Tuesday, September 21, 2004
The Holy Prophet Jonah
Kellia: Jeremiah 14:1-9 Epistle: Ephesians 2:19-3:7 Gospel: St. Mark 11:11-23
Jeremiah 14:1-9, especially vs. 7: "Though our iniquities
testify against us, act, O Lord, for Thy Name's sake; for our backslidings are many, we have
sinned against Thee." The present reading, like other passages in Jeremiah, divides into two
distinct sections: in the first, the Lord describes the havoc a prolonged drought wreaked in the
land of Judah. In the second, God notes His People pleading for relief, openly confessing that the
drought is "testimony" against them for their iniquities and freely admitting their many
backslidings (vs. 7). They ask God to act, to relieve them, mentioning that He is the "hope of
Israel, its Savior in time of trouble" (vs. 8). They emphasize God's presence among them,
pointing out that they are "called by His Name" (vs. 9). It is on the basis of "Who God is" and
"who they are in relation to Him," that they ask - not, "send us rain," but "leave us not" (vs. 9).
Let us observe: there was no hint that they interpreted the drought naturalistically. The Lord's
word "concerning the drought" (vs. 1) was factual enough, though described in poetic style.
Clearly, that ancient drought was what today would be called "a natural disaster." God, however,
always focuses on the inward, emotional, and spiritual response of His People. In this passage,
He uses words such as "mourning, lamenting, crying, and languishing" (vs. 2), and loads onto
these, in addition, references to the People's "shame" and to their being "confounded" when they
discover there is no water even in their reserve systems - in their cisterns (vs. 3).
Consider what is implied when a society experiences a physical "disaster" primarily as a spiritual
and penitential event, as an occasion to be ashamed and to "cover their heads" in grief before the
Lord (vss. 3,4). This was not superstition. Yes, the People felt shame, but not so much at being
out of water. Rather, the drought served to confront them with their sins by "testifying" to their
iniquities. Notice that it was only after God had described the spiritual dimension of the drought
that He then described its physical effects on the land, the fields, the grass, and the domestic and
wild animals (vss. 4-6).
God's Holy Scriptures teach us to see an entirely different dimension in so-called "natural
events." How different is the contemporary idiom! It describes upheavals in nature without
mention of God. We speak of wind speeds, temperature inversions, fronts, upper-level
disturbances, cyclonic effects, tides and the like. Modern man simply makes no provision for
guilt when faced with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or droughts. Truly, who thinks of confessing
his iniquities, of being ashamed, or of covering his head in sorrow for personal and social failures
in the face of destructive natural events? What can we make of this?
A recent National Weather Service broadcast advised that any rainfall, "for those lucky enough to
receive" precipitation, would be "very slight." Does God have no part in the course of nature? Is
our relationship to the physical world just a matter of random luck and fate? Do we Christians
merely mouth the words of another age when we say, "He watereth the mountains from His
chambers?" Have we lost all wonder "that the earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of [His]
works" (Ps. 103:14 LXX)? How sad if our perception of the physical world has shriveled!
However, the Church, the ground and pillar of Truth, teaches us in many ways that God is always
intervening in nature: "when Thou openest Thy hand, all things shall be filled with goodness;
when Thou turnest away Thy face, they shall be troubled" (Ps. 103:30 LXX). The Lord Jesus
stilled "a great windstorm" with a word (Mk. 4:39). O God, enlarge our vision!
O all-good Master, bless us with gentle showers unto fruitfulness of the earth. Send healthful
and seasonable weather for man and beast; and may Thy kingdom come upon us.
