Don’t Be Foolish, Get Right with God—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 14C (Jeremiah 4).

 

 Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹² a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.

²² “For my people are foolish;

    they do not know me;

they are stupid children;

    they have no understanding.

They are skilled in doing evil

    but do not know how to do good.”

²³ I looked on the earth, and it was complete chaos,

    and to the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴ I looked on the mountains, and they were quaking,

    and all the hills moved to and fro.

²⁵ I looked, and there was no one at all,

    and all the birds of the air had fled.

²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert,

    and all its cities were laid in ruins

    before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

²⁷ For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸ Because of this the earth shall mourn

    and the heavens above grow black,

for I have spoken; I have purposed;

    I have not relented, nor will I turn back.

                ******************

                If we wonder what God is thinking when it comes to what is happening at the current moment in the United States and around the world, this word from Jeremiah the prophet might be spot on. The word chaos is appropriate to describe our reality, whether it’s the war in Gaza that has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people. There is Russia’s war in Ukraine that has decimated cities and killed hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians. The political system in my country can only be described as chaotic, whether it’s RFK, Jr’s HHS or Hegseth’s DOD (soon to be, at least for a time, the War Department). While the climate continues to move in the wrong direction, those in power tell us that it’s all a hoax. For some in the Christian community, millennialist thinking suggests that the end is near, so taking care of the environment is not a top priority.

                If anyone starts feeling a hot wind blowing in their direction, they might want to ponder whether it is a sign that divine judgment is on the way. At least that is the warning issued by the prophet Jeremiah to his people living in Jerusalem and its surrounding area. Jeremiah can see the warning signs. The city’s days are numbered. Soon and very soon, they will see King Nebuchadnezzar’s army. When that day comes, things will go from bad to worse. As the people will find out, the Babylonians won’t just conquer the city; they will burn it down, while taking the gold from the Temple and carting off its leading members of society, including the king and his court. So, why not get right with God before the day of judgment arrives?

                Our reading, as determined by the Revised Common Lectionary, takes us back from the previous reading from Jeremiah 18, which spoke of the relationship of the potter and the clay, to a reading from Jeremiah 4. It is a word of judgment. The lectionary invites us to skip over verses 13-21, which do offer us a bit more insight and even a bit more hope than the verses we’re invited to read. In verse 14, the prophet tells Jerusalem to wash its heart clean of wickedness so that the people might be saved. A preacher might want to make use of that verse if their preaching from this passage. In fact, the words of verse 22 are a bit off-putting. No one likes being called a fool or stupid, and yet that is the word Jeremiah has for the city’s population.

No one likes being called a fool or stupid, but that is Jeremiah’s message to the people. God revealed to him that the people were fools and stupid because they didn’t know or understand God. You might hear in Jeremiah’s words the voice of a very frustrated parent whose patience with unruly children has come to an end. Although they might be fools who refuse to listen to God, apparently, they were skilled at doing evil, which is what got them into trouble. What they do seem skilled at, however, is doing evil. In other words, when God looks at the people, what he sees is a total mess. Foolish and stupid people who know not God or how to do good, but they do know how to do evil.

With that word of judgment on the people because they foolishly embrace evil, Jeremiah looks out on the world, both earth and the heavens (sky). When he looks at the earth, reflecting the message of Genesis 1:2, when in the beginning the earth was “formless and void,” such is the case now. As for the heavens, they don’t emit any light. It is as if the world has gone back to the beginning, before God began creating. What we see here, through Jeremiah’s eyes, is a world that has become desolate, barren, and dark. Even so, there is some activity because the mountains and the hills are quaking. Yet at the same time, Jeremiah looks upon the earth, and no one is present, not even the birds of the air, which had fled. What was once fruitful land had become a desert, while the cities had fallen into ruin. This is truly an apocalyptic scene. All of this we’re told is due to Yahweh’s fierce anger.  Walter Brueggemann offers this helpful comment: “Wholesale dismantling follows massive disobedience. The power of chaos is so dominant that it is as though creation never occurred. This sad turn of events is the result of Yahweh’s action, for Yahweh’s patience has finally been exhausted” [Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (Kindle p. 91)].

We see this exhaustion of God’s patience in the final two verses of the reading (though the chapter runs through verse 31). In verse 27, using The Message translation, we hear God say, “The whole country will be laid waste—still it won’t be the end of the world.” As bad as things appear to be, the Earth will continue to exist. It’s just that some things will need to start anew. As Jeremiah writes in verse 28, the earth will mourn, and the heavens darken because God has spoken and will not turn back. This is what the future looks like. We can think of this in cosmic terms, but also as a message of real politic. Soon, the Babylonians will come knocking, and it won’t be pretty. The world of the people of Jerusalem will come crashing down, and desolation will take hold. While Jeremiah speaks of God’s fierce anger, perhaps what is about to occur is due to the consequences of the evil undertaken by the people.

The word we hear in this reading seems final. At least when we read this passage, there doesn’t seem to be any word about repentance or forgiveness. Perhaps it’s too late for that. So, what is, will no longer be. For the people of Judah, in some ways, this will be the end. The old regime will be gone and never restored, though messianic hopes will persist. It is this messianic hope that Jesus and his followers embraced, though Jesus reinterpreted the meaning of this hope, such that while claiming Davidic descent, he did not seek to reestablish an earthly kingdom. Rather, he proclaimed the kingdom of God rather than the restoration of the Davidic line.  

As we ponder the meaning of this passage for our day, we might want to return to the opening lines in verse 22, where Jeremiah speaks of the foolishness of the people and the consequences of that foolishness. The consequences, which lead to devastation, result from that foolishness. Are we suffering the consequences of our own foolishness when it comes to the realities of war, famine, drought, and other results of climate change? Forests burn because the Earth is getting hotter and drier. Hurricanes and tornadoes become more prevalent and dangerous. As glaciers melt, rivers become more dangerous, while in some places, such as the lack of snow in the Andes, which is the source of the water that feeds the Amazon, is becoming worrisome. So, Allie Utley writes in this regard: “The reader must wrestle with the idea that when the people of God do not know God, all of creation will suffer,” adding concerning the importance of eco-justice that  “our human actions have a direct impact on the earthly, both in our local communities and on a grand scale” [Connections, p. 306].  Unfortunately, significant numbers of us are in denial and reject the messages brought to us by the vast majority of scientists (this includes the current American administration). If we ignore the many warnings we are hearing and experiencing, should we not be counted among those whom Jeremiah calls stupid and foolish?

                While Jeremiah doesn’t issue a call for repentance, only recording what he sees and what God had promised, there is a glimmer of hope, depending on how we read it. Despite the desolation to be experienced, this isn’t the end of the world (at least not yet). There is still time to turn things around, though God seems to be running out of patience with our foolishness.