Jeremiah 31:7-14 Commentary

Illustration:

Imagine the crankiest person you know. Don’t say their name out loud.  Perhaps it is a character from fiction: Eeyore, Ron Swanson, Debbie Downer or the Grinch.  Perhaps someone in real life like Simon Cowell on America’s Got Talent. Now imagine Eeyore with a smile, Ron Swanson giggling, Debbie Downer with a soundtrack of trumpets rather than trombones or the Grinch’s heart growing three sizes.  Imagine Simon Cowell blown away or brought to tears by the gifts being shared on stage.

Commentary:

Jeremiah, in general

And here we have Jeremiah: the weeping prophet.  It’s very clear throughout this book that he doesn’t want to be doing what he’s doing.  It pains him to speak judgment against God’s people, especially given the sorry state they are already in. 100 years ago, the Northern kingdom overtaken by Assyria and a mass deportation of the 10 tribes living there. Anyone left is subservient to colonial rule. Now Babylonian soldiers are laying siege to Jerusalem.  And Jeremiah takes no glee in kicking the people while they’re down.

Nonetheless, God had commanded Jeremiah to prophecy in colorful and provocative language.  According to Robert Alter, “While, like the other prophets, he on occasion castigates his audiences for egregious acts of social injustice and perversion of the legal system, his most repeated concern is with Judah’s whoring after strange gods (the sexual metaphor is often flaunted) and the devastation of the nation that it will inevitably bring about.” His message was so incendiary that the English language has coined a word, “jeremiad,” for those who breath fire in their speech.

Not surprisingly, in their weakened and weary state, God’s people found an easy scapegoat in Jeremiah.  He spent time in prison, even one time being thrown “into a deep, dried-up cistern with muck at the bottom, in the clear intention of leaving him there to die.” The point is, Jeremiah had a terrible job and he knew he had a terrible job and all the cranky, bitter desperation that comes to life through the words of this book of the Bible make a lot of sense.

Jeremiah, in chapter 31

What doesn’t make sense — what really stands out — is the joy we encounter in chapter 31. In these verses, Jeremiah begins to help the people imagine a national restoration. You can see the progression even in verse 7.  From talking about those who suffer chronic disability to those who are temporarily powerless but only as part of the process of bringing forth new life.

In verse 8, a New Testament image might help flesh out the text.  In Luke 15, the prodigal son confronts his wayward ways and determines to return home to his father.  But he has a speech prepared.  Perhaps he practices it along the way. “In weeping shall they come, in supplications will I lead them.”  And we can easily imagine the courage it took for him to put one foot in front of the other to offer his apology to the Father (“I am father to Israel…”) he has wronged.

Then in the same verse, we can pick up familiar imagery from Psalm 23 of a good shepherd leading beside still waters and safely through deep valleys. This intuitive poetic connection is confirmed, then, in verse 9 when God identifies as the one who “gathers (Israel) and guards it as a shepherd his flock.” And we see a banqueting table set before us in verses 11-13.

But lest we lose our bearing entirely.  Who even is this guy, celebrating and dancing for joy?  Jeremiah reminds us we aren’t home safe yet.  Still there is sorrow among God’s people.  But, the verses of Jeremiah 31 go on to ask God’s people to hope “for there is reward for your labor…and there is hope for your future.”

Jeremiah, in conversation with the other lectionary texts

If your sermon is going to center on John’s poetry in the first chapter of his Gospel, you might review the parallels between the hardships of Jeremiah’s call to prophecy and the life and work of John the Baptist.  Both spoke out on behalf of God in a season in which God’s people felt bereft of God’s presence and care. Both called for repentance. Both pointed to God presence in the law and, in John’s case, the Incarnate Word. Both experienced oppression, even jail time and, in John’s case, death according to the capricious whims of power.

Pairing Jeremiah with the selected Psalm for this Sunday and the epistle reading could prove fruitful in developing a theme for the service.  In your study — but perhaps even in a mid-week communication with the congregation or an insert in the bulletin — place the texts side-by-side to evaluate their similarities.  There is a promise of God’s special favor on God’s people.  There is feasting language and God’s defense over the people.  There is a sense of restoration, of blessing. Compare Jeremiah’s poetically in 31:12 “Then shall the virgin rejoice in dance, and young men and elders together, and I shall turn their mourning to gladness and comfort them and give them joy for their sorrow.” To Paul’s cascading list of blessings in Ephesians 1: chosenness, love, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, understanding, unity. These themes of returning and restoration fit perfectly on the first Sunday of a fresh year.  This could be a wonderful opportunity to reflect on what work of returning and repentance we might enter into in the coming year.  It is an even greater opportunity to reflect on the gracious restoration of our God who — like the father running down the road to meet his son — smothers our words of contrition in the bear hug of his compassion.