✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Jeremiah 23,16-29 3412
1. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 046
Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs at Rome, 286
9. June 2012
1. O God, the Strength of all who put their trust in You, because of the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing: we do not love You with all our heart, soul nor might; we do not meditate upon Your Word in our heart; we fail to teach our children the Holy Scriptures; we do not consider Your doctrine and teaching to be of utmost importance in our lives. We find ourselves in the same lot of all humanity: lost and adrift from You as our lives are caught in the current that leads to hell and unquenchable fire. Send the Holy Spirit to us through the Word and Sacraments, so that we may freely receive Your grace on account of Christ Jesus and be assured of our forgiveness and salvation, and from this blessed assurance of faith in Christ help us to follow Your Word and live Your law. Amen.
2. Thus says the Lord of hosts: „Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord: „It shall be well with you“; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say: „No disaster will come upon you.““ For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear His Word, or who has paid attention to His Word and listened? Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly. „I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. 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 deeds.“ „Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying: „I have dreamed, I have dreamed!“ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make My people forget My Name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot My Name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has My Word speak My Word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. Is not My Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?“
3. No one admits to being a false prophet or a heretical pastor. Everyone claims to be speaking the truth. Everyone boasts in proclaiming the Word of Yahweh. In Jeremiah’s day a number of prophets stood up and told Judah: Fear not, all will be well. This was a response to the encroaching super-power of the 6. century, King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Empire. Babylon and Egypt were vying for supremacy in the Middle East. And Judah was the lynchpin in the struggle. Whoever controlled the strip of land in Palestine could effectively control all the trade throughout the Middle East and establish domain in the region.
4. Judah feared conquest by the overwhelming armies of Babylon. To calm the fears of the people, prophets stood up and said: All is well. Yahweh is with us. He will not let us fall. Such words sounded good, especially to the Jews who firmly trusted in Yahweh to deliver them from all their enemies. The problem was: these prophets were not speaking the word of Yahweh, but rather they spoke their own opinions as to how they thought Yahweh would naturally act toward His chosen people.
5. Jeremiah was a true prophet of the Yahweh. He knew what God’s word was. Yahweh’s word was not a word of comfort but a word of judgment. Judah would fall to Babylon. Many would be taken captive and sent into exile. For you see, Babylon was Yahweh’s instrument in all this. It was Yahweh’s will to chastise Judah.
6. Judah, you see, was not the pious, God-fearing nation they claimed to be. Idols defiled the land, from the hovels of the poor to the mansions of the king. There were even idols in the holy temple itself. Yahweh was honored on the Sabbath, but the rest of the week the local gods were also worshipped. Baal was on the lips of the people more often than was Yahweh. God was not pleased.
7. Yahweh sent His people Jeremiah. He was told to tell them the harsh truth. Unless Judah repented of her idolatry, Yahweh Himself would sweep aside the kingdom. The people had become accustomed to having many gods alongside Yahweh. They did not want to change the status quo. Jeremiah was castigated as a traitor to the king and a disturber of the peace. The words of the soft-speaking prophets with their proclamation that all is well had won the hearts and minds of the people.
8. Jeremiah’s pericope concludes with Yahweh declaring: »Is not My Word like fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?« The law of Yahweh’s word desired to break the sinful hearts of Judah, to call them away from their idolatry, to bring them to repentance and the right path of the Yahweh. When this failed, Yahweh’s word burned like fire and smashed like a hammer. Judah was conquered, the wealthy exiled and the poor made vassals of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. The ark of the covenant was lost. The temple was destroyed. Yahweh’s people lamented for heeding the soothing words of the false prophets.
9. Nothing has changed among God’s people. We don’t want to hear the law accusing us of sin and wickedness. We would rather hear the sweet words that all is well. The first step in restoring your health is to heed the doctor’s diagnosis. You are sick and dying. Acknowledging our condition is the first step in getting well. We are sinners. We are wicked rebels who slander both God’s Name and our neighbor’s. We are robbers, cheaters, fornicators and murderers. Just look at the Ten Commandments. We break every one them all the time. We are not going to change. We are not going to get better. We were born sinners, and we will die sinners. We enjoy our sins and revel in doing whatever we want to do, irregardless of what God thinks. We have to admit and confess that we are poor, miserable sinners.
10. »Is not My Word like fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?« God’s law will most assuredly strike each of us down. There is no escape. We will all be burned and crushed by the law. It can be no other way, for we are sinners. Thus far our diagnosis. But what of the cure?
11. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates called his fellow Athenians to a higher moral standard. He was a gadfly to the citizens. He taught ethics as the way to serve one’s neighbors. Socrates disturbed the status quo. He was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth. He was sentenced to death.
12. Four hundred years later another teacher called His fellow citizens to a higher standard. Jesus brought Israel the pure word of Yahweh. He was a gadfly to the scribes and Pharisees. He corrupted the youth with such concepts as: the Son of Man has come to redeem all people from the curse and burden of the law. He forgave people of their sin. He healed the sick. He even raised the dead. Jesus disturbed the status quo, going so far as to wreck havoc in the ordered structure of the temple by overturning tables and scattering the animals set aside for sacrifice. He brought new wine in new wineskins. The established religious leaders would have none of this. They plotted Jesus’ death, and they awaited their moment. When the time was ripe, they struck quickly and viscously. They hauled Jesus before Pilate, accused Him of crimes against the Roman State and successfully secured His execution as a traitor and a rebel.
13. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1,14). The Word suffered the word of God’s fire and hammer. The temple was again torn down and destroyed. Jesus took the sinners’ place before God the Father. Jesus suffered for the sinners. His body was stricken and afflicted. He bore the curse and penalties of the law. He died in our place. The cure is Jesus. He is the medicine that heals you of all your sin.
14. The false prophet and the false pastor will point you to something other than Jesus. The false prophets preach their own words and their own ideas. Here’s ten tips for achieving financial success. Here’s four steps to being a better you. Don’t worry about those sins that bother you. God will overlook them because He is a loving God. These are sugar-coated words that hide the truth.
15. The true prophet and the true pastor will point you only and always to Jesus. The true prophets preach God’s word; they proclaim only Christ and Him crucified. You’ve got a problem. It’s called sin. You won’t overcome it. You won’t merit a better you before God. You’re going to die one day, and so will everyone you love. That is the harsh truth. But there is good news! Jesus paid for all your sin. You are forgiven. But there’s still that nasty death lurking around to deprive us of all we hold dear. Death scares you? Death? You already died in the waters of Holy Baptism and were raised up in Christ as a new creation. Jesus overcame the grave. Death is not the end. Death is now the means to enter everlasting life in the fellowship of God. Yahweh is a loving God on account of Christ Jesus. By His merit you are delivered and saved.
16. Listen to the words of the true prophets. We will never lead you astray. We won’t always be eloquent. We will probably be predictably boring most times. We won’t be styling and profiling the good life. We will suffer ridicule for the gospel, but we will always give you Jesus, even, and especially, when you want something else, because Jesus is the cure. He is the Savior. You are redeemed. Heaven is yours. Christ guarantees it. Jesus was burned and broken so you wouldn’t be. He has sealed this promise with His own death and resurrection. Go in peace, for you are at peace with God. Amen.
17. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your testimonies are righteous forever; give us the pure gospel so that we may live eternally. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1549 Cambridge University Press.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House.
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