Sunday, March 17, 2024
/5 Lent
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5: 5-10; John 12: 20-33
The Rev. James M.L. Grace
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In our Bible studies earlier this week, one of the questions asked to the group was
“what qualities make a good priest?” In the women’s study, they identified humility as an important quality. The men’s Bible Study group were unanimous in voicing that the most important quality of a priest was the ability to deliver a short sermon. So, this sermon is going to be really humble, and really short.
The subject of this humble and short sermon is the portion of Jeremiah which we hear today.
Jeremiah was a Hebrew prophet. He was a descendent of Abiathar, one of two chief priests appointed by David, arguably Israel’s most well-known king. Abiathar was a Levitical priest, a priesthood which traced its roots to the tribe of Levi. He counseled David during his son Absalom’s tragic rebellion against him, and was a close confidant of the king. But not close enough. In addition to Abiathar, David chose a second high priest, Zadok. David had known Zadok for a long time. Zadok helped to bring the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem from nearby Gibeah after it languished in neglect for years under the reign of King Saul. By having two high priests from two different priestly families, David hoped to create a sense of unity and stability.
However, the emergence of the Zadokite priesthood, which traced its history to Zadok, created political as well as theological tension with the Levitical priests. Abiathar, the Levitical priest, was banished from Jerusalem by King David’s son, Solomon, because Abiathar wanted someone other than Solomon to be king. Solomon did not like that. With Abiathar banished, the Zadokite priestly lineage gained prominence, and Zadok’s descendants served as high priests in the Temple.
Jeremiah was a descendant of Abiathar, this banished Levitical priest, which means that much of what Jeremiah writes is strongly critical of kingship of Solomon, the Jewish temple, and its Zadokite priesthood.
Jeremiah’s opinions, contained within this book, were extremely unpopular. The book of Jeremiah was written when what was left of Israel was captured by Babylon. Both Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. Jeremiah witnessed this destruction with his own eyes.
The most unpalatable of Jeremiah’s writing was his unwavering stance regarding Israel’s future. More specifically, Jeremiah argued that the Israelites who remained after the destruction of Jerusalem must acquiesce and surrender to their Babylonian captors as the only way of avoiding their complete annihilation as a country and as a people. No one in Israel wanted to hear that, and Jeremiah was persecuted by his own people for saying this. His own family turned against him. He endured beatings, imprisonment, and ridicule. Despite these hardships, Jeremiah remained faithful. In an ironic twist, it was the Babylonians who freed him from prison.
I have a hard truth I need to speak today – something none of you want to hear, but I do not have a choice, I have to say this: this is not going to be a short sermon. But I am working toward its conclusion, I promise.
Jeremiah believed that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were absolutely necessary so that God could begin a new thing.
That “new thing” is what we hear about in today’s reading. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” This is a rare thing to find in Jeremiah – hope. But it is there. Ultimately, Jeremiah finds hope amid devastating religious partisanship and geopolitical conflict.
Partisanship and conflict exist today as they obviously did during the time of Jeremiah. It is during such divisive times that Jeremiah becomes my curmudgeonly unpopular anchor I cling to. I return to Jeremiah because of his courage. He spoke the truth boldly and paid the price for it. His life would have been much easier, and probably more pleasant, had he kept his mouth shut. But he could not – he was God’s prophet.
It has been said that “the truth will set you free, but first it’s going to make you miserable.” That is probably true. It certainly was for Jeremiah. Though the truth hurts, it is what we hunger for. The truth is what we need. It is what God is calling us ever closer to. AMEN.