Whose voice?

A sermon on Jeremiah 1:4-10

When we as people come into the presence of the prophets, we come into the presence of people chosen by God to speak into our midst as human beings.

We come into the presence of people that God chose and set aside to be a mouth piece.

We come into the presence of God speaking to humanity.

Speaking words of judgement and of hope.

Words of destruction and reconstruction.

Words that may be difficult to hear.

But words that we should heed.

On most Monday nights I watch the ABC show Q&A.  Last Monday night one of the audience members asked, “Who should we listen to?” 

In the context of the clamour of competing voices can we hear a clarion call from within the cacophony?  So many experts, so many opinions, so many ideas?

In trying to navigate the complexities of life whomever else we may choose to listen to, by being here this morning you are publicly declaring your desire to listen for God’s voice.  We come to listen for a voice that comes from beyond the constriction of our created existence.  We come to listen for the Word which gives us hope in the midst our struggles.

We come because we are bent double like the woman in the story we read from Luke. We are bent double with the weight of problems that afflict our lives.  Some of us are bent low with physical infirmities and illness.  Some of us are bent low from broken relationships and the disconnection that has occurred between us and people that we love.  Some of us our bent low with anxiety and worries, real or imagined.  Some of us our bent low with our pride and our greed, though we do not know it or acknowledge it.  Some of us are bent low with the constant bombardment of images of suffering from across the globe.  And, some us are simply bent low with age and the weariness of life.  Bent double like the woman we come unobtrusively, hoping to hear a word that helps us see beyond our present experience to the God who made us and who loves us.

Who should we listen to?  Whoever else it is that we might choose to give some authority in our life where it be politicians, populists, or professors we come to listen for God.

We come to listen for God’s eternal Word speaking to us, into our midst.

And today as we come we hear ancient words spoken to the prophet Jeremiah coming to life.  Not dead words but the living Word of God spoken to a boy whom God had been chosen from before the time he was even in the womb.

Jeremiah.

“Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.””

Jeremiah.

But the boy’s response is full of doubt and uncertainty, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”

“I am only a boy.”  Jeremiah’s response to God’s revelation is an excuse, an avoidance, an exit point – I am only! Only a boy!

As a preacher it is very tempting for me to head down the pathway of asking about the times you and I have used our excuses in life.  “I am only” “I am just”.  But this would be to turn us all into little Jeremiah’s. I don’t think that is the point of the story.  The point is not to begin to compare ourselves to Jeremiah and somehow be challenged to be more like him.  No!  I think the point of the story is to think about why we should listen to Jeremiah’s voice: because it is God’s words that he speaks.

God responded “Do not say I am only a boy; for you shall go to all to whom I send you and you shall speak whatever I command.”  Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.”

When Jeremiah speaks we should take heed because Jeremiah speaks with words that God has placed in his mouth.

Now Jeremiah lived around 600 years before Jesus, It was a time that many of the Israelites pursued the worship of other gods.   The King at the time was Jehoiakim who is said to have been a godless tyrant.

Knowing this context it should come as little surprise that the words that Jeremiah is to speak are ones of judgement and destruction. God declares to the boy Jeremiah:

“Today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant.”

The ancient world was full of violence and whilst we might struggle with the implication that God is involved in a violent deconstruction of the nations and the kingdoms we should listen to words of judgement in the context of a world at war; in the context of a world in which the weak and helpless are all but ignored.

How alike is the world that we live in now?

Are there still people who are voiceless, powerless, disenfranchised?

Do we not see images of suffering within our communities and across the globe?

It would seem to me that our violence as humanity is a perpetual reality and though I would challenge the notion of God’s violence in the prophecies I would want also to remind you of our human predilection to violence.

How can this violence be turned on its head? How will the cycle of violence be interrupted?

Jeremiah’s prophecies do not contain all of the answers and the consequences of the violence of Israel and its ambivalence towards the widow and the orphan will be violence. 

But, and this is the important but, perpetual violence is not the goal.  For Jeremiah is to build and to plant as well – to give new life, to nurture the growth.

Part of the growth that Jeremiah nurtures is the vision of the coming Messiah – hope for an interruption to the violence of humanity that has eternal significance.

We believe that Messiah to be Jesus of Nazareth and through his life, his death, his resurrection and his ascended ministry we believe God is seeking eternal peace for the creation, the shalom and Sabbath rest for all people.

In Jesus we see God sharing in the deconstruction and reconstruction of nations and kingdoms and of all creation.  In Jesus God is building and planting the new creation.  This is ultimately the hope that Jeremiah is speaking to his people and that God continues to speak to us now.  God’s future transcends the violence of death and destruction and is about nurturing something new.

This is the voice of hope, the voice of good news that we come to hear.

This is the voice of hope that the woman who was bent double was hoping to hear.

We know the story.  Jesus was teaching in the midst of the synagogue and Jesus saw her and saw her in her need.  And Jesus reached out and Jesus healed her.

And she rejoiced and the people rejoiced and gave thanks to God.

Now of course there were those who wished to challenge Jesus healing, who were upset by what they saw as a breach in protocols around the Sabbath.  But Jesus response reminds them of God’s grace and goodness transcending the rules and the need for healing to come.

Jesus actions and his words remind us that God sees us who are bent double with the woes of life and that God shares our suffering and desires fulfilment in our lives as well.  Though we may have to wait, though it may not be our turn yet to receive that healing, we listen with hope to the miracle of the women and we celebrate God’s faithfulness by giving thanks and praise to God.

When we as people come into the presence of the prophets, we come into the presence of people chosen by God to speak into our midst as human beings.

We come into the presence of people that God chose and set aside to be a mouth piece.

We come into the presence of God speaking to humanity.

Speaking words of judgement and of hope.

Words of destruction and reconstruction.

Words that may be difficult to hear.

But words that we should heed.

In the midst of our afflictions, our ailments, our violence God is building something new, God is planting seeds of new life, those who are bent double are straightened up with hope and we listen for the voice of God, of Jesus and of Jeremiah who speak from beyond the constriction and confinement of our created existence full of God's peace and love.