Jeremiah was the weeping prophet. He had the job of speaking God’s Word to an ungrateful people who didn’t want to hear it. And if you’ve read through portions of the Old Testament, you know how the Israelites often flirted with idolatry. But in Jeremiah’s day, it was a full-blown affair.
So, God used Jeremiah to warn the people of Israel of His impending punishment. But the people wouldn’t listen. It was in their best interest to listen to Jeremiah. But instead, they mistreated and abused him, imprisoned and mocked him. Even the priest, who was the chief Temple official under the High Priest, came to Jeremiah, struck him, and put him in stocks.
Life hasn’t changed much, has it? People still don’t want to listen to God. Few people care. Many people quickly take offense at the Word of God.
Why is this so? Think back to humanity’s fall into sin. Who was there? Satan was. He has always fought to keep people far from God’s Word. And because we are also creatures born after the fall into sin, we are born with corrupted natures that want nothing from the true God and His Word. We’re stuck between Satan and our sinful natures, fighting against God’s Word; it’s a miracle anyone is saved at all!
And so God’s Word wages war against sin and Satan. God’s Word comes to us in His perfect Law, coming from the holy and flawless Lawmaker and Judge. His Law tells you whom you should be and how to live in harmony with God.
But we have a problem: We don’t have the ability to do what God’s Law tells us, not fully and without flaw. Even more, we have a rebellious spirit, in one way or the other, that objects to God’s perfect Law. This rebellious spirit finds many ways to rationalize its disobedience, or to deafen your ears to God’s voice.
And sometimes, like the people of Jerusalem, you might say, “Why should we listen to you? Are you any better than us, to tell us what to do?” But behind that voice is the voice of the ancient serpent, hissing and whispering in your ear: “Did God really say that? Is that really the Word of God?”
And on the flip side, when God speaks His loving Word of grace, His Gospel, you’d think people would gladly receive His message of love and grace. But the Gospel offends people just like God’s Law does. It sounds stupid and silly. It’s contrary to the current within our sinful nature. Jesus’ bloody sacrifice on the cross, which is the sweetest treasure to those who believe, is foolish and disgusting to those who lack faith. It is merely a spectacle of violence and death.
So, we find that little has changed in our dealings with God since Jeremiah’s day. People wanted Jeremiah to compromise the truth of God. And if he didn’t, they were going to make Jeremiah suffer. And suffer he did. He was a lonely, bitter man, as you heard from our Old-Testament reading. Even a few verses after our reading, he said:
Cursed be the day I was born! … Cursed be the man who brought the good news to my father, “A baby boy has been born to you,” … Why did I ever come forth from the womb, only to see struggle and sorrow, and to finish my life living in shame? [Jeremiah 20:14-18]
Struggle, sorrow, and shame: That’s often what happens to someone whom God has chosen to be His messenger. But so you don’t think that God has called you to a pampered and easy life, God has called, even you, to be His messenger. We do this in the different areas and vocations where God has placed us. I happen to be God’s messenger in my vocation as a pastor. You are God’s messenger in whatever vocations God has placed you in: father, mother, employee, employer, etc.
When faced with the daunting task of bringing Jesus to others in our words and deeds, many of us do what Jeremiah tried to do: nothing. We fear rejection and ridicule. We don’t know the Christian faith well enough to speak it faithfully in the events of our daily lives. And we are too complacent to do anything about it. Does that not fill you with shame? Does that not make you feel like an abuser of God’s grace? It should.
Every Christian has committed the shameful act of hiding God’s light from others. His Word is the most-precious treasure you could ever have, because through it you have received Christ, the fullness of His grace, and eternal life in God’s full and glorious presence. But you have hidden Christ’s light under a bushel basket.
Don’t be deceived. You are still, by nature, sinful and rebellious against God and His Word. That’s why you never outgrow coming to Church to receive His life and salvation. That’s why you never outgrow Sunday School, so you can better learn the fullness of the faith, all so the Word of Christ flows more gracefully from your mouth.
Although none of us has the right to be in this House of God, the Lord does not cast us out. He does not spit you out of His mouth, lukewarm though you may be. Instead, He speaks His sure, prophetic Word. He tells you:
I am your strength and shield. I have defeated your enemies: Death, hell, Satan and the kingdom of darkness, and yes, even your own sinful flesh. I have done battle on the Hill of Calvary, where I lured those enemies to attack me. I let them strike me, but in their striking, they were defeated, not me. I triumphed over the grave. I preached victory to the gates of hell. I crushed the serpent’s head. I have nailed your sinful flesh to the cross, where it hangs dying and cursed, unable to hurt you. You are my possession, for I have won you on the field of battle against your enemies. You are mine, and no one can snatch you from my hand, for no one is my equal in battle.
That’s the sure and certain Word of God to you. You can depend on that Word. Who can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus? No one. The devil wasn’t strong enough. Death tried and failed. So you can depend on the Word of God, Jesus Christ, the same God who conquered your sins in His flesh.
Just as no one could overcome Christ, so also could no one else save you. Did Buddha enter the grave to save you? Did Mohammed hang on the cross for your sins? Was Joseph Smith true God of true God from all eternity, who shed His blood for you? No, no, and again, no. And so we find that God’s “Yes” to you in Christ Jesus is also His “No” to every other religion that would dare replace Him with something else.
Soon, this same Lord Jesus will serve His Holy Meal at this Altar. May no one take offense by what our Lord offers to us here for our life and salvation. Our God is not an abstract and distant God. He took on human flesh and blood to defeat sin, eternal death, and the devil. And He gives that flesh and blood to You, the flesh and blood that won your salvation: the body and blood of our God, Jesus Christ.
Yet, throughout history, many outside the Church have mocked this reality and truth, seeing it as superstition and something that could not be true. And today, even many within the Church mock Christ’s life-giving gifts to us. So has Satan even made a camp within the Church of Christ.
Walk by faith and not by sight. Believe Jesus’ words and do not let them offend you. For His words are life.
And receiving, not just information about Christ, but Christ Himself in His Sacrament, how then can you silent? Being “Jesused” in His Sacrament, the Jesus for you becomes the Jesus in you, so He can become the Jesus through you. The Word of God within you, Jesus Christ, is a burning fire of holiness in your heart, which demands to be spoken to the world.
And when you are moved to speak Jesus to others, remember that it’s not just you speaking. It is also the Word within you speaking. After all, you by yourself do not cleanse the lost from their impurity, just as you do not cleanse yourself. You do not save others with your blazing heart. It is the Word that saves them, burning away their sins with the holy flame of the Spirit.
Yet, as you confess Christ to others, many will reject you. And even that is a privilege–although it does not seem so at the time. The privilege is that your life is hidden in Christ, not only united with Him in His death and resurrection, but also in His life, which was full of rejection and sorrow. If the world rejected the Son of the Father, then will you not, at times, also suffer rejection? If many mocked Jesus for the Word of truth on His lips, then will not others also mock you, at times, for that same Word?
But instead of hanging your head in bitterness, raise it up with joy. You are sharing in the work of Christ, chosen by Him to carry His Gospel Word. You are a vessel for pouring out grace to a grace-thirsty world. No greater honor exists.
And when you are weary and downhearted, lean on the strength of the mighty Lord, Yahweh, who is with you. He who has rescued your life from the hands of the wicked; He will not abandon you. He tests you in persecution and rejection, so you will look to His strength, not your own. And you find that strength here, in His house. For here, He speaks to you. Here, He feeds you. Here, He washes you clean.
May God’s grace, His Word, and His salvation given freely to you, fill you to the full–and may such grace never offend you. In the one-and-only name that is the name above all names, Jesus Christ, your Lord. Amen.
