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Jeremiah 13:18-19

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¹⁸Say to the king and the queen mother:
‘Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
has come down from your head.’^*
19The towns of the Negeb are shut up
with no one to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
wholly taken into exile.

Most commentators believe that Jeremiah would have delivered this message to Jehoiachin and his mother, Nehushta (2 Kings 24:8).  Jehoiachin was still an adolescent by our standards when he came to power at the age of eighteen.  He reigned for only three months and then he took the crown from his head and gave it to the king of Babylon.  And scripture tells us that it was just as the Lord had spoken.

The one thing that strikes me about God’s judgment of the king is the pronouncement to “take a lowly seat” could be understood as “to be regarded as a commoner”.  The stripping of power from a ruler or leader is to put them back into the crowd of followers. And I wonder if this is less of a punishment then a work of redemption.  For in Christ, we learn that there will come a day when all will be stripped of any earthly power and God will be all in all.  So maybe exile is not merely a punishment for Jehoiachin, Nehushta and the people of Judah but it may also be a means of restoration, reconciliation and healing.  For it is in the dispersion of God’s people that they learn to live once again as foreigners in the world as they hold fast to the only king that they were intended to have, God.

So maybe you are in a place in your life where you feel lost and alone.  Maybe you have been exiled from “normalcy” that so many people around you seem to be experiencing.  Maybe you have felt like God is punishing you for the sins of your youth or wrongs that you have committed.  Maybe God is not punishing you as much as He is redeeming you.  Maybe you are supposed to learn in this place of loneliness and wandering what it means to claim allegiance to one king, one purpose, one desire, one God.

May God teach us in the midst of exile what it means to be faithful to Him.

Jeremiah 13:15-17

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If we will not listen then we will be exiled.

Jeremiah 13:12-14

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You shall speak to them this word: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Every wine-jar should be filled with wine. And they will say to you, ‘Do you think we do not know that every wine-jar should be filled with wine?’ (v12 NRSV)

Regarding this prophetic announement, Walter Brueggman states:

Self-induced destruction is permitted to work its own way without intervention from Yahweh.  Israel’s current drunkenness (instability resulting form lack of reference) will be permitted to run its full course.  According to this metaphor, Yahweh does not actively intervene to destroy or punish.  Yahweh only creates a condition of drunkenness, which leads to a hopeless conclusion.

Two opposite pictures form in my mind concerning God’s people when I read this text.  The first are those of us who claim to follow God and have all the external appearances of class, culture and grace.  Yet we are drunk on intellect, power, passions and self-centeredness and we contently walk the road of perdition.  The second are those of us who humbly proclaim allegiance to God and have all the appearances of being messed up.  Yet we are drunk on God’s wisdom, love, justice  and mercy and we fearfully walk through the narrow gate.  The former are the silver vessels filled with bitter wine.  The later are the earthen vessels filled with the choicest wine.  One is the image of the religious elite and the other the image of the marginalized saint.

Benediction

Cosmic Potter, may you melt down our grasp on power and mold us into a people who have open arms made to receive and give grace.

Jeremiah 13:1-11

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This is definitely going to break the mold from my other posts on Jeremiah but the kid in me just has to do it.

I can’t read this passage with a straight face.  First, I can’t get out of my mind that the prophet would typically perform these prophetic actions in public in order to be a living illustration of God’s word to the people.  Now, it is clearly unknown if Jeremiah would have done this in public or not but I can’t read this passage without thinking about the possibility.

Second, if anyone knows me then you will know my love/hate relationship with Joel Osteen.  The man is clearly trying to follow Jesus and for that I call him brother.  Yet, his “Velvet Elivis” looks a lot different than mine, which causes me great pain since my wife enjoys hearing him preach.  At any rate, I read this passage and think of the possibility of God calling dear old Joel to this prophetic action.  So I laugh thinking about Joel having to strut out on stage and take off his under-roos and place them in some dirty, grimy place.

Am I sick? Probably.  Is my mind twisted?  Definitely.  I just can’t get past how stupid God makes his prophets look in order to get across His message to His people.

So I feel bad for Jeremiah for being called to do this prophetic action and brother Joel, who is all too often my whipping boy as I read the prophets.

Finally, my prayer is whether I am called to proclaim a message from the Lord to 1 or 10,000 that I might not get so proud that I wouldn’t take off my underwear for God.  I bet you are not going to hear that prayer in many place!