Fundamental Questions Jer 20 7-11a

7/29/2019 Fundamental Questions Jer 20 7-11a

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Oculi – 3 Mar 2012

Dr Lutz Ackermann (Friedenskirche, Hillbrow)

Fundamental Questions

(Jer 20:7-13)

LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived.

You are stronger than I am, and you have

overpowered me. Everyone makes fun of me; they

laugh at me all day long. Whenever I speak, I have to

cry out and shout, "Violence! Destruction!" LORD, I

am ridiculed and scorned all the time because I

proclaim your message. But when I say, "I will forget

the LORD and no longer speak in his name," then

your message is like a fire burning deep within me. I

try my best to hold it in, but can no longer keep it

back. I hear everybody whispering, "Terror is

everywhere! So let's report him to the authorities!"

Even my close friends wait for my downfall. "Perhapshe can be tricked," they say; "then we can catch him

and get revenge." But you, LORD, are on my side,

strong and mighty, and those who persecute me will

fail.

(Jer 20:7-11a)

[prayer]

When I hear these words from the book of Jeremiah, I am

wondering: who would like to be a prophet? (bishop,

pope, ABC?)

© 2013 – REV. DR LUTZ ACKERMANN – FRIEDENSKIRCHE (CHURCH OF PEACE), HILLBROW



When someone in the OT becomes a prophet it is, because

he is called by God. The reaction, in general, is reluctance

(Isaiah, Jeremiah); some, it seems can only be dragged in

kicking and screaming (Moses). Others run away (Jonah).It is dangerous, tiring and frustrating to be a prophet.

So, I guess, we can understand why Jeremiah arrived at

the question: what am I doing here? Why am I doing,

what I am doing?

Now, the pious answer could be: because God wants me

to do it, God has called me to do it. But Jeremiah is a bitmore drastic: he says to God: you have enticed me to do

it, you have seduced me, even you have deceived me.

That’s not really flattering for God. Does God trick people

into doing something? Is God a trickster? [we will

encounter this issue again next week: Jesus in the Garden

– cf JCS version]

Well, one thing at least is clear: for Jeremiah at this point

in time it feels like God had seduced and deceived him

into preaching God’s word and giving God’s message to

the people and the leaders of the Israel.

But he goes further: you have become too strong for me,

you have overpowered me. Jeremiah is not only arguing

with God (like Abraham or Job), he is wrestling with Godlike Jacob does. Only to find out: God is stronger.

--

I think, the question J. is essentially asking is a very

fundamental one: why am I doing what I am doing? Was

it my own choice that brought me to where I am now? If




not, who do I blame or make responsible for what I am

experiencing? My environment, society, my genes, my

parents? My ancestors, other people, God? And what is

my place in all this? Am I passive, a victim? Am Istruggling, trying to find my own way in life, possibly

against the plans and conceptions that others have for

me?

The answers may differ, not only from one person to the

next, but for one person at different times in their lives

(youth often feel very “fremdbestimmt” – not being able

to do and to live the way they want – with a need to break loose).

It will also depend on what we are talking about. If it is

just what you wear, for example it is a minor matter. But

if it is about assuming a position of responsibility like

Jeremiah had to [e.g. council member, senior position at

work], it is important to distinguish and to see clearly: is

it something that we have been able to choose freely? Or

have we been pushed to do it? Maybe we felt morally

compelled to accept? At times we may even feel like God

pushed us into something for which we were not quite

ready, yet.

But For Jeremiah it does not end there. “You have

become too strong for me, you have overpowered me” hesays to God. But then he speaks of how he experienced

that in concrete terms. He wanted to “forget the LORD

and no longer speak in his name”. He wanted to suppress

this difficult calling that made his life apparently quite

miserable. And that is understandable, preaching doom

and destruction is not the sort of thing that makes a




person very attractive or popular. On the contrary, he

mentions anything from ridicule to persecution.

But the funny thing is: it doesn’t work. Once you are on

fire, you can’t hold it in, you can’t keep it back.

So in a second, very fundamental quest, where Jeremiah

probes: “what are my options?” he has to find out, quite

to his surprise, there are no options. Yes he can try, not

to preach, when the spirit moves him. Yes he can try to

keep quiet, where he sees injustice and violence

happening around him. The problem is: it doesn’t work!It’s like a burning fire inside of him, it has to come out!

--

We too may from time to time arrive at this fundamental

question and insight of Jeremiah. The question is: what

are my options? Especially if I feel like I am in a place or

situation not of my own free choice, but due to external

influences, the obvious reaction would be: how can I get

out of this? What are my options? Is there a way of

breaking out?

But like Jeremiah we could come to the surprising

realization: it does not work! Have you ever experienced

that? You say something like: “I have had enough of this”

or “Never again”; you resign – only to find that after sometime you get an urgent phone call, there is some

emergency and you are faced with the question: do I let

everyone down, just because I stubbornly stick to my

previous resignation?

In a situation like that it sometimes happens that we

come back, nilly-willy, but still. Why? Is it a lack of




consistency and determination? Or is it maybe

sometimes, because we feel there is a fire burning that

keeps us going? There is something more important

happening than our own idiosyncrasies. Instead of feelingsorry for ourselves we feel called to transcend our

negative feelings and do what needs to be done.

If you have ever been through anything like that, you may

have experienced what Jeremiah felt: I can try, not to

serve God. But if his fire is burning within me, it won’t

work for a long time. Eventually that inner urge will

become stronger than any reluctance or resistance on my side.

==

I think, in the New Testament, in the figure of Jesus we

can discover a similar zeal as Jeremiah developed. Jesus,

like Jeremiah, was a person who was driven by the

understanding that God had called him. Like Jeremiah, itdid not necessarily add to his popularity. But it seems that

like the prophet of old, Jesus too had to say, when he

asked ‘what are my options?’: it is burning inside of me

and I can’t keep it in. Where I see injustice, I just have to

speak out! Where I see corruption and power plays I

simply cannot keep quiet!

This zeal and fervour, of course, as we know eventually

would cost him his life. But it appears that even that could

not stop Jesus. For him it was more important to do, what

God wanted him to do than to save his own skin.

And finally, we are told in the resurrection, Jesus

experienced that vindication by God, which already




Jeremiah spoke of:” Even my close friends wait for my

downfall. But you, LORD, are on my side, strong and

mighty, and those who persecute me will fail. […] Sing to

the LORD! Praise the LORD! He rescues the oppressedfrom the power of evil people.”

I hope and I pray that we will be filled with that same fire

which Jeremiah and Jesus experienced. That did not

allow them to keep quiet, when they were faced with

injustice and violence. I hope and I pray that we all willexperience the same urge to speak out, when necessary,

because the fire is there, inside of us, and cannot be kept

in.

Amen.


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Fundamental Questions Jer 20 7-11a