“Among my people are the wicked who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people.
Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit; the do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
Should I not punish them for this?” Declares the LORD.
Should I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?
“A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?”
-Jeremiah 5:26-31
The other day I was asking God which book of the Bible he would like me to spend some time in. Immediately, Jeremiah came to mind.
I’m reading it fairly slowly in an attempt to understand the context of what was going on at the time of its writing.
Jeremiah was a prophet who spent his life trying to warn the people of God that their nefarious ways and idolatrous pursuits were leading them toward a path of pain, destruction, and ultimately the judgment of God. This all happened around the years of 627 BC to approx. 582 BC.
It’s 2021, what in the world could this mean for us now? Well, I’m not a biblical scholar and I offer my musings humbly, as one who has not done extensive study, but nonetheless feel that the Spirit has illuminated some parallels in our modern day.
First of all, it’s important to distinguish that we live in the time of a different covenant. We are in the new covenant of Grace, that was established through Jesus’s sacrificial death at the cross and His subsequent resurrection. There is no longer a singular nation who God is working in covenant relationship with in order to establish his good and gracious rule on earth. In the new covenant, every person who receives the sacrificial death of Jesus on their behalf, and enters into a life along the way of following Jesus, is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, adopted into the family of believers and called to spread this good news of Kingdom inclusivity, love, justice, peace, and freedom in both word and deed for the rest of our earthly lives.
I know that sounds crazy (because it is), but I believe it to be 100% true.
With that in mind, how do we read and consider Jeremiah 5:26-31?
In our New covenant context, these warnings would be for those INSIDE of the church.
“Houses full of deceit”
“Rich and powerful, fat and sleek”
“Wicked”
“Their evil deeds have no limits”
“They do not seek justice”
“They do not promote the case of the fatherless”
“They do not defend the just cause of the poor”
“The Prophets prophesy lies”
“The priests rule by their own authority”
“My people love it this way”
I don’t need to give an exhaustive laundry list of all of the bad behavior that’s been exposed inside the church in recent years, I’m sure you have your own news stories popping up in your head as you read this.
I also don’t want to be a finger-pointer. That saying “When you point your finger at others, there are three pointing back at you” rings true here. I come here humbly, realizing how many of these things I’ve been complicit in.
In my own lust for comfort, I’ve often taken a pass on seeking justice because that is hard and I’m busy. And it might cost me money that I’d rather use for something I want. After all, it’s “my money” right?
I’ve been complicit in prophesying lies because I’ve been scared of the reaction of the angry religious mob if I use my voice to tell the truth.
I’ve often lived my life as an authority unto myself; living each day with the singular focus of what will make ME happy.
I’ve had compassion for the poor but felt afraid to defend their just cause because I might get called a socialist, or a “bleeding heart liberal”. It’s funny how our cultural standard of righteousness has become less about what God says, and more about what our partisan leaders say.
And have I loved it this way?
Absolutely.
I love the idea that this is America and if I work hard and make the right choices and practice responsibility and shrewdness, I can mostly get what I want. Even what I deserve.
But what do I actually deserve? A life that is free and unrestricted by only my own agency? With the guarantee of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
That’s a theology that’s built more on the constitution and rugged American individualism than it is built upon the ways of the Kingdom of a good and just God.
The call of God for his people is a call to a radically different community. One that looks out for the weak, and sacrifices rights and privileges on behalf of the abused, the oppressed, the downtrodden.
So I feel a fire in my bones today as I realize that the cry for freedom is a good one; we were made for that. We were made to be free. But I’m afraid we’ve put our hope in the wrong freedom. We are hoping in the freedom that a government can take away with enough legislation, militarization, or ideological weaponization.
Friends, that is FALSE freedom. It will be taken from you. Show me one society on earth where true justice and freedom has existed for every person.
You won’t find one.
Our ideals as a country have always been very aspirational to that end, but we’ve fallen so short.
Just ask any of our indigenous brothers and sisters here in the USA. Or any of the descendants of people who were stolen from their home country and brutalized on US soil in an attempt to create a utopian economic system that required no blood or sweat on the part of the holders of the land, but stained the soil with generations of blood and sweat of the stolen ones as labor was extracted from their bodies for the demands of our collective society. Families ripped apart, men, women, and children brutalized, and the church making a case for why it was actually okay.
Photo by Tasha Jolley on Unsplash
Now I’m probably being really offensive.
I’m sorry if that is offensive, but sometimes the truth hurts.
In scripture, God does not hold back from being offensive.
And over and over he invites his people to lament and to choose a new way forward.
That always starts with truth, reckoning, lamenting, and repenting. Choosing to change directions.
And when they don’t, he lets the justice of self-serving choices come to full fruition, which ultimately leads to death.
THERE IS A BETTER WAY!
If today you are feeling afraid because life as you’ve always known it seems to be moving in a direction that scares you, I’d invite you to go sit with Jeremiah for awhile. See how good and gracious God is. It’s not too late to burn the idols of economic security, rugged individualism, and self-focus.
God is good and kind. He demonstrated this to us in the full human manifestation of his nature in the person of Jesus. He is SO MUCH BETTER than the founding fathers. His word is so much better than the US constitution. I think if we are honest, we know that something is irreparably broken and is failing.
Please, put your hope in the only one who will not let you be irreparably broken and the one who never fails.
Photo by Hillie Chan on Unsplash
Comments