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Harsh Words from a Prophet
“This command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.” Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward. From the day that your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day; yet they did not listen to me, or pay attention, but they stiffened their necks. They did worse than their ancestors did.”
Jeremiah 7:23-26
One of the decisions we make when we read Scripture, consciously or not, is where we place ourselves in the story. It is often so nice, comfortable, and self-congratulatory to read the prophets of old as if we are standing shoulder to shoulder with Jeremiah, shouting at the wicked people who just do not get it. Time after time, they never get the message. Those around us in Houston are not getting the Gospel message we are telling them!
However, in this Lenten season, as uncomfortable as it is, let us read the words as directed at us not at someone else. Are we not also the people who time and time again do what we wish, following our “own counsels?” I know I do. That’s what makes Jeremiah’s words prick me like a hornet’s sting. I feel the call to return to the Lord and do better, to actually change my ways and not be stubborn and stuck.
As the Church, all of us together, we are on the hook to hear these challenging words. More often than not we are “look[ing] backward rather than forward.” We love to think of the greatness of what the Church was in the past, rather than sitting in the discomfort of prayerfully discerning what God is calling us to do differently tomorrow.
In short, Jeremiah is telling us today to repent in this Lenten season, put the old ways behind us, and look forward, listening for the whisper of what we are called to do next. In the remaining days of Lent, let us prayerfully lay down the sins and preoccupations of the past so that we can move into the unknown future filled with blessings from God.
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