On God, who is near and not far off . . .

     Last week, we spent a bit of time discussing the immanence and transcendence of God.  Specifically, we looked a bit more at the immanent and transcendent nature of Advent, as that was the focus last week.  Just to refresh your memories, or catch you up if you were on vacation, we reminded ourselves that God both takes care of the great big things in the cosmos and is attentive to us as individuals.  Often, that last bit is super comforting.  It is a cool thing to think that the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, is attentive to our needs of provision or healing or even existence, is it not.  It is often a comforting thing to remind ourselves that, unless God is actively willing us to exist, we would cease to be.  But like Aslan in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we are well to remind ourselves that He is good, but not tame.  Jeremiah, the so -called weeping prophet, reminds us that God is always near, and that nearness may not always be perceived by us as a blessing.  What’s going on?

     Jeremiah, as I said, is called the weeping prophet.  If you spend time reading his book, you will no doubt figure out the reason for his nickname rather quickly.  Among the prophets of God, Jeremiah is unique in that he gets to prophesy to God’s people before a tragic event, during a tragic event, and after a tragic event.  We might say that Jeremiah is the only prophet who gets to see all sides of God’s judgment.  The other prophets are limited to either before, during, or after national tragedy, but not Jeremiah.

     What makes Jeremiah’s prophesying so much harder is the fact that Israel ignores him.  They KNOW he is God’s prophet.  There is absolutely no doubt.  But they toss him in a cistern for his criticism of their faith and life.  Those in power, and those who suck up to those in power, choose to listen to those who make them feel better about themselves, even when those words are outright lies.  So, as a consequence, Jeremiah gets the wonderful privilege of telling God’s people that they are failing to keep the covenant, that God views them as idolaters, and bear the punishment for his truth-telling.

     In modern language, Jeremiah was preaching the Gospel, even as the false prophets were preaching a prosperity, feel-good Gospel that preached no sin, no need for redemption, and certainly no need for a Cross.  Oh, is it too early for that?  Hit too close to home?  Good!

      We need to be wrestling with these questions.  Does God love us?  Absolutely!  Does God leave us where we are, with no expectation of transformation or sanctification?  Of course not.  Are we promised an easy life?  Again, hell no!  Does God use the suffering of His sons and daughters to reach those who do not know Him, those who knew Him but fell away, and those who have constantly rejected Him?  We better believe it, right?

     We live in a world, a country, that is every bit as convinced of its own righteousness as ancient Israel was of theirs.  Never mind the nonsense of God’s chosen nation, think of the dueling political parties in our midst.  I get my experience with politicians has made me cynical, but are any of us every truly surprised when a political scandal erupts?  Are we ever shocked any more to find out a politician has been grifting dollars from the system to benefit his or her family over our own?  Are we ever shocked to learn that our politicians proclaim one set of values while living another in the shadows?  Heck, Frank Underwood in the popular series House of Cards murders people to stay in power and most of us assume it goes on in real life, that the political fiction of the series is based on true events.  Am I nuts?  Am I exaggerating?  How many of you read posts or memes or saw gif’s that blamed prominent republicans or prominent democrats for the death of Epstein?  I’ve seen both among my friends on social media.  And as little surprised as we would be to learn that his death was not a suicide, how shocked will we be at his list of customers?  Minor girls and boys used by our rich and powerful for pleasure, and most of us will be unsurprised.

     The Gospel news, although we might not like to think of it as good news let alone Gospel, is that God is immanent.  Am I a God near by and not a God far off?  He knows!  He sees!  And He judges!  When we are the victims of injustice or unmerited suffering, we are thrilled to know He sees and promises vengeance.  But what of the times when we are the doers?  What of the times when we turn our deaf ears or blind eyes to the suffering around us?  Are we really glad He is near by to see our behavior?  No, much like ancients Israel, we prefer to think we can sneak one or more by Him.  Much like Ancient Israel, we hope He is slumbering and not noticing how our behavior, our tolerance, our indifference dishonors Him.

     No, indeed!  We prefer to cling to our false narratives.  We prefer to think we are better than others and that God is lucky we sometimes choose Him over money, over prestige, over sleeping in, over shopping, over any number of other Ba’als that the enemy uses to seduce us.  That why we read the Scriptures.  That’s why we suffer preaching.  Did anybody wake up this morning and think to themselves, “I sure hope Brian is focused on a spiritual wedgie today.  I’m a little too comfortable in my privilege as a resident and registered voter of Brentwood in the United States and he probably needs to change my focus a bit before I become a little too self-righteous?”  No?

     And, on those rare instances when we can admit to ourselves we need help, how many of us know right where to turn?  How many self-help guru’s are out there promoting feel good nonsense, and getting filthy rich off their efforts to help us delude ourselves?  How many “I’m not a theologian, but I’m going to pretend I am more woke than those theologians” and create a God in my image are out there getting rich and influential, than those who call us back to what God wants, what God desires, what God has revealed is good for us?  Prosperity gospellers get way more air-time than the Billy Graham’s of the modern age.

     In truth, there is nothing new under the sun.  We are far more like Ancient Israel than we would ever want to admit.  And if God judged Israel harshly, if the God who is near and not far off saw through all of Israel’s sacrifices into their hearts and judged them accordingly, what should we expect for ourselves?  Ought we not expect to be conquered?  Exiled?  Martyred?  Humiliated?  Should we not be driven to tears of mourning and sadness?

     Were that the last word of God, we no doubt should be weepers ourselves.  But even as we see and acknowledge the sins of the world around us and our complicity in them, still we have His last Word, His final Word.  Thankfully and mercifully, though Jeremiah does not have the perspective of God that you and I share, still Jeremiah captures God’s perspective.  You and I live on this side of the Incarnation.  Christ Himself came down, He condescended to dwell among us, to be an example for holy living, as our collect reminds us today, AND to be that sacrifice for sin.  People occasionally ask me if death was the appropriate punishment for all sins.  Which sins, corporately speaking this morning, aren’t really worth death?  Which sins, corporately speaking this morning, seem easily atoned for by a bit of suffering, by a scourging or two?  How about individually?  We might tolerate the white lie among ourselves, but what of the violations of the Ten Commandments?  What about our violations of the greatest and Second Great commandment, when we put God second or worse and treated others completely opposite of the way we wanted to be treated?

     The other question that flows why God made it so easy.  Again, I have to remind each one of us that it was only moderately easy for us.  As easy as it is to repent and try again, how many of us find that truly an easy task?  How many of us are quick to confess our sins and not argue with God or others?  But, our task is way easier than Jesus’ task.  He did the really heaving lifting.  He suffered the greatest humiliation.  He was the one who was God’s Son and rejected for claiming to be who He really was.  His work was the challenging part of our salvation!  And thankfully, mercifully, He did precisely what His Father, our Father, set before Him.  Though Satan tried hard to subvert Him and we rejected Him, still He kept His faith.  And by His faith we are saved.  Thankfully, and mercifully, we are saved by that God who is near by, who sees us, who knows us, who understands our hearts, and who sends His life giving word, that we might pierce the shadows that blind us, and show forth His redeeming glory to a world that has forgotten and rejected Him.

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†