Mark 6:30-34
The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.32 And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
2 Samuel 7:1-15
Now when the king was settled in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” 3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.”
4 But that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, 5 “Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ 8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel, 9 and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place and be disturbed no more, and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. 15 But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! Says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So, I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. 5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Three passages, two theologies, one message
Today, we heard from two Old Testament passages. They come from two different theologies. One is the rural Zion Theology, which expressly holds Israel and Jerusalem front and center as God’s object of affection, which has and continues to do wrong. The second theology, known as Name Theology, holds King David and his descendants at the center of God’s covenant love. David wants to build a house for God, but Nathan quickly postpones that dream for David’s descendant, Solomon.
Jeremiah is one of my favorite prophets simply because he wears his heart on his sleeve. There is no doubt in what Jeremiah is feeling because he is quick to point out the struggles he faces as he points out the struggles Israel faces. Jeremiah challenges the powers that be of his time. He was not born into a family of elites like Isaiah. His father was a priest in a small village in the land of Benjamin, Anathoth. Jeremiah was reluctant and even resentful in taking his call as a prophet. Listen to Jer. 20:7, “O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.” This, of course, is cleaned up for the English translation. Abraham Heschel translates the Hebrew to reflect better Jeremiah’s calling as, “O Lord, You have deceived me, and I was deceived; You have ravished me, and I am overcome.”
Jeremiah claims God tempted him to be a prophet. Like a young woman is tempted to take a lover. Still, at the same time, he is overcome with the responsibility and the anguish of knowing what will happen when Israel refuses to repent for the sins they have committed against God. The word ravished can be understood in the same sense as rape. Jeremiah feels helpless against the divine judgment that is coming to Jerusalem. This is why he is so emotional. He feels duped, but he knows his responsibility is too great.
Jeremiah feels like he is the only one who knows that David's earthly throne will expire in Judah's exile. He feels like he is yelling into the wind, but he somehow finds hope. In the midst of all the death, war, and tragedy in the coming exile and destruction of the Davidic kingdom, God will still bless the scattered flock. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
We must understand that when we turn away from God, we place our faith and hope in things of this world, such as politics, celebrity, money, or status, and we are doing just what Jeremiah said Israel did. The only way to find the peace and love of God is by following God’s will. God's unconditional love does not end; it does not leave when we pull away, but if we turn our backs on God, we cannot receive it. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters.” Just as no one can have two loves or two favorite ice creams, we can kid ourselves into believing we can love two, but we can’t, just as infidelity in life will eventually end in someone with a broken heart. When we place anything else up on a pedestal high enough to replace God, we break God’s heart. This is what Jeremiah wailed and lamented over.
Jeremiah’s plight is not old news. In our modern world, as sophisticated as we are, we are still in the same mess. In times of great political division, reasonable people look for leaders who are willing to cross the political aisle and compromise with their rivals. Sensible people get tired of scandal and infighting, and their leaders know that if they cannot find someone to unite against, they hope they will find unity in a strong candidate. When Jeremiah preaches about the anticipated post-exilic future of Israel, he calls out the rulers who held the people captive. Not Babylon, but Jerusalem, the line of David that had become so corrupted, and the priest who led the people astray, and the temple, which had become so entrenched in the letter of the law that it had forgotten the spirit of the law.
Even though there is tension between the Zion theology and the Name theology, one thing remains clear: God’s Steadfast love. Jeremiah preaches it in the remnant God will restore. The Hebrew word translated as Steadfast is Hesed. This word has many definitions, as do so many Hebrew words, but Hesed is unique in that it always means Honor and Love as an imperative. No matter the situation, even toward one's enemies, we must honor their right to fight, even to win. It is an enduring sense of what’s right and what is good. Books have been written about it. Medieval chivalry is as close as we can come to an English sensibility, but even that doesn’t do it justice. God’s Hesed love for us is unending, prevailing, and always available. God’s Hesed grace is predominant and enduring. God’s Hesed peace is all-encompassing for anyone who seeks it.
Understanding the tension Jeremiah faced as a prophet, we can infer that following God’s will is not easy. It is work, and if we are honest with ourselves, sometimes it’s overwhelming. Sometimes, the peace we find in the Holy Spirit seems fleeting and swept aside by the pressures of the world around us. It’s easier to fall back into old habits rather than continue the path of sanctification. Listen, God is not indifferent to our struggles. Look at what Jesus did for his disciples. Mark 6:30, “The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’” We see the compassion Jesus had for his followers, just as he had for the sick and lost who followed him everywhere he went. After the disciples give an account of their mission work, he invites them to rest. But the real test comes for his disciples, as there is no real deserted place for them to go. The test of a true disciple is knowing that at any minute, the work of God continues, and the peace we seek in Christ can be interrupted. But here’s the absolute joy of following our Lord: those few minutes of peace are worth it. There is no real peace, no happiness found in the chaos of the world. There is no justice outside that of God’s divine justice. There is no Hesed outside the grace and mercy offered by Christ on the cross. That is the ultimate illustration of Hesed if there ever was one.
The marks of faithful servitude, no matter the title, be it minister, elder, member, prophet, or apostle, is the Hesed peace, love, and hope we find in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. The chaos of the world is temporary, but the love of God is steadfast and everlasting! This is what Nathan tells David, Jeremiah tells Israel, Christ tells the apostles, and it is what we discern through the Holy Spirit! Hallelujah!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, AMEN.
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