Jeremiad

If you've ever wanted a good example of a jeremiad, the passage below, taken from today's Daily Office, will do nicely.  Here the prophet, relaying the word of God, is in fine, take-no-prisoners form.  The people have sinned and the Lord is angry, ready to deliver judgment.

But why?  Why does God even bother?  It's not as if the omnipotent creator of the universe needs us after all.  So why does he get angry?  Why does he want to set us straight?

Because he cares.  Because he loves us.  Because God has created us in his image, to live in relationship, to care for his creation, to pursue justice and live lives of righteousness.  God gets upset with us because he believes, he knows, we can do better.

During this season of Lent we have the opportunity to see how we've let down God - and ourselves - and to then chart a new course.  It may not be easy, but God believes in us.

A Reading from Jer. 16:10-21


16:10 “When you tell these people about all this, they will undoubtedly ask you, ‘Why has the Lord threatened us with such great disaster? What wrong have we done? What sin have we done to offend the Lord our God?’ 11 Then tell them that the Lord says, ‘It is because your ancestors rejected me and paid allegiance to other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. 12 And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”
14 Yet I, the Lord, say: “A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.’ 15 But in that time they will affirm them with ‘I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.’ At that time I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors.”
16 But for now I, the Lord, say: “I will send many enemies who will catch these people like fishermen. After that I will send others who will hunt them out like hunters from all the mountains, all the hills, and the crevices in the rocks. 17 For I see everything they do. Their wicked ways are not hidden from me. Their sin is not hidden away where I cannot see it. 18 Before I restore them I will punish them in full for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own with their detestable idols.”
19 Then I said, “Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, ‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods – worthless idols that could not help them at all.
20 Can people make their own gods? No, what they make are not gods at all.”
21 The Lord said, “So I will now let this wicked people know – I will let them know my mighty power in judgment. Then they will know that my name is the Lord.” (NET)

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