Good Trouble

 

Jeremiah 23: 16-32

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you; they are deluding you. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17They keep saying to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to all who stubbornly follow their own stubborn hearts, they say, ‘No calamity shall come upon you.’

18 For who has stood in the council of the Lord
  so as to see and to hear his word?
  Who has given heed to his word so as to proclaim it?
19 Look, the storm of the Lord!
  Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
  it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back
  until he has executed and accomplished
  the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

21 I did not send the prophets,
  yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
  yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,
  then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
  and from the evil of their doings.

23 Am I a God near by, says the Lord, and not a God far off? 24Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. 25I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back—those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? 27They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. 28Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord. 29Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30See, therefore, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their own tongues and say, ‘Says the Lord.’ 32See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and who tell them, and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or appoint them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the Lord.

Here’s Jeremiah!  Again.   It’s the second of the Presbyterian Mission Daily Readings for today.  

Jeremiah doesn’t play well with others.  Especially his colleagues.    Why?   Because they keep limiting God’s grace and judgment to fit their own messages.  Jeremiah denounces those who say they have the inside track on God, those who are interested in pleasing and flattering their audience for their own ambitions rather than challenging them to righteousness.  

What does happen when you try to please people who demand to be pleased? A friend tells the story of this woman in his congregation who couldn’t stand his beard.  It caused a big problem for her.  So, after her again coming up to him to complain, he told her that if it bothered her that much he’d shave it off.  And he did.  Next Sunday, after worship, she approached him again and said, “Now, let’s talk about your moustache.”   

A happy Easter doesn’t much interest me.  A blessed one does.  

Inwardly focused congregations can want their preachers to be mascots.    Be careful, ministers, with needing popularity.  That’s Satan’s second temptation.   What are the other two, according to theologian Henri Nouwen?  The temptation to be relevant (that is, encouraging them to depend on you), and the temptation to be powerful and demanding loyalty to you.  

Peaching isn’t Dr. Phil.  It isn't a Ted Talk.  We can add a some trendy TV preachers into the mix.  The Word of God is like fire and hammer, not bromide.   Faithful preaching, when faithful preaching was required, is what got John killed, Stephen killed, Paul killed, Peter killed, Bonhoeffer killed.  The Living Word of God tends to get you into “good trouble.”

Is the task to please people or please God?   Jeremiah has no patience for those religious leaders who play to the audience.   He has no patience for their reckless lies, for appeasing the people rather than calling them to account.  Yes, there’s time to comfort, a time to encourage.  Yes, there’s a time to meddle gently, the difference between pressing the toes versus stomping on the foot, as Fred Jones often reminded me.  Yes, there’s also time and season to risk what must be said.   What do you say when someone tells you a racist joke? What do you say to those who tell you to don’t worry about the people who are crying, when the purpose of church is to go to those who are crying.  

Rev. Dr. Bob Andrews