GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (23) That guy sure makes me think of Jeremiah


“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (Matthew 16.13-14)

“They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
    saying, “Peace, peace,”
    when there is no peace.
They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
    yet they were not at all ashamed,
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the Lord.
When I wanted to gather them, says the Lord,
    there are no grapes on the vine,
    nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.” (Jer. 8.11-13)


     If you’re familiar with the New Testament Gospels, you might have a moment as you’re reading the book of Jeremiah when you say to yourself: “Wait a minute, this sounds familiar…”  There are indeed many similarities between Jeremiah and Jesus.  For example, both Jesus & Jeremiah:

·         Are set apart by God for a unique mission (which implied not practicing their fathers’ professions)

·         Complain about the cost of accomplishing this mission

·         Remained unmarried

·         Proclaim the “word of the LORD”

·         Quote from the book of Deuteronomy

·         Re-interpret the Scriptural/covenantal traditions of Israel

·         Tell parables using farming/agricultural imagery

·         Compare the people of God to a fig-less fig tree & a vineyard

·         Perform symbolic actions (enacted parables)

·         Believed they were giving God’s people their last warning before imminent and disastrous judgment

·         Refer to the prophets that preceded them

·         Proclaimed judgment against the Temple & the city of Jerusalem

·         Predicted Jerusalem’s destruction by foreign armies and claimed that this would be God’s judgment on his people

·         Were put on trial by Temple authorities

·         Had people plotting against their life

·         Were interviewed/interrogated by kings/governors

·         Were handed over by the king/governor to their enemies

·         Were beaten/whipped & imprisoned

·         Were confronted in public by people who wanted to discredit them & contradict their message

·         Encouraged their contemporaries not to resist enemy forces, but rather submit to foreign rule

·         Had a scribe/disciples who recorded their words

·         Referred to Yahweh’s actions in favour of pagan nations

·         Spoke of a new covenant between Yahweh and his people

·         Both lived during a time when the people of God were under foreign hegemony (the rule of a pagan power)

·         Condemned nationalistic attitudes and ran the risk of appearing to be traitors to the nation

·         Both spent some years in Egypt; one at the beginning of his life, the other at the end

·         Weep over the fate of Jerusalem

·         Share the “pain” of God

·         Experienced (certain aspects of) the judgment they had foretold would fall on Jerusalem

·         One embodied the departure of Yahweh from his “house”; the other embodied the return of Yahweh to his “house”

 

Read and see!

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