GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (18) Man Up! The mindset of a prophet, part II

“But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them…I …have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall …against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.” (Jer. 1.17-19)

     True to the form of stories of prophetic vocations, Jeremiah initially attempts to wiggle out of his calling by offering God excuses and arguments for his inadequacy.  Here are a few other examples of prophets pleading to opt out of their destiny:

·         Moses: “I can’t speak well, please send someone else” (Ex. 4.10-14)

·         Isaiah: “I’m a man of unclean lips” (Is. 6.5-7)

·         Amos: “I’m no prophet; I’m a shepherd and a gardener” (Amos 7.14-15)

·         Jeremiah: “I don’t know how to speak; I’m only a boy” (Jer. 1.6)

Jeremiah really walked into that one.  Little did he know it, but this was to prove to be his coming-of-age ritual; his prophetic vocation was simultaneously a call to manhood.  Jeremiah’s idyllic youth in Anathoth has come to an end; he is being summoned to go out into the wide world with a message that will not be well received.  He is being drafted into the service of the God of the covenant, who is going to give his people one last chance to change her ways and so avert disaster.  In the first chapter of the book that bears his name, Jeremiah is stripped of all that had provided him with a sense of security and identity up to that point of his life.  Jeremiah came into the world – so his family & neighbours believed – to follow a well-trodden path, that of the Levitical priesthood.  As he was initiated into the covenant (by circumcision) all those present at the ceremony assumed that he would grow up studying the Torah (law of Moses, the covenant-constitution of the people of God), learning the significance of the vestments, the gruesome details of animal sacrifice and all the tasks involved in the service of the Temple and of Yahweh, it’s primary resident.  However, as God declares in 1.4-5, he had already consecrated Jeremiah to be a prophet while he was still in the womb!  As far as God is concerned, Jeremiah came into the world for one purpose – that of communicating Yahweh’s message to his wayward people and, indeed, to “the nations”.  God had decided that it was time to let Jeremiah in on the secret of his life.

     God does to Jeremiah’s expectations for the future what he will later tell Jeremiah to do to a clay pot – he shatters them (cf. Jer. 19.1, 10).  And here’s the deep irony: Jeremiah’s family and friends had always assumed he would live a life of service to God – but not as a prophet!  Indeed, it is a recurrent theme in believing families that children who strive to obey God’s call often find themselves at odds with their very pious parents and community (cf. Jer. 11.18-23; Mt. 10.34-37; 12.46-50; Mk. 3.20-21).  It is no easy task to disentangle personal aspirations and natural parental instincts from the will of God.  And so, Jeremiah suddenly finds himself alone – having been surrounded all his life with well-meaning and encouraging people, the young prophet now discovers that what God is calling him to do will make him a stranger to “the whole land” (1.18), even to those whom he loves the most and who believe they know him best.  Through this calling, Jeremiah receives his burden – that of opposing everyone around him, all the while desiring their good.  In other words, Jeremiah is being called to love the people of Yahweh the way Yahweh loves them – honestly, compassionately, and uncompromisingly.  Jeremiah is thus thrust out of the comforts of home, career and stability into the jungle of a nation in revolt against its God.  Jeremiah, it’s time to man up!