God’s remedy for complacency (Jeremiah 21)
Jer 21:1-14
When I listen to sermons that give a fluffy, comforting message about how God loves us, that He is for us and there is nothing that can separate us from His love and so on, I sometimes ask myself if we are not doing ourselves a disfavour by feeding on such a one-sided message. I say this somewhat hesitantly as many who are broken and struggling under heavy burdens need precisely this kind of reassurance. Neither am I advocating going back to a fire and brimstone style sermon of ‘sinners in the hands of an angry God’.[1] Nevertheless, I wonder if a steady diet of the ‘God loves you’ kind of message does not create an image of God whose sole function is to come to our rescue, solve our difficulties and make us happy without placing any demands on us. If this becomes our expectation, we are likely to become disappointed. Grace, of course, and God’s salvation is never earned, but any true relationship involves commitment and obligations, not least to care for what matters to the beloved and not just for what we want out of the relationship. Reading Jeremiah, we have seen that this kind of self-serving attitude has become a key obstacle for God’s people in their relationship with God. How can the Lord awaken His children to their self-indulgence and how lost they are?
A shock to complacency: God is against you
The chapter opens with a delegation coming to Jeremiah from Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, when the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem (588/587 BC), a year or so before the destruction of the city and the exile (Jer 21:1-2). The message expects good news, God’s miraculous intervention as at the time of the exodus or indeed when Jerusalem was saved from the attacking Assyrians a century earlier (2 Kings 18:13-19:37). Why the delegation expected good news from Jeremiah when he consistently spoke of judgment is hard to fathom, but it is common human temptation to want good news. Who hasn’t collected Bible verses to line up with their desires then felt disappointed when they proved not to be God’s words to them? Jeremiah’s message therefore comes as a bucket of ice-cold water. The outstretched hand and mighty arm that acted against the oppressor Egypt will now be turned against God’s own people (Jer 21:5). It will be a rude awakening but sadly the only way to shake them out of complacency.
Repentance and its fruit
Yet even now God is concerned for life and in judgment gives mercy. Using words that echo Deuteronomy’s famous choice between life and death (Deut 30:15-20), the Lord offers a way forward if the people give themselves up to the Babylonians (Jer 21:8-9). It is no doubt a serious blow to their pride and an acknowledgement that God’s judgment on them is right. In other words, it is a form of repentance. Not only that, but if the king really cares about what God might say to him then he should start fulfilling his duty as king, which primarily involved administering justice, especially to those who were vulnerable and most likely to be exploited in his kingdom (Jer 21:12). Sadly, Jerusalem could not let go of its pride as people boasted that their city was impregnable (Jer 21:13).[2]
Living out our purpose
I am reminded of John the Baptist’s blistering response to the Pharisees who came to be baptised by him. They, too, were arrogant relying on God’s acceptance because of their heritage as Abraham’s children, while John insisted that they produce fruit in keeping with repentance (Matt 3:7-9). A true turning to God is always demonstrated in a changed way of living and a concern for fulfilling God’s purposes in our lives. The remedy for complacency based on privilege as children of God and recipients of His love and grace is, then as now, repentance and living lives that show the fruit of a genuine relationship with the Lord. God’s people often fall short of this ideal today as much as they have done in the Old Testament, but Judah’s story is for our instruction. May God’s character and presence be reflected in our lives.
[1] This was a phrase from an influential sermon preached in 1741 by Jonathan Edwards, an American preacher and theologian.
[2] What the NASB translates as ‘valley dweller’ (Jer 21:13) may be better rendered in context as ‘sitting/enthroned above the valley’ (yoshevet ha-‘emeq). The sitter is feminine indicating Jerusalem and the construction mirrors God’s description as ‘sitting/enthroned above the cherubim’ (yoshev ha-kheruvim) on the ark. William L. Holladay points out that the expression suggests that Jerusalem idolises herself and it is further reinforced by the reference of the ‘rock over the plain/on the plateau’, another description of the city, while elsewhere the Rock is a descriptor of God (Deut 32:3-4). Jeremiah 1: A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapters 1-25, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1986), 578.
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