Loving God, though it sometimes seems otherwise, all things are ultimately in your hands.  Help us to grow in faith and in trust, allowing us to both see and experience the power of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Imagine for just a moment that God has a message for you that goes something like this:  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5).  How would you react to this message from God?... Would you be scared?... Honoured?... Incredulous?... Some other reaction?....

         In Jeremiah’s case, he immediately comes up with two objections:  He is too young, and he doesn’t know how to speak.  However, for God, neither of these things is a problem. In fact, God even touches Jeremiah’s mouth as a tangible sign of giving Jeremiah God’s words.  Jeremiah will not be sent out all under his own power.  God will be with him and God will work through him.

         Today we have been given a glimpse of one of Jeremiah’s messages, which is sometimes called his Temple sermon.  It is a message that declares that God is not the least bit impressed with what the people of Judah have been doing.  They have been worshiping idols, stealing, murdering, committing adultery, lying, and have been oppressing those who are most vulnerable.  They are doing all of these things, and yet they still come into God’s Temple and believe that they will be safe there.  They believe that they can worship God and do all of these other things, all at the same time.

         Yet, even within this message of judgment, an olive branch is held out to the people.  If they repent – if they turn around and change the way that they are acting, God will dwell with them in Jerusalem and Judah, according to the promises given to their ancestors.  So would you like to hazard a guess as to how the people respond to Jeremiah’s message?... [Do you think they change their ways or just keep doing what they’re doing?]  In this case, as with many of the prophets, Jeremiah’s message is ignored, and the judgment that he is sent to pronounce eventually comes to pass.

         So here is Jeremiah, whom God has appointed over nations and kingdoms, and his messages tend to fall on deaf ears.  Not only that, but Jeremiah is mocked, and thrown into prison, and even thrown into a pit and left there to die.  And so, if you were to ask Jeremiah at the end of his lifetime if it was all worth it, what kind of an answer do you think you would get?...  My own suspicion is that Jeremiah would give thanks for a life in which he was able to walk with God and speak God’s message, in spite of all the difficulties along the way.

         Today, as we celebrate the Reign of Christ, or Christ the King, it strikes me that God continues to be in charge even when it doesn’t look like it.  When Jeremiah was persecuted or left to die, God made sure that he was rescued.  In fact, even when the people didn’t listen, God was still there, working through Jeremiah, giving them an opportunity to repent and to change their ways.  God was still Lord of heaven and earth, even though the people weren’t living in God’s way.

         Today, too, many would say that it doesn’t look as though Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Scriptures proclaim that Christ has indeed been put in charge of all things, and that he is both ruler and judge of all people and nations.  However, many people do not live in God’s way or in the way of Christ, and so our world doesn’t look as though God is in charge.  Yet, as 2 Peter proclaims, God continues to be patient, “not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (3:9).

         At the same time, God continues to call people into service.  You might not be called to be a prophet like Jeremiah was, but there are so many other possible callings.  In some cases, people are called to a particular type of work – sometimes called a vocation.  In these cases, people serve God and live out their calling through the paid work that they do.  In other cases, people live out their calling through the volunteer work that they do. And other people answer God’s call simply by the way that they interact with other people from day to day.  

         We are not all called to be prophets.  We are not all called to be pastors.  But God continues to call all of us into service.  In fact, God uses people just like us in order to introduce people to the love of Christ, showing others that Christ rules over all by the way in which we live. In fact, it is when we live by faith, trusting God and bringing everything to God in prayer, that we learn that Jesus really does have power over all things.

         This doesn’t mean that everything will be easy for us, or that we will get everything that we want. However, in spite of our circumstances, God can continue to work through us and will deliver us, just as God did for Jeremiah.  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” says God, “and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer. 1:5).  This is just as true for us as it was for Jeremiah.  God knows us through and through and has consecrated us for ministry through our baptism into Christ.  God has also empowered us through the Holy Spirit and has shown us how deeply we are loved through Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Reign of Christ / Christ the King (NL 1)                Jeremiah 1:4-10; 7:1-11

November 25, 2018

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved