Lamenting – Jeremiah 20:7-13

A text – Jeremiah 20:7-13

⁷ O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
⁸ For whenever I speak, I must cry out; I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.
⁹ If I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
¹⁰ For I hear many whispering: “Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. “Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him and take our revenge on him.”
¹¹ But the Lord is with me like a terrifying warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.
¹² O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous; you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.

¹³ Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.

A reflection:

Remember our lesson from Matthew on Monday? We will experience loss like being pierced by a sword in our witness to God’s kingdom. It may come from our friends and family, even. Well, this lament from Jeremiah tells us he is in that very predicament. He blames the Lord for enticing him with the job of prophet, which has made him into someone who is part laughingstock and butt of jokes, and part potential victim of violent revenge. People are denouncing him. So he tries to stop prophesying, and then the Lord’s words burn within him. He must say them, but he cannot say them.

I used to teach drama to high schoolers. I lived in a city filled with theater companies, and so I made friends with some of the actors, who would come out to teach my students and me. One of the best them, Peter Michael Goetz, came out to talk about how movement on stage can embody the inner turmoil of the characters. In one play, his character was a man terrified of marrying but who had to get married in order to inherit his fortune. He would start walking to the right as he spoke, reach the edge of the stage, turn to the left for while, and them move quickly to the back, creating a giant circle as he spoke. Then he’d move to the right again, reach the edge, turn to the left, and eventually circle to the back. It was his character literally running in circles and never getting anywhere in a big way, a visible way.

Jeremiah is running in circles, trying to do what God has fitted him for. Sometimes we are running in circles, trying to embody the gospel we are called to proclaim. It is good to know people from ages past had the same difficulties, and even got mad at God for it and wept in anguish. We are called to meaningful work in the Kingdom of God. It will involve anguish and fatigue, strength and weakness, love and ridicule. Our God is just that big, and God’s work is just that demanding. Do not lose heart and do not be afraid. You are loved and cherished. So am I.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for our calling as people who stand for your Word and your justice. Help us to hang in there when the going gets tough. You are with us always, to the end of the age. Amen.