Graduate 95: Advent, Day 18
Tears for Jerusalem
Jeremiah 1:4-10; 2:4-13; 7:1-15; 8:22-9:11
The prophet Jeremiah lived through the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. (440, 472, Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible) In addition to the book of Jeremiah, it is thought that Jeremiah also authored the book of Lamentations, which is largely composed of elegies for Jerusalem. The blow to the people of Israel, by the destruction of the temple, was enormous. Yet it was the most natural consequence of their constant disobedience and unfaithfulness to God. By the standards of the cultures and religious communities surrounding them, their practices were perfectly normal; but God had called His people to be different from the cultures surrounding them, and this is what they failed to do.
Notice the way that God reasons with Israel in chapter 2:
“What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from me,
And walked after emptiness and became empty?”
The question, of course, is rhetorical—there was no injustice or failure on God’s part that prompted the people to stray from Him. God did not fail to care for His people or let them down in some way that would have legitimately prompted them to seek the aid of other gods.
Pointing this out may be helpful for thinking about the relationship between God and the evils in the world. Many people look at the pain and suffering and wickedness in the world and conclude that God must not exist as a result. In effect, they answer God’s question, above, by citing the injustices of the world as reasons for turning away from God. But are those ‘injustices’ the result of God’s failings or of our failings?—that is what is key. Go back to Day 10, on the Ten Commandments. God says that the best, most fulfilled and worthwhile life is one in which God is at the center. If we fail to place God at the center, is it any wonder that things go badly? Is it any wonder that we suffer? Of course, there is more to take into account in a comprehensive theodicy; but I think we need to stop and take seriously how much our human decisions really do contribute to the problems of the world.
Needless to say, Jeremiah was not made popular by preaching this message of the need for repentance and warning that destruction would follow failure to turn back to God. He suffered brutal treatment at the hands of his own people for proclaiming the truth. The truth is still not popular today. Sometimes it takes something startling, something shocking, something… painful to make us realize the truth. The people of Israel and Judah were exiled to the lands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. And Jeremiah says in chapter 9:
“Oh, that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep a day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people.”
The consequences of wickedness, of sin, of trying to make the best of this broken world out of our own strength and resources are tragic—because our own strength and resources are not enough and, thus, are doomed to eventual defeat. But there is hope. Jesus understood and proclaimed and articulated that hope in the simple phrases: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:3-4) Of course there is nothing blessed about being poor or being in mourning; but Jesus announces that such people are not excluded from blessing or closed off from blessing. The punishment that God brings on Israel is not the end of the story. The suffering that we face in our lives as a result of our failure to acknowledge God as Lord and King—that is not the end of the story. In the Kingdom of God, that Christ came to proclaim, there is hope for restoration, renewal, healing, and even new creation.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
Jeremiah 1:4-10; 2:4-13; 7:1-15; 8:22-9:11
The prophet Jeremiah lived through the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. (440, 472, Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible) In addition to the book of Jeremiah, it is thought that Jeremiah also authored the book of Lamentations, which is largely composed of elegies for Jerusalem. The blow to the people of Israel, by the destruction of the temple, was enormous. Yet it was the most natural consequence of their constant disobedience and unfaithfulness to God. By the standards of the cultures and religious communities surrounding them, their practices were perfectly normal; but God had called His people to be different from the cultures surrounding them, and this is what they failed to do.
Notice the way that God reasons with Israel in chapter 2:
“What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from me,
And walked after emptiness and became empty?”
The question, of course, is rhetorical—there was no injustice or failure on God’s part that prompted the people to stray from Him. God did not fail to care for His people or let them down in some way that would have legitimately prompted them to seek the aid of other gods.
Pointing this out may be helpful for thinking about the relationship between God and the evils in the world. Many people look at the pain and suffering and wickedness in the world and conclude that God must not exist as a result. In effect, they answer God’s question, above, by citing the injustices of the world as reasons for turning away from God. But are those ‘injustices’ the result of God’s failings or of our failings?—that is what is key. Go back to Day 10, on the Ten Commandments. God says that the best, most fulfilled and worthwhile life is one in which God is at the center. If we fail to place God at the center, is it any wonder that things go badly? Is it any wonder that we suffer? Of course, there is more to take into account in a comprehensive theodicy; but I think we need to stop and take seriously how much our human decisions really do contribute to the problems of the world.
Needless to say, Jeremiah was not made popular by preaching this message of the need for repentance and warning that destruction would follow failure to turn back to God. He suffered brutal treatment at the hands of his own people for proclaiming the truth. The truth is still not popular today. Sometimes it takes something startling, something shocking, something… painful to make us realize the truth. The people of Israel and Judah were exiled to the lands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. And Jeremiah says in chapter 9:
“Oh, that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep a day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people.”
The consequences of wickedness, of sin, of trying to make the best of this broken world out of our own strength and resources are tragic—because our own strength and resources are not enough and, thus, are doomed to eventual defeat. But there is hope. Jesus understood and proclaimed and articulated that hope in the simple phrases: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:3-4) Of course there is nothing blessed about being poor or being in mourning; but Jesus announces that such people are not excluded from blessing or closed off from blessing. The punishment that God brings on Israel is not the end of the story. The suffering that we face in our lives as a result of our failure to acknowledge God as Lord and King—that is not the end of the story. In the Kingdom of God, that Christ came to proclaim, there is hope for restoration, renewal, healing, and even new creation.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 2:00 AM
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