JEREMIAH 23.16-29 AN EXPOSITION FOR the 12th Sunday in Lent 2010 (what's wrong with the assumption?)
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from Almighty God, the Father, @the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. The reading that we shall look at more closely is the First reading we heard this morning in which God asks us: 'what has straw in common with wheat? Declares the LORD. Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD and like a hammer that breaks rock in pieces?'. For our Roman Catholic friends, today - August 15th - is the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. By “assumption” they mean the ascension into heaven of the body of the mother of Jesus similar to the ascension into heaven of Jesus' own body. The belief that St. Mary's bodily ascended into heaven was dogmatically and infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII only as recently as November 1, 1950. Roman Catholic English terminology in several cases is capable of a un-intentional double-meanings. The discovery of a cross in Jerusalem, supposedly the one on which our Lord was crucified, is commemorated every Sept. 14th, as: “the Invention of the True Cross”. An unfortunate choice of words, since “invention” implies a make-believe rather than an historic artifact. Now by calling a dogma, which has no basis in Holy Scripture the “assumption”, our Roman friends provide me with a handy title for today's sermon, “what's wrong with the assumption?”. Now by the question, “what's wrong with the assumption?”, I do not intend to pick on the legendary ascension of the Virgin Mary recently imposed upon people as a doctrine of the Faith. Instead, I wish to use that assumption to tackle a further assumption related to it – namely the assumption that we should make no qualitative distinction between the word of God and mere human opinion. You may have noticed that, at the moment, it is fashionable to make no distinctions between the holy books of the world's religions. It is very un-fashionable to say anything about anyone's personal beliefs that might cast doubt upon the assumption that those beliefs are as valid and true as anyone else's personal beliefs. Yet, we hear the biblical God asking a question that flies in the face of all of such political correctness. He asks, “what has straw in common with wheat?”. In other words, 'what has Popery in common with Christ?' 'what has Mormonism in common with Christ?' 'what has Buddhism in common with Christ?' 'what has Islam in common with Christ?' 'what has Judaism in common with Christ?' The one is like straw – the other like wheat! Of course, the fashionable answer is that there is no difference between straw and wheat. One mustn't make any distinction. One mustn't discriminate in that way. Well, try putting straw in your bowl for breakfast and adding milk sometime and see if there is a difference! No difference between straw and wheat? No difference between the word of God and mere human opinions? That assumption is simply alien to the biblical God. Please note how alien such bashful equivocation is by comparison to Jeremiah's words in today's first reading! The biblical God tells us in Jeremiah, “thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen, listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD' Jeremiah's message is the same as that of St. John, who, six hundred and fifty years later would write, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4.1-6). The next time you hear someone state the assumption that all religions are a matter of opinion – please, at least, tell them what's wrong with that assumption. Draw their attention to the fact that the Bible clearly insists upon a distinction between God's word and man's word. The word of God is “living and active” (Heb. 4.12). The scriptures declare that “faith comes from hearing the word” (Rom. 10.17) and the apostles rejoiced when people heard that word and made this distinction: “we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thess. 2.13). There is a difference between the word of God and mere human opinion. The only ones who deny that are the ignorant and the perfidious. Those who truly know and love the God who reveals Himself in the Bible will not equivocate about whether or not God has distinguished His voice from that of mere human opinions and they will see that He has promised to reveal His word clearly. So why is it so popular to blur the distinction between God's word and man's if not to undermine the authority of the Bible so that human opinions can gain the upper hand? This was the case with the false prophets of Jeremiah's time: He writes, “They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” It is mystifying but true, that human beings would rather follow a false prophet who tells them what they want to hear than follow the true God, if His message challenges their life-style! People would rather eat straw than wheat, if it tastes better to them. And God knows this. He asks, “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD and like a hammer that breaks rock in pieces?'. Yet, for our own good, we need to repent before the clear word of God. His word needs to have its way with us, even if it burns against our life-style and breaks up our sinful habits like a hammer breaks a rock in pieces. The alternative to repentance before God is to be His enemy. And no one can survive that. Jeremiah says, “ who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? 19 Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly. What's wrong with the assumption? You and I do not want to wait until we face God at death to find out! By then it will be too late for all the enemies of God when they discover what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of an angry God. Most tragic of all - the anger of God is not what He wishes to express to us. God actually created us, not to condemn us or destroy us, but to love us, redeem us and give us eternal life through the forgiveness of our sins. He even paid for that gift of forgiveness for us with His own blood, when His Son in the form of a human being, Jesus Christ, took the impact of our sin and evil upon Himself and atoned for it when He was crucified for us and rose from the dead that we might be justified before God! In view of how God has planned to be merciful toward us, it is doubly tragic when His loving will for us is in vain. You can hear the frustration in Jesus' voice in the words of today's Gospel reading. The Lord of love and the Prince of Peace, comes to earth and instead there is division. He comes into our world and walks among us that we may be united and instead of everyone being “one with Him as He is one with our Heavenly Father”, we are at odds with Him and divided against each other over Him! All because we hear His voice, yet harden our hearts. We say His voice is no more authoritative than any human opinion and we decide that wheat is the same as straw. God said to Jeremiah: “I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds”. The truth has not changed, despite what I have been calling “the assumption”. Nor has God's love changed. He still asks us to consider His Gospel of love. “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God afar off? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. This is what we are determined to do at Redeemer Lutheran Church and School – to speak God's word and deliver His loving sacraments faithfully – regardless of people's popular assumptions. God's word may divide people – that is sad – but that is not His intention. The loving intention of our God is that we benefit from our communion with Him and with each other. And this communion is not based on assumptions, human opinions or ancient legends, but on the redeeming work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who embodies the ineffable word of God and makes it something that we can all receive, eat and drink for the salvation of our souls. Amen. The Revd Dr Jonathan Naumann, Pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church & School 1261 Pennsylvania Avenue, Oakmont, PA 15139-1195 Internet site: redeemer-oakmont.org e-mail: [email protected] Tel. (412) 828-9323 Ext. 10 Cell. (412) 983-9922 "Naumann Park" 782 15th Street, Oakmont, PA 15139 Informal blog: engelein.blogspot.com
