Jeremiah's Complaint; Jeremiah's Praise

"Pashur Smiting Jeremiah in the Temple" by Leonart Bramer

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The text for today is our Old Testament reading, Jeremiah 20:7-13.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Pashhur is a priest who oversees Jerusalem’s temple. His job description is simple: Make sure nothing changes. Pashhur’s mantra? “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” (Jeremiah 7:4). As chief of temple security, Pashhur polices the place and dispenses with all false prophets, placing a gag order on everyone critiquing the present arrangement of power.

In walks Jeremiah. He’s not afraid to call ‘em as he sees ‘em. The prophet’s preaching is a threat to Pashhur’s livelihood. It’s hardly surprising that people give Jeremiah the name Magor-misabib. It means “terror on every side.” The nickname summarizes the prophet’s frequent message. When people see Jeremiah in the marketplace or walking in their neighborhood, they say, “Here comes good ol’ fire-and-brimstone himself—Mr. Magor-misabib!

Jeremiah criticizes the Jerusalem temple and forecasts its destruction. Pashhur can’t stomach the thought that God is against Solomon’s temple, that Jerusalem will suffer irrevocable consequences for its unfaithfulness (Jeremiah 19:14-15).

The stage is set: Jeremiah versus Pashhur, prophet versus priest, the rebel against the establishment. The Lord of Israel commissions the prophet. The highest authorities in the land commission the priest. To say that the prophet and priest “crossed paths” is to understate the narrative in Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah and Pashhur are both moving fast, from opposite directions. One is bent on devotion, the other on promotion. One is a servant; the other, a tyrant. One loves people, the other loves the establishment. One preaches and prays. The other maligns and manipulates. Something or someone will have to give.

What happens? It’s a one-round knockout! As the guardian of the state and its sacred precincts, Pashhur strikes Jeremiah and puts him in stocks at the upper Benjamin Gate of the temple (Jeremiah 20:2). Rejection!

We’ve all been there. We all know the pain of rejection. We sailed through the interview, only to be informed the company is going in a “different direction.” We did everything we could to reconcile, but they still ignored our texts and phone calls. We showed up for practice, every day, giving it everything we had, but still didn’t make the team. We spent time with our child, going out of our way to parent the best we know how. She still rebels, vows never to speak to us again. Being rejected damages our self-esteem, ignites anger, and erodes confidence.

Sometimes multiple rejections come at the same time, one after the other. A layoff, then a divorce. A breakup, a college rejection letter, then a poor grade in calculus. We can usually handle one rejection, but three or four at the same time? Being rejected activates the same area of our brain that responds to physical pain.

It gets worse. We become our own prosecuting attorney, judge, and jury. The sentence? Life in prison with no parole. We tell ourselves, “I’m a failure.” We feel disgusted with how things have turned out. All this adds more pain.

Reed Lessing tells this story: One day, the devil put his tools up for sale, marking each with a sale price. The implements included hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, lying, and pride. Set apart was a harmless-looking but well-worn tool—rejection. Its price was astronomical, the highest of all by far. Why so pricey? The devil answered, “Because it’s more useful than my other tools. I can crush a person’s heart with rejection when I can’t get near them with the other implements. Look how badly worn it is. That’s because I use rejection on everyone.”

Rejection causes us to say things we shouldn’t say, think things we shouldn’t think, and do things we shouldn’t do.

Pashhur arrests Jeremiah, beats him, and throws the petulant prophet in jail, locking him in stocks. Jeremiah writhes in pain—physical and emotional.

“The next day … Pashhur release [s] Jeremiah from the stocks” (Jeremiah 20:3). Why does the priest relent? Grace. God’s grace. God always gives grace. Once released from the stocks, Jeremiah, with his back still throbbing and his wrists still contorted, delivers a scathing rebuke. The name Pashhur means “Joy all around.” His new name given by Jeremiah? “Terror all around.” Pashhur becomes a sign for “all Judah” (Jeremiah 20:4). The Lord will make the priest a “terror” to himself and others when the Babylonian king comes to plunder and pillage the land. Pashhur and his fellow priests will be exiled to Babylon, where they will eventually die (Jeremiah 20:6).

I would say that Jeremiah rebounds—and then some! His courage follows a long line of prophets who, by God’s grace, challenged the status quo. Moses confronted Pharaoh with God’s thunderous “Let My people go” (e.g., Exodus 5:1). Nathan courageously put his career on the line when he rebuked David, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7). Elijah took the heat from Ahab, who calls him the “troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17). And Daniel’s dream of the night subverts Nebuchadnezzar’s illusion of the day (Daniel 4:1-27).

Israel’s final prophet takes the most courageous stand. Jesus also dares to turn His world of power politics upside down, making statements like “the last will be first” (e.g., Mark 20:16), and “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4). Jesus once has the audacity to make a whip and use it to cleanse His Father’s house (John 2:15). Another time, He looks the religious leaders straight in the eye and says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25).

Before Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate, He faces off with His Pashhur—the high priest Caiaphas. The Savior says, “You will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64).

Jesus doesn’t get crucified for giving to charity. He isn’t nailed to the cross for helping people. Jesus is executed because He announces grace for all people. Jesus calls for a new kingdom, and He is the new King. Societies don’t execute conformists. They silence those who rock the religious boat.

Jesus is a roaring Lion (Revelation 5:5). Jesus is also the bleeding Lamb (John 1:29, 36). His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Jesus allows soldiers to march Him through Jerusalem’s streets while He shoulders His crossbar with blood dripping from His butchered back. Jesus allows these executioners to strip Him naked, shove Him to the ground, and nail Him to a cross with their tools of torture. Jesus takes the spit and mocking without calling His Father to immediately dispense twelve legions of angels (Matthew 26:53). Jesus is the God of all grace!

Jeremiah 20 records the prophet’s lowest point. After his arrest and acquittal, Jeremiah blames God, rejects his calling, and curse the day he was born.

God invites us also to be honest with Him. God won’t smirk, roll His eyes, furrow His brow, or look the other way. God doesn’t get tired of us. He invites us to draw near to His throne because it’s a throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).

Jeremiah’s most intense lament isn’t a crisis of faith; it’s a crisis of vocation (Jeremiah 20:7-18). Jeremiah says God tricked him into becoming a prophet. “O Lord, You have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.”

Jeremiah is in a catch-22. He suffers if he speaks God’s Word. And he’s miserable if he does not speak God’s Word. Yet hasn’t God promised Jeremiah that he will become “a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land” (Jeremiah 1:18)? The prophet responds, “Empty words!”

Jeremiah has become a laughingstock. No one listens. No one pays attention. No one cares. God calls Jeremiah into a situation that is more difficult than the prophet ever imagined. Now he’s at his wit’s end. He angrily cries out to God.

People ask me, “Is it wrong to be angry with God?” They’re sometimes surprised by my answer: “If you feel anger toward God, you should tell Him. God is big enough to handle your anger. So tell Him about it. He wants you to pour out your entire heart to Him.” Just like Jeremiah, our heart becomes filled with bitterness when we struggle to reconcile God’s goodness with our intense suffering. God invites us to express our complaint—even if it’s a messy, inarticulate prayer. He wants us to go before Him as we are, not pretending to be someone we aren’t. When we’re honest with God, we will develop a deeper relationship with Him. With great grace, God says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15).

Jeremiah lays out his dilemma: “If I say, ‘I will not mention Him, or speak any more in His name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9). Jeremiah turns in his resignation and in the same breath tears it up. Because of Pashhur’s rejection, Jeremiah is ready to give up. But he can’t. He won’t. The prophet is compelled to speak God’s Word. It is like a fire in his bones that he can’t extinguish. “Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: ‘… Behold, I am making My words in your mouth a fire’” (Jeremiah 5:14).

When we’re rejected, we tend to look inward—to our problems and frustrations. “What did I do wrong?” “How could I have avoided it?” “This? Again?” We need to look instead upward to God. He hasn’t abandoned us. “The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior” (Jeremiah 20:11). The prophet is not alone. Neither are we. Jeremiah will be victorious because the Lord is a mighty warrior. He fights for His people. He fights for us!

That’s why we sing God’s praises—even on our darkest days. The prophet sings a song of salvation. “Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers” (Jeremiah 20:13). Praise takes our mind off rejection and focuses it on God. Praise acknowledges that God has the right to rule and reign how He sees fit. Praise confesses that God knows more about what we need than we do. Praise celebrates that God can do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants. We don’t see the finished product—but we still praise God for His plan for we trust it is for our good. Here’s an example.

In 2 Chronicle 20, a Judean king named Jehoshaphat defeats the Ammonites, Edomites, and Moabites. “He appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise Him in holy attire, as they went before the army and, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever’” (2 Chronicles 20:21). What a sight! The church choir leading the charge against the enemies. Generals and lieutenants, sergeants, and privates—along with their weapons and artillery—marching behind musicians thanking God for victory before the victory. Let me repeat that. Levitical singers are praising God for victory before the victory.

Psalm 149:6 offers insight into this battle strategy: “Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands.” When the praises of God are in our mouths, they—like double-edged swords—silence our memories of rebuffs and rejections. When biblical truth is set to music, it becomes memorable, teachable, and transformational.

Jesus knows the power of praise. On the night He was betrayed, “when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30). Imagine that. Everything is about to go nuclear, so Jesus sings Psalms 113-118—often called “the Egyptian Hallel,” the Hebrew word for “praise.” Psalms 113-118 praise God for His power that delivered Israel from Egypt. On Maundy Thursday, Jesus and His disciples sing verses like these:

·        “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap” (Psalm 113:7).

·        “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases” (Psalm 115:3).

·        “You [the Lord] have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling” (Psalm 116:8).

·        “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:22-24).

Christ is about to be betrayed by a kiss. Then, one after another, there will be deniers, slappers, beaters, spitters, whippers, mockers, and nailers. So what does Jesus do? He sings, confident of victory, even as He faces rejection of the highest level. “I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord” (Psalm 118:17).

The antidote to rejection is God’s grace.

God delivers grace through Holy Baptism—a washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Baptism delivers everything Jesus won for us by His perfect life, His sin-atoning blood, and His death-defeating resurrection. God’s saving grace restores hope.

A lot of magazines and websites suggest that hope is restored when we become thinner, more muscular, more pimple-free, or more perfumed. Many movies and TV shows imply that hope is restored when we increase our popularity, our intelligence, our net worth—or all three.

Listen closely to what I’m about to say. When we feel rejected, hope isn’t restored by the number of pounds we lose, the kind of car we drive, or the type of clothes we wear. CEO, store clerk, or carpenter, it doesn’t matter. Old or young, it doesn’t matter. First string or cut from the baseball team, it doesn’t matter. Only God’s saving grace restores hope and God’s grace is always sufficient.

Rejection haunts us with two words: “What if?” What if I never recover? What if it happens again? “What if” twists us into emotional pretzels, makes our eyes twitch and our blood pressure rise, and causes our heads to ache.

God’s sufficient grace empowers us to change “What if” to “Now that.” Now that Jesus is risen from the dead … Now that Jesus is coming to make all things new … Now that Jesus has baptized me, absolved me, loves me, and communes me in His Holy Supper … Now that I have God’s saving, strengthening, and sufficient grace, I will not allow rejection to have the final say. Ever. “The Lord has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me” (Hebrews 13:5b-6)?

Go in the peace of the Lord and serve your neighbor with joy. Your gracious God watches over you. For Jesus’ sake, you are forgiven for all your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.