The remedy for wilful blindness (Jer 2:20-37)

Early on in my teaching career I came across a student who was particularly enthusiastic, and it was a joy to see his interaction in class and hear his probing questions. However, mid-way through the course he disappeared and even with an extension he failed to submit an assignment. When I emailed him, he said he was just about to do so, but nothing ever came through. I felt lied to and saddened about what had happened. I later found out that he had not written a word of the essay when he emailed me but genuinely thought he could complete it within a couple of hours (!) before the deadline. I was shocked that someone could be so blind to reality that he could not tell the difference between it and wishful thinking. People, of course, lie for a variety of reasons, for fear of disappointing someone or for dread of the consequences. However, there is nothing so deadly as deceiving oneself because making ourselves wilfully blind to reality will eventually lead to a genuine lack of perception.

God confronts

This is where Israel found themselves in our reading. God confronted them with their attitude: He had saved them from slavery in Egypt, but they refused to serve Him (Jer 2:20). Using the imagery of unfaithfulness in marriage, Israel’s worship of other gods is described as harlotry (v.20). This is particularly apt, since in Canaanite mythology the union of Baal (the god of storm and rain), with his consort, Asherah (the fertility goddess), ensured fertility of the land and people. This drama was enacted by worshippers with temple prostitutes, so that Israel’s unfaithfulness to God involved metaphorical as well as physical prostitution. Their attitude, in fact, was so compulsive that it compared to the mating instincts of a camel or donkey in heat, who act without rational thought and are unable to control their urges (Jer 2:23-24).

Israel denies wrongdoing

Israel repeatedly denied God’s charge of idolatry (‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals’ – Jer 2:23; ‘I am innocent’, ‘I have not sinned’ – Jer 2:35), yet their behaviour betrayed the real situation. After all, they refused to serve God (Jer 2:20) and were compulsively attracted to other gods (Jer 2:25); they called idols made of wood and stone their creator (how ironic when the idols were their creation; Jer 2:27) and claimed freedom from God to come and go as they pleased (Jer 2:31). Their actions and words were a mass of contradiction. They stated their independence from God, yet the Lord knew that they were going to run to Him for help when in trouble (Jer 2:27). They claimed innocence but killed the prophets who would have brought God’s message to them (Jer 2:30) and oppressed the innocent poor (Jer 2:34). The passage betrays bewilderment and perplexity: how could such a state of affairs come about (Jer 2:21, 31-32)?

The painful remedy

More importantly, how can one get out from such a labyrinth of lies and self-deception, a hall of mirrors that reflect distortions at every turn? What happens when we turn out all the lights and imagine reality in the pitch-black as we would like to have it, not as it is? The only escape is for God to let us bump painfully into the reality that we refuse to acknowledge. It is only as we stumble and fall over objects that we imagined away and are subjected to the rules of gravity that we thought to defy that there can be an awakening. Thus, Israel would be shamed when they realised that their idols could not save them, nor their alliances with foreign powers, until they were led away into exile (Jer 2:26-27, 36-37). This was a slow process because the people defied God and suppressed the truth (Jer 2:30). Paradoxically, the pain and judgment were acts of the Lord’s mercy that would call Israel back to a true perception of reality. May we learn from Israel and not need such drastic measures but be people who allow God’s light to shine into our darkness and live by His light with integrity.

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