Sun., Sept. 5, 2004
Tone 5 Prophet Zachariah & Righteous Elizabeth
Kellia: Jeremiah 4:1-10 Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4 Gospel: St. Matthew 22:1-14
Jeremiah 4:1-10, especially vss. 2, 10: "...if you
swear, 'As the Lord lives,' in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall bless
themselves in Him....Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, surely Thou hast utterly deceived this people
and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you'; whereas the sword has reached their very
life." Historic acuity was a striking attribute of the Prophets of God, especially evident in
Jeremiah. So attuned were they to the mind of the Lord that they readily extrapolated from
present social conditions to predictable outcomes. In today's reading, Jeremiah reveals this
special prophetic capacity to foresee results from present behavior. He knew that his native land
of Judah stood on the brink of radically opposite alternatives: to be a blessing to the nations
around them (vs. 2), or to find the destructive sword of invaders pointed at their very lives (vs.
10). Jeremiah offered his compatriots no middle ground. Looking back from a vantage point
centuries later, the modern reader can plainly see the accuracy of his God-inspired intuitions.
In an earlier passage (Jer. 3:19-25), the Prophet indicated the path toward genuine return to the
Lord - toward effective repentance. Continuing with that theme, he makes clear in the present
passage, how pure a true "return" to God must be, with no temporizing or religious show. "If you
return, O Israel, says the Lord, to Me you should return" (Jer. 4:1). There is no true relationship
with God so long as one merely carries out the formalities of faith, but does not face up to the
Lord before Whom one says he bows and prays. The acid test of honesty before God is to
remove one's "abominations from [His] presence, and [not to] waver" (vs. 1).
Honesty of this sort is readily measured by applying "truth...justice, and...uprightness"as serious
standards (vs. 2). The Lord is explicit about what He expects of those who say they worship
Him. The Ten Commandments are straightforward. Each of us can even look at his own life and
discern the extent to which we live the Beatitudes: poverty of spirit, mourning for sins, meekness
of life, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity lived from the heart, peacemaking and
joy when persecuted for God. Admittedly, the measuring rod of truth, justice and uprightness is
stringent, yet who can deny this is God's standard?
Christian history affirms that when the People of God live by truth, justice, and uprightness -
accountable before God - their influence on events is extraordinary. When the Church lives in
this manner, she richly blesses nations and peoples across the face of the earth. Conversely,
when the Faithful do not live up to what they avow before the Lord - have not broken up the
"fallow ground" of their daily lives and allowed the Holy Spirit to cleanse their actions and the
thoughts of their hearts, then the dire alternative which Jeremiah outlines has come upon them
and on the nations in which they have resided. Make no mistake, the "destroyer of nations has set
out; he has gone forth from his place to make [their lands] a waste" (vs. 7). On the basis of the
covenant of Circumcision, the Prophet begs his fellow believers: "remove the foreskin of your
hearts" (vs. 4). Unquestionably, real choices are made in the heart, in the deep place within
where we do or we do not keep covenant with God. There is no middle ground for Christians
anymore than there was for God's People under the old covenant.
God does not temporize. He will allow us to believe false prophets, trust in our own delusions,
and pursue our own lusts with "great destruction" as the outcome; but He longs for us to follow
the alternative - to return to Him "in truth, in justice, and in uprightness" (vs. 2). Grant, O
Master that we may live in steadfast peace and harmony, and, by the light of Thy commandments,
graciously pass our days with a seemly disposition and in virtuous living.
