Jeremiah 1:4-15 Jeremiah s Calling and Ours There are many, many questions we may ask as we attempt the study of scripture, and one of the most important certainly is, what does a passage mean to me. Even so, it s a secondary question, because we want to know first what it meant to the person who wrote it and to those who originally read it; what did it mean to those people who copied it or edited it. Many questions to ask, because our goal is to understand what it should mean to us, not just what we want it to mean. That is, before this ever became the word of the Lord to me or to you, to this church, or to any modern person or contemporary group, it was God s word to an ancient writer; it was holy scripture for a people long ago. I say this because you hear and read in various places this quote from verse 5, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. It means certain things to certain people, but let us ask first, what did it mean to Jeremiah? Because this is not a theological statement, but rather the proof and verification of his ministry as a prophet. As compared to any other prophet in Judah during the years of the late seventh century B.C., Jeremiah is the one prophet who receives this affirmation from God: I made you, I knew you, I sanctified you, I ordained you to be a prophet. Not only did God choose him to speak the word of the Lord, but caused
him to be born for this purpose, to be prophet to the nations. The Bible doesn t introduce very many characters so dramatically. This does not seem at all to be what Jeremiah desires for his life, but despite his complaints and excuses, God will not let him back out: you will go; you will speak. And he seems unable to resist God s call. We may read this book of prophesy and think God is awfully hard on Jeremiah- and he thinks so too- more than once he curses his life, curses the day he was born; but here is also God s grace: I am with you to deliver you; I have put my words in your mouth. Jeremiah is given a profound intimacy with God and a knowledge of God that few biblical characters ever achieved. We ve all seen the videos of those four year old concert pianists, and the six or seven year old singers belting out the high notes, those little preachers quoting scripture and awkwardly proclaiming God s word, those math whizzes doing calculus before they can read. My favorite, Mozart, composed his first symphony at age seven. These child geniuses were created with some mental or physical attributes far beyond the norm, as though they were born for it, called from the womb for a particular job description. Surely, you ve known a child you might call a prodigy, she s a born actress, he s a natural leader, that kid s a born ballplayer, or a born troublemaker. Don t you know someone with seemingly
innate abilities to intuit solutions, or someone attuned to the moods and needs of others, and able to respond sensitively to them- as though born with that ability? And maybe you ve known someone who just naturally possesses the eye. From his or her youth, able to see how things hold together, a vision for what unfinished things can become: an eye for balance and color that can make a person a natural for art and photography and design, for woodworking or dressmaking, and so many other things. To a certain extent any one of us may possess finely-tuned and unexplained qualities; though these talents may be well hidden; and we may or may not search for them, or try to develop them. We may cherish these talents, or we may hate them, and run from them, may try to deny and try to starve them- all the while desiring other talents- I don t want to do that, that s what girls do, or that s what Yankees do, or That s not important enough! We have our own perceptions of ourselves, with which our natural abilities may not coincide. And so, we may try to refuse God s call. Have there been times when you were confused about your own life- what to do, where to go? Were you ever full of yourself and have the feeling you were meant for something grand? I have a friend who told me once he thought God had a big purpose for him. I didn t say anything to him, but I was thinking the whole
time, You re not smart enough for something big. I admit, that was judgmental of me, but he spoke like he thought God wanted him to be the next Albert Schweitzer or Mother Teresa, or Jeremiah. And so far as I know he has never done great things. That doesn t mean his life doesn t have value, doesn t mean his life doesn t glorify God. It just means his calling is different from Jeremiah and from other great ones, different form our calling; and it means none of us should feel dissatisfied or guilty if we don t do mighty deeds for Christ s Kingdom. We don t have to do the great things for our Lord, we just have to be thankful and faithful. The greatness is always the Lord s anyway, and we never accomplish anything by taking ourselves so seriously. We do much better simply by loving those around us than by making big plans we are too little to complete. For most of us, loving and caring is probably a big enough calling. I went to high school with the son of Bob Wills piano player, Al Stricklin. He told the story of the times Bob was feeling depressed or maybe in his cups, and would say, Oh, Al, I should have been a preacher. Maybe thought his life could be made better by renouncing worldly things. But can you imagine this world without Bob Wills and his music, or without the music you love best? It wouldn t be as much fun. And what worldly thing would he be renouncing, except
God s call to him to be a music-maker that brought happiness to so many. I think he was taking himself too seriously and in those moments, didn t recognize that he needed, and that we all need, music and laughter as much as preaching, and we probably need them more. Despite his doubts, Bob Wills was most likely true to his calling and lived as God made him, and for that, brought joy to millions of fans. That s something to hold on to, isn t it, that your calling may be a blessing to others? So we may ask, what does this scripture mean to me? Perhaps we should understand this one thing: that God cares enough for the world that he calls out a few Jeremiahs to teach the rest of us the depth of perfect love, and to show us the constant nearness of God. And if we listen closely to the word of God that the prophets have spoken, we may hear the truth that heals and liberates and saves. It may not be our task to suffer like Jeremiah or to prophesy like him, but just to share with one another the healing and freedom and hope we can learn from him. In almost every passage of scripture, there is a demand and a promise. And it s the same here for Jeremiah; God says Go and Speak, but God also says I am with you. Now, when we read this passage, we can see that the word of the Lord
comes to Jeremiah two or three times in these few verses, perhaps over a long period of time. This didn t happen necessarily all at once when Jeremiah was a kid. God may have made Jeremiah a natural born prophet, but we shouldn t think he was able to discern God s deep thoughts or perceive the meanings of visions until he had worked at it a while. Even child prodigies have much to learn, and hard work- even for the gifted- is the proper response to the calling. Mozart s Jupiter symphony, and Don Giovanni are a long way from his first precocious efforts as a child. So that is another meaning we can take from this scripture: to keep working at it. Fact it, we ll never get our lives perfectly organized and figured out, but we must keep on learning and striving and growing. And trusting that God will refine and perfect our original call. It s a journey, and God is with us all along the way, and bringing us to a place where it will all make sense, and where we may share our gifts, and our failures along the road- and our joys- with one another.