Jeremiah, A prophetic voice for our time?

Trinity 10 2025
Jeremiah 1. 4-10

Our first reading was from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. More than any of the other prophets we can get to know Jeremiah. We can get to know his personality. What he was like comes through. We find out about his life. And in some ways that’s the point. It’s the unfolding of his life that bears the message that God gave him. The thing about Jeremiah is that he’s in turn, majestic and deeply wise, but also afraid and angry and frustrated. You see a whole range of emotion. Jeremiah the prophet isn’t someone who had it all under control from the start, sending out oracles of truth in every direction. He is someone like us: conflicted and confused sometimes, in the presence of God, but not knowing what that means, and afraid of what it might mean.

Our first lesson describes the call of Jeremiah. He’s a very young man. Scholars think he might have been just 15 or 16 when he was called. You often hear this passage read at ordinations. The Lord calls him and he says, “Look, Lord, I’m just too young. You don’t want me.” And God says, “Don’t say that! I have chosen you!”

So from the beginning Jeremiah is hesitant. He’s not sure what the Lord wants. And then the Lord gives him this terrible burden. He doesn’t say, “Hey, Jeremiah! I’ve got some wonderful news for everyone. You’re going to be the most popular person in Israel when you tell them! On the contrary! You know what the news is? Jeremiah is given a terrible message to deliver, which is: Israel is going to fall under God’s judgment, God is going to use the Babylonians to punish Israel for its infidelity, its idolatry and its mistreatment of the poor, and there’s no escaping it. All they can do really is accept this judgment, and surrender to a foreign invader, and accept, defeat and exile. That’s the message!

Did it make him popular? No, of course not! On the contrary, everybody hated Jeremiah. They gave him a nickname, “Terror on every side” because that’s what he used to say. As he looked around that’s what he heard and saw: terror coming from Babylon but also terror coming from all the people who were so angry with him. And guess what? They didn’t listen to him. He’s not like Jonah. When Jonah told the people of Nineveh to repent they did it. Even the cattle wore sackcloth. Jonah is the most successful prophet in the history of Israel. With Jeremiah it’s the opposite. Nobody listens to him and then they throw him down a well. And we don’t know this for sure, but very likely his own people put him to death. That’s the prophetic career of Jeremiah.

In chapter 20 Jeremiah complains to God. In a cry from the heart he says, You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived;/you overpowered me and prevailed./I am ridiculed all day long;/everyone mocks me./Whenever I speak, I cry out /proclaiming violence and destruction./So the word of the Lord has brought me/insult and reproach all day long.

Maybe this is what it’s like to be a Christian announcing the word of God in England today. We’re in the midst a culture that doesn’t want to hear it. Not long ago Christopher Hitchens, one of the so-called “new atheists,” wrote a book called God is not great. How religion poisons everything. He claims that what we believe is Bronze-age mythology. What we believe is pre-scientific, poisonous nonsense. If you start talking about God then people push back. And what about if you start talking to someone about how his or her life should change. What if you start talking to someone about his or her moral responsibilities? Or try standing up and saying, “The Lord has put His words in my mouth. He has called me to condemn the policies of death passed by the House of Commons this summer. He has called me to condemn the legalization of full term abortions and suicide on demand. I think that these policies demonstrate the post Christian moral bankruptcy of those who rule us. But imagine standing up and proclaiming to our MPs “God says, ‘Choose life!’” Good luck with that! Like Jeremiah we might soon start seeing terror on every side. We might well get a visit from the police. A man called Adam Smith-Connor was found guilty of praying silently for his dead son near an abortion facility and was fined £ 9000 last year. In a culture that thinks morality is all about our personal values and our individual choices, try saying that there is an objective moral order that should shape our lives. We might start feeling like Jeremiah pretty quickly.

This is what he lived. Being a prophet didn’t make him a success. He proclaimed the word of the Lord. And it brought him ridicule and mockery, insults and reproach. OK, OK. So what shall we do? Shall we water our message down? Isn’t it really just about being kind? Or shall we give up? No!

Jeremiah goes on to say: But if I say, “Forget it!/No more God-Messages from me!”/The words are fire in my heart,/a fire shut up in my bones./I’m worn out trying to hold it in./I can’t do it any longer! Jeremiah is totally honest. He acknowledges that he wants to say, “I’m just not going to do this any more! I give up.” Anyone who’s had to acknowledge that they’re still Christian in a hostile culture might feel like this sometimes. But we have heard the Word of God. And now the Word of God is like a fire within us. In the book of the prophet Ezekiel the Word of God is compared to a scroll that tastes like honey when he eats it. It is sweet to the taste. The Word of the Lord is deeply challenging. But we still can’t resist it. The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of a mountain of fear and a mountain of joy. It testifies that Our God is a consuming fire.

St Paul is very much a Jeremiah figure. They stoned him, and chased him out of cities, and put him to death in the end. He had the same kind of experience as Jeremiah. And yet he can say Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel (1. Cor. 9.16).

This is the experience of the prophets. The Word of the Lord is so deeply within them that they have an irresistible desire to proclaim it. And I’ll tell you a secret. In Baptism, we were anointed with holy oil. When that happened each one of us was “incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1241). Anointing makes you a priest, a prophet and a king in Christ. Your priesthood is exercised when you pray and worship God. Your kingship is exercised every time you try to order your life and the life of those around you to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God. And you act as a prophet every time you speak the Word of God. Just like Jeremiah every single one of the baptised is a prophet. What’s it like to be a prophet? Terror on every side! You can expect that, especially today. It’s a sign that you are acting as a prophet. If you let the Word of God deep into your heart, it will not let you go. It becomes a fire burning within you and you cannot contain it. You will say: Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel. So remember the experience of Jeremiah, and remember your baptism. Join what the Te Deum calls, “the goodly fellowship of the prophets.” Become a great and noble prophet yourself.

Amen.

The Rev’d Dr James Lawson,
St Mary Magdalene Enfield, 24/08.2025