Thursday 6th August
Read Jeremiah 2:20-25
“‘Long ago you broke off your yoke
and tore off your bonds;
you said, “I will not serve you!”
Indeed, on every high hill
and under every spreading tree
you lay down as a prostitute.
21 I had planted you like a choice vine
of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
into a corrupt, wild vine?
22 Although you wash yourself with soap
and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,’
declares the Sovereign Lord.
23 ‘How can you say, “I am not defiled;
I have not run after the Baals”?
See how you behaved in the valley;
consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
running here and there,
24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
sniffing the wind in her craving –
in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
at mating time they will find her.
25 Do not run until your feet are bare
and your throat is dry.
But you said, “It’s no use!
I love foreign gods,
and I must go after them.”” (NIVUK)
Scandalised? Imagine being the recipient of these words in Jerusalem.
The images Jeremiah uses pile up upon themselves, each more shocking than the last. Each half-verse creates an increasingly desperate and radical picture of the consequences of breaking free from God and serving other masters. Like a boulder gathering pace down a hill, Israel’s behaviour spirals into more and more frantic, skittish, and ultimately unsatisfying self-harm. It is a description of addiction in all its ugliness and power. One’s chest is tight by the end.
The initial response to Jeremiah’s intervention is denial (v23a). By the end though there is acknowledgment (v25b). It doesn’t seem that the acknowledgment has yet led through to guilt (v22). Shakespeare knew that sin eventually catches up with us. Lady Macbeth could not cleanse herself of the stain, wracked with sleepless nights and unconscious guilt. Her physician recognised that he was powerless and only the divine could forgive. When one steps away from God and spirals into madness hope is all but lost. Becoming unjoined, uprooted and wild (v21) is indeed unwise.
“‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:5-7) (NIVUK)
