22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Full Jeremiah
Rev. James A. Wickersham
The prophet Jeremiah is at the end of his rope! He has done everything God asked him to do.
Jeremiah’s mission was to preach repentance to Judah and Jerusalem, where priests, rulers, and people had become unfaithful to God and to one another. He was sent to warn them that their continued infidelity would lead to their downfall.
How did God’s people respond? About as well as you can imagine.
The people rejected Jeremiah. The leaders wanted him executed. Just before the words we hear today, a priest named Pashhur has Jeremiah beaten and fastened in the stocks at the Temple gate. Jeremiah has been publicly punished and humiliated for speaking the word of God.
When we come upon Jeremiah in today’s first reading, he has had it:
“You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped!”
Jeremiah is exhausted, resentful, and angry. Dare I use the modern expression: Is Jeremiah burned out?
Exhaustion and burnout are not quite the same thing. When we are exhausted, we need rest. Burnout runs deeper. It can set in when we feel that we cannot say what we truly believe or that we must constantly manage how everyone else will react.
Jeremiah has not remained silent. He has been saying exactly what God gave him to say. But the constant rejection has worn him down. Now he is tempted to become silent.
Many of us have experienced this. There are times when we need to have a difficult conversation with someone. Sometimes these conversations do not go well. We want the other person to understand us. We want them to agree with us. When they do not, we can become controlling, resentful, or give them the dreaded silent treatment.
Another temptation is to take our frustration to people who are not in a position to remedy the situation. Jeremiah does something better. He goes “full Jeremiah” on the Lord.
He takes his complaint directly to God. He tells the Lord God exactly what he thinks. He does not conceal his resentment. He tells the Lord how much this calling has demanded of him.
You would think the Lord God would be enraged by this, that he would strike Jeremiah down with lightning. But God does not do that. God allows Jeremiah to speak freely.
Jeremiah’s prayer does not immediately change his circumstances. The people remain resistant. His calling remains difficult. But his lament keeps him in relationship with God.
Lament is not the opposite of faith. Lament is the prayer of someone who refuses to walk away from God.
Jeremiah declares:
“I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.”
But then he discovers that he cannot abandon what God has placed within him:
“It becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in,
I cannot endure it.”
Notice that Jeremiah does not suddenly become cheerful again. The rejection still hurts. The people are still difficult. But beneath his exhaustion and anger, the word of God is still burning.
God sent Jeremiah to proclaim his word and call the people to repentance. God did not send Jeremiah to make them repent. Jeremiah was responsible to the people, but he was not responsible for the people.
Jeremiah foreshadows Jesus Christ. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and on the third day be raised. Peter immediately objects. He does not want this to happen.
Peter loves Jesus, but he wants Jesus to turn away from the path the Father has placed before him. Jesus remains connected to Peter, but he does not allow Peter’s fear to determine what he will do. He continues toward Jerusalem.
This is a freedom every Christian needs. We need the freedom to say what we believe while allowing other people the freedom to disagree. We can continue to love them without requiring their approval. Their disagreement may hurt us, but it cannot be allowed to determine whether we remain faithful to God.
It is really hard to be a Christian in this world. People may not understand the life we are trying to live. Sometimes even those closest to us resist what we believe God is asking of us. Some days—okay, many days—we are tempted to throw it all away in frustration.
I admit that there are times when I go full Jeremiah on the Lord. I tell him that I am tired, frustrated, and not pleased with what he is asking of me. I let him have it. He always takes it lovingly, and then his beautiful grace begins to work ever more in me.
If you are exhausted or burned out in living your faith, bring it before the Lord. Go full Jeremiah. Give him the anger, disappointment, and rejection. Tell him how heavy your vocation has become.
Then release what was never yours to control.
You are responsible for your faithfulness. You are not responsible for everyone else’s response.
Going full Jeremiah does not give the prophet an easier calling or make the people more agreeable. But it does bring him back to the source of his vocation: the Lord God.
The people may reject the word. Jeremiah may resent what his calling has demanded of him. But beneath the anger and exhaustion, the fire is still there. That fire does not depend upon the people’s approval. It comes from the God who called him. And it gives Jeremiah enough light to take the next faithful step.