Wednesday 2nd September
Read Jeremiah 6:9-12
“This is what the Lord Almighty says:
‘Let them glean the remnant of Israel
as thoroughly as a vine;
pass your hand over the branches again,
like one gathering grapes.’
10 To whom can I speak and give warning?
Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed
so that they cannot hear.
The word of the Lord is offensive to them;
they find no pleasure in it.
11 But I am full of the wrath of the Lord,
and I cannot hold it in.
‘Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
and the old, those weighed down with years.
12 Their houses will be turned over to others,
together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
against those who live in the land,’
declares the Lord.” (NIVUK)
We come to the second passage that captures the conflicted emotions of the prophet. As Andrew Shead observes, Jeremiah is forbidden from conveying the people’s claims to Yahweh but is obligated to share in, and pass on, the divine frustration with the people’s intransigence.
The messages and the warnings pile up but the hearts of the people are like flint. They are unyielding, deaf to the divine entreaty, offended at the suggestion they are not loved. There are many people today who maintain that position. They too are offended at the mere suggestion they might be facing God’s wrath.
These words challenge us in at least two ways. First, they challenge us to listen and obey – God’s wrath is being revealed (cf Romans 1) – do we believe that? Second, it challenges our hearts. Are we as distressed at the fate of those around us as Jeremiah? Do recognise the weightiness of the matters before us?
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.” (CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory)
