. It is my opinion that God allows us the fancy dress, the beautiful buildings, the comforting ritual only so long as they bring us closer to our Lord. They can be a means of worship, but we make them the end, and when we do, they become an abomination. God wants us to worship by knowing and doing what is right.

Perpetual Backsliding

Chapter 8 has, in a latter section (verses 11-17) some repetition from previous chapters. The chapter begins and ends with dire warnings, but contains a section (verses 4-10) where the Lord contemplates the continual backsliding of the people. The imagery here is very interesting. If a man stumbles, the Lord says, he gets back up. If he takes a wrong turn, he finds his way back. Even the migratory birds, which after all have bird-brains, are smart enough to find their way home. These people, however, are too smart for their own good. Notice that the Lord does not find fault with the people because they have made mistakes, or even because they continue to make mistakes. All throughout Jeremiah it is abundantly clear that the opportunity to repent is always available. The problem with the people is that they rely on their own wisdom, which is no wisdom, and the Lord tells them it will fail.

Uncircumcised in Heart

Chapter 9 goes on to say that things are going to be very, very bad because of the way people have behaved. Notice also that this was no threat, any more than if I were to call you back from the edge of a dangerous cliff I would be threatening you with the law of gravity. The Lord was telling them what was true.

In verses 23-26, amid all the dire warnings, the cause of the people’s conflict with God is beautifully summarized. In order to understand it, we must understand that “cutting the corners of their hair” refers to some practice of shaving or cutting hair as a part of a pagan ritual, and circumcision is referred to here metaphorically as the process of dedicating one’s self to God. The Lord says that we cannot rely on ourselves, though we be wise, mighty, or rich. We can rely on the Lord to have unchanging love, justice, and righteousness, but these are not available to us if we treat the Lord as some kind of idol that requires an incantation – if we just through the motions, but are not changed at heart.

Correct Me, O Lord

Often times in Jeremiah, it is hard to tell which voice we are hearing, that of the prophet, or of the Lord speaking through the prophet. This is particularly true in Chapter 10 where, though “thus says the Lord” is repeated through the chapter, much of the text is a tribute to God as apposed to the worthless idols being worshipped by the people. The tribute nature of the words was probably added by Jeremiah, but other than the tribute form, the words are consistent with previous sections: the Lord is the sole creator, idols are completely inert, and idol worship is foolish in itself and an affront to God.

In verses 23-24, however, we certainly have Jeremiah speaking. Ordinarily, it is the role of the prophet to speak to the people on the behalf of God. Here the prophet prays to God on the behalf of the people, and his prayer is one that we are often reluctant to pray. It is a prayer for correction. Personally, I am not blest with patience. I have always been reluctant to pray for patience out of fear: fear of what it might cost me to gain patience, and fear that I might become impatient with the processes. Though the prophet has couched his request in careful terms; still it is more bold than many of us will ever be. But, if the Lord practices steadfast love, righteousness, and justice in the earth (9:24), what have we to fear?

The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord

The temple of the Lord was a place called by the name of the Lord, and the Lord had promised the people to come to them in these places and be with them and bless them (Exodus 20:24). But, in Chapter 7, verse 4, the Lord says that the people have reduced the special dedication of the place to mere words, in the same way that their own dedication, symbolized by circumcision, has become false. Their actions may have been correct, but their hearts had strayed. The prophet bemoans the fate of the nation, and though that fate is terrible, in Chapter 7, verse 19 the Lord says something even worse. The terrible consequence of rejecting God is that we are cut off from God.

We no longer have the concept of a temple, because we have the promise that “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). We no longer practice sacrifice, because we worship the “Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Still, we come to our fancy buildings with our orders of worship, and there is nothing wrong in this, unless we limit God and our involvement with God to that time and place. James says (1:27) that pure religion, that is, the practice of our faith, is to help others and to keep ourselves separate from the world. This is strikingly similar to what we read in Jeremiah, where the Lord says that any other worship is a meaningless repetition of words.

Broken Cisterns

Broken Cisterns

Jeremiah Chapters 2-6

Children of Wood and Stone

Though the chronology of the book of Jeremiah is not certain, the passages in chapters 2-6 seem to be taken from Jeremiah’s early sermons, probably during and perhaps towards the end of the reign of Josiah. It was during the reign of Josiah, of course, that Judah underwent a great revival and renewed its covenant with the Lord. The material both calls the people to repentance and speaks of the Babylonian invasion as a certainty, however, so it is not certain whether it was originally spoken during the reformation, but with prophetic insight into the fall of Judah, or at the end of Josiah’s reign, after the reformation had failed, or over a span of time from the beginning of the reformation until after the death of Josiah.

In Chapter 2, the word of the Lord given through Jeremiah declares the charge against the people: they have turned against the Lord and worshiped other gods. In verses 1-8, the Lord begins by recalling the past devotion of the people, comparing them to a bride. Though the Lord had no fault, the people followed idols, the priests did not seek the Lord, those who interpreted the law did not know the Lord, the leaders rebelled against the Lord, and the prophets prophesied by Baal.

In verses 26-28, The Lord says that the whole people, including the secular and religious leaders, are caught “red handed”. They have turned their backs on the Lord and have claimed that wood and stone – the material from which they made their gods – gave them birth. But, as is echoed throughout Chapter 2, these gods are false gods, and will be of no value in times of trouble.

How did this situation come to be? How could the people who saw themselves as the chosen ones turn their backs on the One True God to worship false gods? To answer this question, we would do well to consider what it means to worship. The people of Israel (currently the remnant of Judah, but the naming is a bit tricky, depending on what period of time you’re talking about) had been taught to practice sacrifice as a method of worship. As the people transitioned from a smaller, fiercely separate, nomadic tribe, to a larger, settled nation that became agrarian and began to interact with the local indigenous peoples, they began to notice that these indigenous peoples also had methods of worship that were similar to their own and they used them as part of their agricultural process. Since the people of Israel did not understand how their methods of worship were of any real value anyway, they did not see any harm in employing them towards other gods. Baal was a fertility god, or so they imagined. The Lord says they claimed to be children of wood and stone, because they sought life from gods they made for themselves.

If we are not as openly guilty of idolatry as the Israelites, it may only be because our idols are more abstract, but we are sometimes guilty of the more serious failings of which the Israelites were accused. First, they had turned their backs on God. How did they do this? Did they decide they no longer wanted God; that God was no longer good for them? No. “They did not ask ‘Where is the Lord.’” They stopped seeking the Lord. Also, they looked elsewhere for success. They were becoming farmers, and they looked around and said the people around them knew how to succeed, and they could figure it out for themselves, and they did not need God to do it for them. The book of Jeremiah is clear: we either succeed through God, or we do not succeed.

I Am your Husband

Having presented the case against the people, the Lord proceeds in Chapter 3 to act in a way in which we do not tend to think of as characteristic of the Old Testament God. That is, instead of declaring the people to be at fault and sending destruction upon them, the Lord calls plaintively and lovingly for the people to repent.

In verses 14-16, for example the Lord calls on the people to repent and, following on the earlier statement that the people had been a faithful bride, the Lord says, even though the people have sinned and have not yet repented, “I am your husband.” It is not God who changes. God’s love is always available. God always calls us to return. God always seeks a closer relationship with us, as these verses speak of the day when the Ark of the Covenant would not be missed, because the people would not see God as constrained to an Arc, or a tent, or a temple.

How Bitter it Is

In Chapter 4 it becomes clear that the people will not repent and the end will come. In verses 18-22 we have what appears to be the Lord speaking in the first and last verses but interrupted by a lament by Jeremiah, who can hardly bear such terrible prophecy. Jeremiah has the double agony of foreseeing the destruction of his people, and of telling them that it is their own doing, because the are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.

They Have Lied about the Lord

Chapter 5 continues the Lord’s condemnation of Israel and Judah, though it begins to say that the destruction will not be complete, and that some will remain. In verses 10-14, for example, the destroyer is commanded to strip off only those branches that are not the Lord’s. Also in this passage, the sin of the people is expressed in a new way: the charge is that they say the Lord will do nothing. We do not have any record of any such statement, but we do have a record of their actions, and although the people at some intellectual level may have known the consequences of their actions, they acted without fear or reverence toward God; they acted as if God did not matter. God will prove to be real. We do better to rely on it than to deny it.

I Am Bringing Disaster

Chapter 6 summarizes the situation. The people had abandoned the Lord, and disaster was coming upon them. In verses 13-15, the Lord says that the leaders of the people are ineffective, making claims of peace when there is the opposite, and putting a simple dressing on a serious wound. The Hebrew word which is translated peace is shalom, and it means more than the absence of military conflict. It may mean more than can be translated into English, but it certainly means personal, inner well-being. Though the leaders try to give the people a sense of well-being, they are not well; they have a deep wound that is self-inflicted, a wound which was inflicted when they separated themselves from God. Continuing in verses 16-20, the Lord says that the people have been given every opportunity, and have rejected them all. As a result, their worship has become unacceptable, and a disaster will befall them.

Broken Cisterns

And so here, already in the first six chapters of Jeremiah, we see Judah destroyed as a result of her infidelity. Because of the organization of the book of Jeremiah, we will get to see this happen more than once, but we should take this opportunity to consider the implications of the situation. It is clear from these chapters that the Lord is actively correcting the people, but if we expect God to reprimand us in material ways when we fail, do we also expect material favor when we follow God’s word? This is dangerous theology, and it is contrary to our experience, as we all know evil people who do well in this world, and those who strive to do good, but are beset by every difficulty in this life. It is also contrary to the teaching of Jesus, and certainly to the life of Jesus, who was the only one who lived a good life, yet he died, to the eyes of this world, poor, ridiculed, and alone.

As horrible as the invasion and exile of Judah was, there was something more going on. It is mentioned several times in these chapters, but perhaps the most familiar is in 2:13-19. Here the Lord says that the people have not only cut themselves off from the source of their life, but have established life for themselves, and this life will surely fail. This will be their punishment, the Lord says, to live with their choice, and to find how bitter it is to live without the Lord.

Paul tells us (Ephesians 5:20) that we should always be thankful to God for all things, and it is a hard saying. Sometimes it seems that someone, or everyone, or even our very God is against us; what is there to be thankful for? If we will remember, whatever it may seem, God is a very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46). God does not want thanks for hard times, or any other empty praise. To abandon our broken cisterns and have faith in the fountain of living waters is true worship.

The Call

The Call

Jeremiah Chapter 1

Jeremiah

When we begin to study any book of the bible, there are certain general questions we want to ask. We want to know who wrote the book, in what setting, and to what purpose. The introduction in verses 1-3 tell us much of what we want to know. It begins by saying that these are the words of Jeremiah, a priest of Anathoth. This likely means that he was a descendant of Abiathar, the priest who associated himself with Adonijah, who set himself up as King David’s successor. When Solomon was made King, he banished Abiathar from Jerusalem to Anathoth, where Abiathar owned property (1 Kings 2:26).

We must note, however, that the introduction states that these are the words of Jeremiah, but does not say how they came to be recorded. Jeremiah himself was a preacher, not a writer. In Chapter 36, God tells Jeremiah to write down all he has said to him, so Jeremiah dictates the words to the scribe Baruch, who records them in a scroll. Baruch then read from the scroll in the temple, and the king heard about it, and destroyed the scroll, and Jeremiah dictated it again. Since the story of the creation of the scroll is in the present book, the book must be composed of other sources. There are various theories, but the book seems to have four parts.

1. The beginning chapters (1-25) are the word of God through Jeremiah.
2. The next section (26-45) is more narrative in nature, and shows the life and actions of Jeremiah. This may have been recorded by Baruch.
3. The last major section (46-51) is a collection of both prophecy and narrative pieces, but these are of a different quality than the others, and may have been collected later by students of Jeremiah, rather than by Jeremiah or Baruch.
4. Chapter 51, verse 64, says, roughly translated, that it is the last of the words of Jeremiah, and the final chapter (Chapter 52) is composed of verses from 2 Kings 24:18-25:30 which describe the fall of Jerusalem.

We are also told in these verses that the word of God came to Jeremiah beginning in the reign of Josiah and lasting through the reign of Zedekiah as the people of Jerusalem went into exile. As we will read, Jeremiah himself was among those in exile. We know from 2 Kings 22 & 23 and from 2 Chronicles 34 & 35 that Josiah was a good king who brought the people to a renewed covenant with God. Nevertheless, in 2 Kings 23:26-37 the Lord says that Judah will fall, just as Israel had fallen. The author of 2 Kings attributes this to the Lord’s anger over the actions of Manessah. 2 Kings ends with the kingdoms divided and fallen, the people in captivity, and all due to the will of the Lord.

2 Chronicles tells the same story, but ends more hopefully, with the exiled returning from Babylon, as prophesied by Jeremiah (2 Chronicles 36:20-23). Indeed, though it breaks Jeremiah’s heart – “O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night” as he says in 9:1 – still he unrelentingly declares that the end will come to pass, but all the while declares that there is hope in God.

Always Known

The first revelation from God to Jeremiah is in verses 4-10, and it is a record of Jeremiah’s call. Let us begin at the end and note that God’s word is for all nations, not only for Judah, and that God’s prophecy is not only for tearing down and destroying, but also for planting and building up.

Jeremiah must have been very alarmed at this call from God. Though he makes an excuse about not knowing what to say, the whole idea must have disturbed him. I know it would be disturbing to me. God responds both to Jeremiah’s unspoken concern the general idea of being a prophet and the particular issue of having the right words to say. Both of these responses warrant careful inspection, as they seem to run contrary to the idea of the free will.

First, the Lord says that, the idea may be new to Jeremiah, but he was appointed as a prophet before he was even born. Though this is the sort of verse that has been used in the support of Pro-Life cause, we must note this beautiful couplet begins by stating that the Lord knew Jeremiah even before the womb. This is not saying that God knew Jeremiah merely as a step in some preordained plan – the knowledge of God is much deeper than that. God knows us intimately, in every detail, from start to finish. How could God know someone even before they were born?

You and I exist in time. We are born and we die. We grow; we learn; we change. What happened before we remember dimly; what happens around us, we barely understand; what will happen is beyond our scope. Our nature is tied to time. God did not begin. God will not end. He is changeless. He is timeless. As he said to Moses, “I am” (Exodus 3:14). God is outside of time, and what we struggle to understand as unfolding events, God sees as whole, everything that is, was, and will be.

Now, the idea that God knows everything we will do has prompted some to conclude that we have no choice: what is foreknown is inescapable. Here, to my thinking, is the critical thing to remember, and it is what we have just discussed: we live in a world of cause and effect, God does not; the concepts of before and after apply to us, but not to God.

There is another idea in these verses that might make us wonder about our free will. In verse 7 the Lord says “[G]o to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.” What good is our free will if we must spend our lives doing exactly what God tells us to? Of course, God did not say exactly how Jeremiah would be sent, or how the command would come. We will find, later in our study of the book of Jeremiah that his call became a burden to him. For some of us, sometimes, it becomes a burden to breathe oxygen, too, but it is always in our best interest to do so.

These issues may be beyond our understanding, our wisdom, our reasoning, but they are not beyond the bounds of God, and so we might stop to remember that, while time is not part of the essential nature of God, the essential nature of God is love. The answer to all of our questions is in the love of God. The co-existence of human will and Devine knowledge may not make sense to human understanding, but it makes sense to the love of God. Complete submission to any earthly authority would mean complete loss of identity, but complete submission to the love of God makes us complete.

The Word of the Lord

In verses 11-16, Jeremiah tells of two separate epiphanies in which the word of the Lord comes to him as he sees everyday objects. In the first, there is a play on words, and the words, or course, are ancient Hebrew words, not modern English words. Jeremiah sees an almond branch, which perhaps attracted his attention because it is one of the first trees to bloom in spring. The Hebrew word for “almond tree” is shaqed, and the word God spoke to Jeremiah was shoqed. This word means waiting, watching, remaining, etc. In fact, there are only three Hebrew words in what is translated “for I am watching over my word to perform it,” so the nuance of the translation is a bit tricky. In addition to the word shoqed, there is the word “word”, which meant more to the Hebrew mind than it does to ours. It was not simply a written record or spoken utterance, but was also purpose and essence. Finally, the word translated “to perform” means “to do”, “to accomplish”, or “to bring about”. However these are put together, they state that God remains active in accomplishing his purpose. This is good news for all of us, but certainly something that a prophet would want to know before he set out to declare the word of God.

After the almond branch Jeremiah saw a pot facing from the north, about to spill its boiling contents to the south. God says that there will, indeed, come nations from the north that will besiege Jerusalem and all of Judah. These two images, the certainty of the fall of Jerusalem and the security of God’s promise during and after that fall, will continue as themes throughout the book of Jeremiah.

The Call

In the final verses (17-19) of the chapter the Lord reiterates his call to Jeremiah, and his assurance to him. In his assurance we should note that the Lord says Jeremiah will prophecy against “the kings of Judah”. Of course, Judah had only one king at a time, and the reason the Lord said this because the Lord knew that Jeremiah would prophecy to more than one king, and that, though he would urge the people to repent, the nation would fall. If he knew this, then why bother sending a prophet at all? Again, we have to stop thinking of it as something God “knew” (which implies past tense) and try to think of it as something God “knows”. God knows everything at once and is always acting to redeem us all, no matter where or when we may be.

The Lord says to Jeremiah he must get up and go, but though he will be among those who would harm him, he would be protected as a fortified city. In John 17:15-18 we hear our Lord calls us also, sending us as the Father sent him, to be in the world, but not of the world. Though the outcome is known, the Lord has chosen us. Let us also choose the Lord.