Thursday, September 9, 2004
Holy & Righteous Ancestors of God, Joachim & Anna
Kellia: Jeremiah 4:11-22 Epistle: Galatians 3:23-4:5 Gospel: St. Mark 6:30-45
Jeremiah 4:11-22 RSV, especially vs. 14: "O
Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil
thoughts lodge within you?" An important stylistic feature of the prophetic books is the frequent
change of "speakers," often occurring abruptly and without notice being made in the text. The
translators sometimes are able to help us identify these rapid shifts between voices by certain
clues - starting a new sentence (e.g., between vss.18 and 19) or using punctuation (e.g., the dash
in vs.13), or changing from lower case to capital letters (e.g., between vss. 21 and 22).
The wonderful benefit of paying close attention to the change of speakers is that the reader is
introduced to the thought-life of the Prophet himself. Hence, in this passage, because the scribe
captured the Prophet's words just as they flowed forth, one may glimpse inside the mind of the
godly Jeremiah and appreciate the rich qualities of his personality. One can discern how he felt
and what he experienced as he was hearing the Lord speak within his heart and mind.
Earlier, in Jeremiah 4:1-10, the Lord told Jeremiah that a time was coming when "a destroyer of
nations [would] set out...to make [Judah] a waste" (Jer. 4:7). In today's reading the Lord
continues to speak of this approaching moment in history: "at that time...." (Jer. 4:11). Hence,
the Lord is the first speaker: "Now it is I Who speak in judgment upon them" (vs. 12).
See how the Prophet feels the anguish of the future which God reveals, as if it were happening
already: "woe to us, for we are ruined!" (vs. 13). He speaks of his own nation and people, of his
native land; and the burden of what God is revealing is painful and terrible; and so Jeremiah cries
out to his countrymen: "O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved."
He knows the mind of God - that the coming doom (vs. 18) could be forestalled.
Yet Jeremiah cannot shut out what the vision has shown him of what is developing and will come
sooner or later unless the people repent and dislodge their "evil thoughts" from within them (vs.
14). In rapid succession there will be a sweep by the armies of the "destroyer" crossing the
border into the northernmost region of Dan (vs. 15), passing Mount Ephraim near the city of
Jerusalem (vs. 15), overwhelming the cities of Judah (vs. 16), and surrounding the capital for a
final siege against the royal city with its national shrine, the Temple of God (vs. 17). The last
phrase of the last verse in this sequence reveals that God was the actual speaker (vs. 17)
In the next verse, the Prophet himself speaks to his countrymen (vs. 18): "Your ways and your
doings have brought this upon you" (vs. 18). Nonetheless, the pain of it for Jeremiah is very
personal: "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!" (vs. 19). We are allowed to share the
troubled thought-life of a deeply godly man living in a corrupt and doomed society.
Who among us, calling himself an Orthodox Christian, does not identify with the inner tugging
and wrenching of Jeremiah? Look out on the contemporary society in which we live! Are there
not times when our hearts are "beating wildly" (vs. 19)? Our world, like his, is filled constantly
with "the alarm of war" (vs. 19), as "disaster follows hard on disaster" (vs. 20). The media thrust
dread and inescapable images before us with words and pictures. We do not live apart from the
battle "sound of the trumpet" on every continent (vs. 21).
The link between us and Jeremiah is mankind's common problem - exactly that which God
declares: the people of our land and of all nations are majoring in evil and minoring in good (vs.
22). Still, however "stupid" we are, we remain God's "children" (vs. 22). That is our hope.
Hear us, O God our Savior, the Hope of all the ends of the earth and of those who are far off
upon the sea, and be gracious, be gracious O Master, upon our sins, and have mercy on us.