Jeremiah is watching Jesus

Saturday, April 2, 2022                                  (click here for today’s scriptures)

Jeremiah is watching Jesus

O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge. Save me from all my pursuers and rescue me, lest I become like the lion’s prey, torn to pieces alone.

I stand unseen in this temple court, dust blowing outside but here all is calm. Well, not so calm, actually. Jesus stands at the center of a crowd, as usual, and everyone around him is talking to each other more than listening to him.

Do you know what a Jeremiad is? I sure do, it was named after me: “a long lament of the state of society and morals in a serious tone of sustained invective. It always contains a prophecy of society’s imminent downfall.”

That’s me, Jeremiah. I made that kind of speech famous, I guess. Jesus seems pretty pessimistic about the society’s future, too. But unlike most of us, he offers something far better than invective. He offers solution, alternative, a new life, the Kingdom of heaven. And Jesus knows what he’s talking about. Jesus only does what his Father is doing. Father God, that is.

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.”

It’s high noon in Jerusalem. The sun pours down, and the thick walls of the temple warm up quickly. Decision-making time. I lean back, out of the way, watching … remembering … knowing …

Like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, I had not realized that they were hatching plots against me. “Let us cut him off from the land of the living,” they said.

Isn’t this happening to Jesus, right here, right now? Yet I know that he knows much more than I knew, and that even in that knowledge he does not resist. His eyes are burning into theirs, but he lets them do their dirty work. I could not contain my enemies, but I asked for God’s punishment on them.

Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!

Jesus isn’t wasting his energy on bitterness, and he doesn’t seek revenge. The power of God radiates all around him. His skin is warm, his eyes are bright, his heart beats slowly in his chest. Those closest to him, a few reaching out to touch him, know more peace than they have ever known.

Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees. “No one has ever spoken like this man,” they said.

The Pharisees were disgusted, but they did not attend Jesus in the temple. They complained, they dismissed Nicodemus’ pleas for patience. They couldn’t see me, watching. I watched as they turned away from Jesus and each other, and I knew they were in for a tough night listening to whispers from the devil, alone, afraid, uncertain.

Then each went to his own house.

(Jeremiah 11, Psalm 7, Luke 8, John 7)

(posted at www.davesandel.net)

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