Tuesday 23 September 2014

JEREMIAH 5 - WHERE HAVE ALL THE RIGHTEOUS GONE?

JEREMIAH 4:5-31 
WHERE HAVE ALL THE RIGHTEOUS GONE? 
v1-5: Truth, Justice and the Jerusalem way!
Have you heard the expression: "Truth, justice and the American way"? Erik Lundegaard of the New York Times tells the story of this expression:
'In the first screen incarnation of Superman, the Max Fleischer cartoons that ran from 1941 to 1943, each episode's preamble informs us not only of the origin and powers of this relatively new creation (Krypton, speeding bullet, etc.), but also the kinds of things he fights for. It's a shorter list than you think. Before World War II, Superman fought "a never-ending battle for truth and justice." Back then, that was enough.
By the time the first live-action Superman hit the screen - Kirk Alyn, in a 1948 serial - the lessons of World War II, particularly in the gas chambers of Europe, were obvious. That's why Pa Kent tells young Clark he must always use his powers "in the interests of truth, tolerance and justice."
It wasn't until Superman came to television in the 1950s that the phrase became codified in the form most of us remember it: "a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way."'
Jeremiah was no superman, but he got there first! This chapter is all about truth, justice and the Jerusalem way.
Jeremiah is sent to look for a righteous man so that Jerusalem may be spared. Sound familiar? Remember the story of Abraham, Lot, Sodom and Gomorrah? Genesis 18:22-33.
What does he find? The people say all the right things. They can talk in pious language, but they tell lies.
God has brought a measure of judgement against them - but all to no avail. They have become hardened. They have refused to repent.
Jeremiah thought that maybe things would be different among the better educated, wealthier citizens. They would know the 'way of the Lord' and 'the justice of God'. They were no better.
Social justice is an often heard topic among the 'Christian leaders' of our country (Archbishops, political commentators, etc). Why do you think we here less about issues of justice from evangelical non-conformist?
v6 The lion, the wolf and the leopard. (Sounds a little like CS Lewis. Like him, Jeremiah uses his imagination.)
The people shall be struck down, devastated, and torn in pieces because of their many transgressions and great apostasies.
v7-13 The answer my friend is not blowin in the wind!
v13 The false prophets are just full of wind, not the word.
v7 How can God, in justice, pardon his people? They have forsaken God, who had fed them to the full, and sworn allegiance to idols and committed adultery - spiritual and actual, with idols and their neighbour's wives. The two often go together.
v8 Another animal metaphor - 'well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbour's wife'!
v10 He illustrates Israel and Judah as a vine - Isaiah 5; Jeremiah 2:21
These words can be taken literally as directions to the invaders. Do not miss the note of mercy in the midst of wrath - 'but make not a full end.'
The prophets have spoken falsely assuring the people that the good times are here to stay, no disaster is coming. (Would our leaders tell us if we were heading for another financial crash, especially as we head towards an election, and what has been happening at Tesco?)
How do we do as a nation when it comes to truth and lies? It seems to me that lying is more widespread today than 30 years ago, and more accepted as the norm. Remember Allan Sugar choosing as winner of the Apprentice a contestant who had lied on his CV.
v14-17 Jeremiah a prophet with a mouth filled with fire.
v14 Many people like a fiery preacher, unless they are the wood!
v15 The Barbarians are coming.

Waiting for the Barbarians BY C. P. CAVAFY

What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn’t anything going on in the senate?
Why are the senators sitting there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What’s the point of senators making laws now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main gate,
in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor’s waiting to receive their leader.
He’s even got a scroll to give him,
loaded with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don’t our distinguished orators turn up as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men just in from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
C. P. Cavafy, "Waiting for the Barbarians" from C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Translation Copyright © 1975, 1992 by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard.
v16-17 Unlike the Barbarians of the poem, the ones Jeremiah is speaking about are real, and they are coming to eat them up! See Deuteronomy 28v49-52.
v18 Once again the note of mercy remembered in the midst of wrath: "But even in those days...I will not make a full end of you."
v19 Another of those searching questions - WHY?
Answer: Because they have forsaken the Lord and served foreign gods. The punishment will fit the crime. You reap what you sow. They shall go to serve foreigners in the land of those gods.
v20-25 They have no fear of God. The God who made the sea and established it's boundaries. How impressive is the storm tossed sea crashing against the rocky shore.
They have no fear of the Lord of the Harvest, who sends the rain. So he will not send the rain or give the harvest.
v26 Wicked men catch men as a fowler catches birds.
v27b-28 They have no regard for social justice, but get rich at the expense of the very people they should be protecting and caring for.
v29 Again two devastating questions.
v30-31a Appalling and horrible is the ministry of false prophets. (Now coming to our screens on Freeview TV!). The priests follow the directions of the false prophets and that is the way the people want it!
v31b Final question: "but what will you do when the end comes?"
They did not listen to the word of the Lord. Are we listening?


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