Tough times for our man Jeremiah
When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the official in charge of the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord’s temple. Jeremiah 20:1-2
You saw that coming, didn’t you? Listening to Jeremiah’s words of doom and gloom must have been really difficult to bear. The people must have wanted to just shut him up. So what happened when Pashur set Jeremiah free the next day? Did Jeremiah shut up? Of course not!
Jeremiah said to him, ‘The Lord’s name for you is not Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. For this is what the Lord says: “I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends.”‘ Jeremiah 20:3-4
Jeremiah will not be silenced. But secretly he is down. Really down. Persecution for speaking the truth is hard to take. He hates being mocked and persecuted but he cannot stay quiet. People are waiting to trip him up and prove him wrong but the words burst out of him anyway.
But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word
or speak any more in his name,’
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot. Jeremiah 20:9
I love that image. A fire shut up in his bones. A passion that he can’t contain.
Consuming fire, fan into flame a passion for your name.
Sing to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues the life of the needy
from the hands of the wicked.
Cursed be the day I was born!
May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!
Cursed be the man who brought my father the news,
who made him very glad, saying,
‘A child is born to you – a son!’ Jeremiah 20:13-15
Talk about up and down! In one breath, he’s praising God; in the next, he’s wishing he’d never been born! That’s what life is, I guess. Full of ups and downs. We can know God’s way is best, but that doesn’t stop us feeling pretty wretched at times. And honesty is always best. Just like Jeremiah, we can be honest with God. It’s OK. It’s what He wants.
When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacks God’s nation, then they want to hear what Jeremiah has to say. The King Zedekiah sends the priests Pashhur and Zephaniah to him to find out what’s going on and how to stop it. All of a sudden, everyone is interested in what he has to say.
And it’s not good news. There is to be no mercy. No deliverance. No victory. No pity or compassion. The choice is to stay in the city and die by the sword or surrender to the Babylonians and live – in exile. That’s what’s called being stuck between a rock and a hard place, I think.
Just because this is Jerusalem, it doesn’t mean the city automatically deserves any extra protection. Just because this is God’s people, it doesn’t automatically mean they are exempt from His punishment. They are to ‘administer justice and rescue those who have been exploited’. Always. Even now. Even if they themselves are under attack or about to enter exile. It has always been the same. Nothing has changed. There is never any excuse to stop doing those things. No excuse to retaliate or to become selfish or to lose the essence of God’s values in their lives.
This is what God expects of us too. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, we are to stick to what we know is right. When we are treated badly, it does not give us an excuse to treat others badly. If we are neglected or exploited, it doesn’t mean that we should start neglecting or exploiting others. Just because we are Christians, we do not have the divine right to be treated well. Sometimes – always – we need to get down off our high horse and see difficult situations as a great opportunity to shine for God.
The darker the night sky, the brighter the stars – isn’t that how the saying goes? Whatever is going on around us, we must not be shaken. We have to keep speaking the truth. We have to keep doing the right thing. We have to keep loving.
