Scripture Text (NRSV)
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
8:18 My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.
8:19 Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land:
"Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" ("Why have they
provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?")
8:20 "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not
saved."
8:21 For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay
has taken hold of me.
8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why
then has the health of my poor people not been restored?
9:1 O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a
fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of
my poor people!
Comments:
Jeremiah's primary task as God's prophet was to announce the terrible
destruction that awaited the people of Israel because of their sin. In
this passage, a grief-stricken Jeremiah anguishes over the sadness of
that message and weeps day and night for his people.
A different way of being is what the prophet yearns for in this
reading. He desires healing for a hurting people. However, even though
healing was available (Gilead was a place famous for healing herbs),
and even though God was present in the nation, the people persisted in
placing their allegiance elsewhere. They seemed incapable of acting to
return to God.
I used this passage last Sunday to talk about 9/11. One of the things
I used was Johny Cash's "Man In Black. Lie Frederic Buechner says,
"Let us tell the truth about our times. I didn't place a link to the
lyrics, so I'll just put them here (and yes, we did sing There Is A
Balm in Gilead)
Man In Black By: John R. Cash, © 1971 House of Cash, Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black, Why you never see bright
colors on my back, And why does my appearance seem to have a somber
tone. Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, Livin' in the
hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long
paid for his crime, But is there because he's a victim of the times.
I wear the black for those who never read, Or listened to the words
that Jesus said, About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.
Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose, In our streak of lightnin'
cars and fancy clothes, But just so we're reminded of the ones who are
held back, Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.
I wear it for the sick and lonely old, For the reckless ones whose bad
trip left them cold, I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that
could have been, Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.
And, I wear it for the thousands who have died, Believen' that the
Lord was on their side, I wear it for another hundred thousand who
have died, Believen' that we all were on their side.
Well, there's things that never will be right I know, And things need
changin' everywhere you go, But 'til we start to make a move to make a
few things right, You'll never see me wear a suit of white.
Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day, And tell the world that
everything's OK, But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my
back, 'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.
grace and peace;
revgilmer in texarkana
as a parent of teenage children, you can imagine feeling like Jeremiah
in this passage where you tell your kids don't do this or that (sex,drugs,.....)for
their own benefit and they insist on doing it their way. as a pastor
of a church you can call people to repentance,holiness,service,....for
their benefit and people rather hear a "feel good" sermon.
also Jeremiah certainly had passion. O that my lesson/sermon would
have this passion. knowing that even with such passion there is no
garantee that I would attract any converts.
this passage also reminds me of the churhes in revelation 3:17,,, you
say you are rich ..you are poor, miserable, poor. blind and naked.
John Rodriguez
This passage is a great opportunity to be honest- there are times when
we feel abandoned (even by God), there are times when life is worse
than horrible, there are times when there seems to be no hope. We live
in a world of war, suicide, violence, anger, hatred, racism, evil....
Is there really a God? If there is, where? Is there really healing? If
so, why not for me?
Jeremiah's desire for a head that can gush forth a spring of tears is
powerful...
Let's look deep into those times when no light seems to shine.
TB in MN
Since Jeremiah was serving as God's mouth, I'm toying with the idea of
this passage being heard as God's words, not just Jeremiah's - "When
God Broke Down And Cried" or something like that... -paulinsc
To me it's about joining in God's sorrow, that when we are overcome
with grief for the ills of the world -- 9/11, school children in
Chechnya, Iraqi war, school shootings, etc. -- we are weeping with
God, as Jeremiah did. We want to turn the channel from the horrors of
this world, and be entertained, but as Christians we bear a
responsibility to mourn. Does it help anyone to go around wearing
sackcloth, being the Man in Black? Do Christians end up being gloomy
sourpuss doomsayers? I appreciate your exhortation to speak the
prophetic word knowing it will not be received and embraced as much as
a feel-good sermon would. I'm thinking of the metaphor of blended
families, where a new spouse must understand that the other spouse has
children and that those children will come first. When we come to God
it cannot be just "Jesus and me," because God has these other childen
-- needy children. We cannot love God in a vacuum. To come into
relationship with God is to embrace God's other children, and weep and
mourn for them as God does. To not be satisfied until all are saved (echos
of the I Timothy 2 passage.) joy in atlanta
I am thinking right now about the contradiction of the desire the many
people have for God- on the one hand, they want a God that is
passionately meeting their needs and yet they also want a God that
dispassionately forgets their sins. When it serves one's needs, we
look to God. When we have offended God, we ask God to forget.
This passage seems to say that we cannot have it both ways. God simply
is passionate... End of story. God weeps over our suffering and weeps
over our sin. God cares deeply about creation and so cares deeply when
we betray that creation.We have a God that knows us and loves us. The
alternative would be echoed in the cry of the people, "There is no
God... the King is not here!"
TB in MN
I have entitled my sermon "Excerpts from the Evening News"
Both the Gospel and the Jeremiah passages sound to me not much
different than what we hear day in and day out on the evening news.
1 Timothy 2:1-7 sounds like a great call to intercessory prayer. I am
hoping that by going through this passage in an expository fashion I
can share with the congregation the importance and a "how-to" model of
how to pray as an intercessor for our world (whatever phere of
influence in which we are involved)
Pastor Dave in BC Canada, eh!
I have entitled my sermon "Excerpts from the Evening News"
Both the Gospel and the Jeremiah passages sound to me not much
different than what we hear day in and day out on the evening news.
1 Timothy 2:1-7 sounds like a great call to intercessory prayer. I am
hoping that by going through this passage in an expository fashion I
can share with the congregation the importance and a "how-to" model of
how to pray as an intercessor for our world (whatever phere of
influence in which we are involved)
Pastor Dave in BC Canada, eh!
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. As
pastor of a church that has Harvest Home (Pa German thanksgiving) this
Sunday, I plan to tie in the impatience we have--we thought surely
we'd be better from 9/11 than we are; we thought surely we'd have
recovered from all the pain, etc. by now; we thought surely... but
things take time and we are an impatient nation. God's time is not our
time. While we rejoice in the harvest, we are not done... there is
more to do, and always more to come. A pastoral colleague recently
hosted German visitors who kept returning to the theme of American
impatience--what would have happened if Americans didn't immediately
spring into action, but waited to see how things would unfold. pastor
it PA Dutch country
I see the emphasis on how sin sneaks up on us, until God gets pushed
farther and farther away. There is one who is not desensitized to it
and still feels the gravity of the wounds and pain that sin causes us.
He is weeping because the situation is so desperate and still so
unwilling to turn.
I want to use an example of someone who was on tv a few weeks back
being proud that he was the first person to use a certain expletive on
TV and now it is very common. We slowly get more and more used to sin
to the point that we forget how awful it is.
We need to become more willing to weep and more willing to stand up
against sin to call each other back to God.
IL pastor
I think that the message of this passage is that God loves us
passionately... we sin and God cries... we suffer and God cries.... we
hurt and God hurts...
The gift is that God will go with us through whatever we endure. The
worry is that God will go with us even when we sin.
God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God!
TB in MN
