Rev. Cary M. Richert
15th Sunday after Pentecost (Series A)
August 28, 2005
Dining on the Lord's Words (1)
Jeremiah 15:15-20
God had His eye on Jeremiah all along. Before I formed you in the womb (Jeremiah) I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations, [Jeremiah 1:5]. But, Jeremiah didn't really want to be a prophet of Yahweh. In the weakness of his sinful flesh he responded: I don't know how to speak; I'm only a child, [Jeremiah 1:6]. And the Lord replied: Don't say, AI'm only a child.@ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Don't be afraid of them, for I am with you and I will rescue you,@ [Jeremiah 1:7?8]. Well, things hadn't gone well for the prophet. It seemed like every time he opened his mouth to speak, somebody in Jerusalem got angry with him.
You see, the priest-called-to-be-a-prophet preached mostly messages of doom and gloom to the wayward kingdom of Judah. Surrounded by the ABig 3@ ... Egypt in the south ... Assyria in the north ... and Babylon in the east ... things weren't going well for God's people. They were often pawns in the military and political maneuvering of their much more powerful neighbors.
Over many centuries, God's covenant people had fallen into religious apostasy. With only luke-warm hearts, they observed the unique worship practices God ordained for them. All-too-willingly, they participated in the false, man-made religion of their pagan neighbors, [Jeremiah 11:9-10]. False prophets from among them were common. If God's covenant people refused to heed His call of repentance, spoken by the Lord's own prophets, their destruction as a nation was imminent. So, Jeremiah reluctantly proclaimed the words God put into his mouth: harsh words ... words of rebuke ... of judgment ... of threat and punishment.
No wonder somebody in Jerusalem got angry with him every time Jeremiah opened his mouth to speak! No wonder an angry mob chased him all over the countryside, [Jeremiah 11:18-21]. No wonder the king's officials threatened Jeremiah with death on a false charge of treason, [Jeremiah 26]. No wonder they locked him in prison, [Jeremiah 37]. It was, for Jeremiah, an endless chain of persecution and apparent failure!
Is it any wonder he fell into periods of disenchantment, despair and loneliness? Who wouldn't?! So Jeremiah asked God THE BIG QUESTION ... the question that haunts us all when we struggle with what's happening to us ... WHY?
Throughout his prophetic ministry, Jeremiah battled his worst enemy. It wasn't the king or his officials. It wasn't Judah's religious leaders. It wasn't the false prophets of Judah. Jeremiah's most bitter enemy was his own flesh and blood ...which always seemed to doubt God and His Word ... which was so inclined to question God's power, God's goodness, and God's willingness to keep His promises.
Let's look into a mirror. How often aren't we our own worst enemies in the growth of our faith in God? How often don't we struggle with trusting God's promises? How often aren't we tempted to doubt the goodness and wisdom of God? How often isn't our flesh weakened by a prideful reliance on our own ingenuity? How often don't we sink into the depths of gloom and despair ... and secretly call God a Aliar@ when things don't go the way we want? Satan and our sinful flesh constantly drive us into doubt, despair and unbelief ... sins that deserve God's righteous wrath and punishment.
But, God is so patient ... so merciful. He didn't reject and abandon Jeremiah in his struggles. He doesn't reject and abandon us either! God never leaves His children helpless ... without any means to face our difficulties. God gave Jeremiah His Word. Everything our merciful God does for His helpless people depends on His Word. And, Jeremiah ate God's words!!! He believed them. He trusted them.
In the Lord's Word, Jeremiah found his security, his comfort, his joy and delight ... his strength to go on. Without the Lord's Word, Jeremiah was nothing but a refugee ... stalked by evil men ... running aimlessly from one life-threatening encounter to the next. But, with the Lord's Word, Jeremiah was a forgiven and treasured child of the Lord ... the Lord who loved him so much that He placed His holy and powerful name upon Jeremiah, [Jeremiah 15:16] ... just as the Lord placed His name upon you and me at our Holy Baptism.
Eating God's words made all the difference for Jeremiah. It makes all the difference for us as well. Why? Without it we're nothing. No forgiveness. No salvation. No rock-solid foundation upon which to build our lives. No certain light to guide us. No lasting purpose. Absolutely nothing to look forward to beyond this life. Everything depends on the Lord's Word. Everything that means anything at all.
The Lord's word is life for our souls ... as food and water are life for our bodies. Jesus said to His disciples: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, [John 6:63]. And Jesus, the Word made flesh who came and dwelt among sinful man, says to you and me today: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh, [John 6:51].
Like the prophet Jeremiah, we Aeat@ the Lord's Word ...
... when, by faith, we believe and trust in Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of our sins and eternal salvation.
... when, by faith, we treasure the Lord's Word as the guiding light of our lives.
... when, by faith, we approach the Lord's table and receive into our mouths the true body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith.
... when, by faith, we trust God's gracious promises given to us in His Word.
The Lord promised Jeremiah that He would protect and rescue him from his enemies. Words of forgiveness. Words of hope. Words of salvation. Words of grace and mercy. This was the diet that God prepared for Jeremiah ... and graciously fed him to sustain him in his vocation. It's the same diet God feeds you and me today ... to sustain us through the difficult challenges of our lives. Whatever we try on our own, apart from the Lord's Word, to make our lives work and fill them with meaning and purpose is just a bowl-full of empty spiritual calories.
Nynin idia iko abasi. Words in the Ekif language of Nigeria that mean: We eat God's Word. Rev. Gordon Beck, who taught at the Lutheran seminary in Nigeria, recalls with these words how seminarians read God's Word ... especially the Psalms. They consumed His Word with a voracious appetite, as though they were Aeating@ the words at a meal. It's the way they coped with their difficulties, dangers, and challenges. (2)
The Lord serves us His Word here in worship. He feeds it to us at times of Bible study. [BIBLE STUDY GUIDE FOR THIS COMING PROGRAM YEAR] He feeds it to our children in Sunday School, VBS, Confirmation Classes, Core Groups, etc. Nothing is more wholesome and nutritious for our health as God's people ... than a steady diet of the Lord's delicious words of promise, rescue and salvation. The table is set. Shall we dine?!
Blessed Lord, who has caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Your holy Word we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life which You have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. (3)
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NOTES:
(1) Some material adapted from AHe Ate The Words!@ in The St. Luke Herald, September 1996 (monthly newsletter of St. Luke Lutheran Church, Harrison, Michigan) written by Rev. Warren Graff.
(2) Rev. Gordon Beck, AA Diet of Words@ in Portals of Prayer, July-September 2005 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005).
(3) The Lutheran Hymnal (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941) 107.