Good Morning Friends,
The Lectionary providently provides for us a series of fitting readings this year, currently from the prophecy of Jeremiah that should bring us to repentance when combined with Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Weeds. Today we pick up in chapter 14 in the book of Jeremiah with a series of prophecies given during a great drought but in my mind, I read it as plague. Earlier in the chapter we read that the false prophets are running around telling the Jews, whose wells and cisterns are drying up, that everything was going to be ok. Jeremiah himself complains to the Lord that he has heard this. And God replies with terrifying words of judgement. After that we read the words we heard today. Jeremiah is heedless of the Lord’s command not to pray for his people. He pleads with the Lord to remember the covenant He made with Abraham and David. He does not lie and pretend that the people have kept that covenant, but in tears he appeals to the Lord’s infinite compassion, so that rain might fall and save the people from crop failure and famine. Then we wonder about the application of this prophetic message to our time and dismiss it or apply a component of it as we ponder, How Can Our Curse Be Lifted When We Have Yet To Fully Repent?
Scripture: You shall say to them this word: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter—my people—is struck down with a crushing blow, with a very grievous wound. If I go out into the field, look—those killed by the sword! And if I enter the city, look—those sick with famine! For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land, and have no knowledge. Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead. We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us. Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.
Jeremiah 14:17-22 (NRSV)
The Parable of the Weeds Explained: Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Matthew 13:36-43 (NIV)
Message: Again, and again over the hundreds of years of the Davidic kingdom, the people and their leaders sinned with false gods and false worship. Scholars tell us that it is fairly certain that kings of Judah even set up pagan idols and symbols in the Temple of the Lord. The worst of them was King Manasseh, son of the good King Hezekiah, who essentially adopted the Assyrian pantheon for himself, and took the prophet Isaiah and had him put inside a tree and sawed to death. By the time of Jeremiah, God had simply had enough. The people were depraved and refused to repent even when afflicted with drought and pestilence and famine. They went whoring after their false gods and worship. Their city would be razed to the ground and the people carted off to Babylon, where they would finally appreciate what they had lost, and finally abandon the worship of idols. They did not know how much God had loved them until He withdrew totally His favor. Applicable for our time, many think so. Without repentance and conversion, sinners will be lost. We need to repent for the curse to be lifted and let Christ change us every day in the hope that someday we will shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of Christ. Listen, there is in my mind no question that the Lord in His compassion always looks on what we are doing, and helps us to focus a daily judgement, not just on our own behavior, but on our community’s and nation’s behavior. Hopefully it is not too late. God has a plan.
And So, Jeremiah’s tale echoes some of what Christ told us about the final judgement. And it should humble us. The parable passage helps us understand the nature of the Kingdom and the society by answering some questions about how God works and even the nature of good and evil and the wait required before the judgement. The thought of it makes me a little nervous for not only is the world and nature itself like the field in the storyline but so am I. And that brings us back to today’s question and perhaps the hope of God’s grace even though we do not deserve it. So, even though I know the focus is on our collective action in response to God, I still ask of myself and of you how we each are going to do our part to be less sinful. Will we ever repent? It helps us to understand that our society is and will always be a mixture of good and evil, but those who are righteous by faith will still produce despite the challenge. We get there a bit at a time as grace trumps judgement until journey’s end. And that is why Jesus tells us that we cannot weed all corruption out of religious institutions. Of course, we get upset and angry with the wrongdoing but then realize that we live in a time and place filled with sinners and saints. The scales of justice are not always weighted properly. God’s enemy, and ultimately our enemy, would like nothing more than to have us remain oblivious to the things that are happening all around us. Still we need to grow together until the harvest. Jesus gives us an interpretation that helps us understand why this approach is necessary. Jesus will ultimately decide, and He is the only one qualified to judge. Until then Jesus makes it pretty clear that there will be both good people and bad in the world living side by side…living sometimes within the same person. There is no avoiding this mixture until the end. In response we need to pray.
Pray we lament our sinful conditions and are led by the Holy Spirit and the grace of God to weed out the inequities in our own lives. Pray we feel God’s pleasure in our lives helping us to grow in love. Pray we know that if we ignore God, we will not produce much fruit. Pray that we are rooted and established in love. Pray we inspect our own lives, but not condemn the lives of others. Pray we have faith that God will deal with the sin of others in time. Pray we encourage, exhort where necessary, but not condemn. Pray we continue growing. Pray we be patient for some responsibilities belong to angels. Pray we remain alert until the end. Pray we exercise spiritual discernment. Pray we are guided to plant seeds that even though they do not only look like they will take root, still do. Pray we are not too judgmental. Pray we forgive. Pray we realize that at the harvest the righteous will shine forth. Pray we realize that we are saved by faith. Pray we realize that whatsoever people sow, that shall also be what they reap. Pray we sow seeds of hope, love and peace. Pray we realize that we are at war more with our own sins than the sins of others. Pray the hope of the called-out assembly be witnessed in our own transformation and productivity. Pray with repentance as God weeds out the garden of our souls….as God produces a great and transformational harvest that gives us hope. Pray we plant deep roots and build a healthy community. Pray we watch people around us to grow deep and live strong because they have repented.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 