Heeding God’s Call to Ministry—Epiphany 4C (Jeremiah 1:4-10)
Jeremiah 1:4-10 New Revised Standard Version
Updated Edition
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
5 “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.”6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“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 you.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”9 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.
10 See, 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.”
****************
In the
Gospel reading from Luke the previous Sunday (Epiphany 3C), we heard Jesus
announce his sense of call, drawing from Isaiah 61 (Luke 4:14-21). The Gospel
reading for the current week continues that story (Luke 4:21-30), focusing on
the response of the hometown congregation (it isn’t positive). The first reading
for this current Sunday also speaks of a divine calling. In this case, it is
the call of Jeremiah to prophetic ministry. Like Jesus, this calling begins
from the moment of conception. The text before us has been utilized for many
different causes, but the focus here is on a personal call to prophetic
ministry.
Before
we get to the text itself it is worth setting the context, a portion of which
is revealed in verses 1-3, but which is skipped in this lectionary reading. The
prophet Jeremiah, whose call story is revealed here, is a relatively well-known
figure in biblical circles. The passage before us is one of the reasons. For
one thing, it has been deployed in support of restrictions/bans on abortion. It
is also deployed by many as a reminder that every person is special in God’s
sight. That is because God knows us before we are born. But the point here is
related to Jeremiah’s prophetic calling. It is a calling he cannot avoid
because he was born with it (much like Jesus). Like John the Baptist, perhaps Jesus’ mentor,
Jeremiah came from a priestly family. He lived and ministered during the later
years of the kingdom of Judah (the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah),
and then on into the time of the Babylonian exile. So, he began his ministry
during a period of optimism (the reign of Josiah) and ended as Jerusalem
experienced destruction and the leading people experienced exile. As we look at
these years of reform and optimism that give way to years of decline, we see a
repeat of a pattern from earlier in the kingdom’s history. Josiah was a good
king, though he died in battle, and his successors (sons) were not nearly as
righteous. Thus, the cause of the decline. As for Jeremiah, he spent his life ministering
during both good and bad times for his people. While Jeremiah’s ministry took
place during both the later years of the kingdom and the exile, he did not
accompany the exiles. Instead, he was taken by his opponents to Egypt where he
likely died.
This
reading appears during Epiphany, a season of revelation. We hear stories of
divine callings and divine revelations. This is one of those examples of divine
revelation. Jeremiah receives his calling to be a mediator of divine revelation
to the people of Israel. Thus, what we have before us is Jeremiah’s call
narrative.
Our reading begins with Jeremiah
letting know that at the start of his ministry, “the word of the Lord came to
me” (Jer. 1:4). Then in verse 5, Jeremiah begins to reveal what that word from
God included. He starts with this word from God: “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.” As I pointed out above, Jeremiah’s calling was
established even before his birth. So, how could he say no? But of course, he
did say no. Righteous prophets always resist, telling God they simply aren’t
good enough. In Jeremiah’s case, he believed he was too young and inexperienced
to take up such a calling. Using his words, “I am only a boy.” Isaiah, for his
part, claimed to be a man of unclean lips who lived among an unclean people.
But, like Jeremiah, he agreed to God’s terms (Isa. 6:5).
Jeremiah
claimed to be too young, but Yahweh rejected his claim and told him to go out
and fulfill his calling. If he was afraid, he shouldn’t be. That is because God
promised to deliver him from his opponents. Just tell the people what I reveal
to you. Then we hear the content of that message Jeremiah had been called to
deliver, a calling given to him in the womb before he was born.
As is
often the case with these prophets, the word Jeremiah is called to deliver is
one of judgment. But it is a word that applies not just to Judah, but to the
nations as well. In fact, Jeremiah
learns that God had placed him over the nations/kingdoms.
The message includes both judgment and rebuilding. He is
given authority to pluck up and pull down, destroy and overthrow. But he is
authorized to build and plant as well. Walter Brueggemann helpfully speaks to the
verbs found in verse ten that describe what God is up to as he calls Jeremiah
to his prophetic ministry.
The six verbs of v. 10— “pluck up” and “break down,” “destroy” and “overthrow,” “build” and “plant” —are a pointed statement of God’s way with the nations. The first four verbs are negative. They assert that no historical structure, political policy, or defense scheme can secure a community against Yahweh when that community is under the judgment of Yahweh. The last two positive verbs, “build” and “plant,” assert in parallel fashion that God can work newness, create historical possibilities ex nihilo, precisely in situations that seem hopeless and closed. God works in freedom without respect either to the enduring structures so evident, or to the powerless despair when structures are gone. God alone has the capacity to bring endings and new beginnings in the historical process (cf. Deut. 32:39; Isa. 45:7; 113:7–9). [Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (p. 25), Eerdmans Publishing Co. Kindle Edition].
With Brueggemann’s description of
what God is up to, we can also recognize that the message of Jeremiah is not
only directed at Judah but takes on a universal scope. Thus, at least in
Jeremiah’s mind, Israel’s God is not limited by borders. That is important
because at the time Jeremiah engaged in his prophetic ministry, he was in Egypt
with refugees, while the elite had been taken into exile in Babylon. Later in
the book of Jeremiah, we find a letter written to the exiles in Babylon,
encouraging them to “5 Build houses and live in them;
plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Take
wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your
daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there,
and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the
city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its
behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer.
29:5-7). In other words, Yahweh is present with the people in Babylon as
well as back in Judah, or even in Egypt, where Jeremiah may have been residing
at the time.
This is
a good word for people in the United States to hear. While God made a covenant with
Israel, God is not only concerned with the welfare of Israel. The God of Israel
is the God of all the nations. While at times Americans have pictured
themselves being the new Israel, whatever covenant God has with the United
States is the same that God has with all the nations. Like the exiles, the word
that Jeremiah delivers calls on those who see themselves as God’s children, to bloom
where they have been planted. Thus, we too are called to seek the welfare of
the city/nation/world, because it is in that context we will find our own
welfare.
It is
in the light of Jeremiah’s call that we can hear Jesus’s own call to ministry, a
call which he drew from Isaiah 61.
While the messages seem different, remember that Jeremiah’s
calling included building and planting. Certainly, the justice-oriented calling
found here in Luke involves building and planting. Remember also that Mary’s
song included similar sensibilities as does Jeremiah’s message:
What we
hear in this reading involves a sense of divine call to prophetic ministry. The
question for us concerns the nature of our call to ministry. How might the call
received by Jeremiah, as well as that of Jesus, affect us? Later in Jeremiah,
we hear another message that he is to give to the people, a message that seems
to fit with his call to prophetic ministry. It also is a message that may have
resonance at this moment as authoritarian and oligarchical regimes take power.
It appears that something like that is taking shape before our eyes in the
United States.
23 Thus says
the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom; do not let the mighty
boast in their might; do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; 24 but
let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am
the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the
earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. (Jeremiah
9:23-24).
As
we ponder this passage in the context of our experiences at this moment in
time, we can hear in it a reminder that God is on the job. Even as God is on
the job, God invites us to join in the work, proclaiming the good news to those
on the margins and reminding those who oppress the marginalized that they face
God’s judgment.
Image of Jeremiah: By Horace Vernet - http://hdl.handle.net/11259/collection.37341, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34607057
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