CONSCIENCE AND COMPASSION Jeremiah / Peter and Paul So in the old movie Pinocchio there is a character named Jiminy Cricket. Have you heard of Jiminy Cricket? Somehow, the Blue Fairy, after giving the wooden puppet Pinocchio life, connects Pinocchio with this little bug who is supposed to serve as his conscience. Jiminy s given the task of helping Pinocchio know what is right and wrong, good and bad, commendable and condemnable. After all, Pinocchio is just a wooden creation, so he doesn t really know. Well, eventually Pinocchio decides to go his own way and ignores Jiminy Cricket and instead chooses to listen to others who make him happy. The end result is that Pinocchio not only gets himself into deep trouble on Pleasure Island, but also endangers his fatherly figure, Gepetto -- almost causing his death. How would you feel about some little bug that follows your every movement and challenges your thinking at every turn? Would you like him, or despise him? My guess is, if you re like me, that you would have both feelings. On the one hand, you might appreciate a gentle nudge that keeps you on the straight and narrow path. Maybe he would help divert you from making a mistake using just a quiet word. On the other hand, though, there would probably be some days and times when you would want to just flick him off into the woods, like you might a real bug that gets on your skin. After all, who wants someone wandering around after them pointing out all his mistakes and telling him he shouldn t go here and shouldn t go there? Today, in our lessons and in our remembrance of two Apostles we focus on those who, at least in part, were given the task of serving as a Jiminy Cricket for God s people. Our lessons show Jeremiah the prophet, Paul and Peter the Apostles, and, of course, the greatest Prophet, Jesus Himself. Now, you ask, in what sense were they called to be Jiminy Cricket? Well, to explain, let me use a prop. Here s a rough board that we re going to pretend I want to use to make a piece of furniture. What do I need to do to get it ready? Of course I need to connect it to other boards and create the table. But even before I do that, a top priority would be to smooth out all the roughness, sand and sand away the burrs and chips, and get it so smooth and beautiful that I can properly apply the lacquer or varnish to give it the perfect shine.
In similar manner, before you apply solder, you need to sandpaper the two surfaces. Before you plant a field, you need to level it out and get it ready for planting. Good work takes preparation. Tilling the soil and getting rid of the rocks and ruts so that you can plant a healthy crop. This was the calling of every disciple. To be the sandpaper -- the rototiller -- the conscience. To help people recognize that they need help -- that they struggle every day with greed and pride, selfishness and jealousy, that they, deep down, want to serve themselves before other people and become gods unto themselves. The prophet or apostle become the mirror of conscience which displays what God wants and compares it with how a person lives. It is their calling to point out the blemishes, flaws and faults. Popular message? Definitely not. We all want to flick Jiminy Cricket off of our skin before he gets under our skin. And that s the way it was for Jeremiah, Peter and Paul, and Jesus. For Jeremiah, it meant facing a different prophet, named Hananiah, who told all the people that Jeremiah was a nut case -- that his message of God s displeasure with their actions was merely a puff of smoke that didn t mean anything. So they threw Jeremiah in a pit, burned up his scroll, and ignored his message. Hananiah, unlike Jeremiah, was definitely politically correct. His false prophecies let everyone believe that there was no consequence for their sin -- that they could do whatever they wanted with no blowback. His was the feel-good voice -- freedom of choice. But Hananiah was wrong. In Peter and Paul s case it was similar. Their calling to make disciples took them all around the world -- from people who understood sin and its consequences to those whose conscience had not yet come to the knowledge of their fallenness. Many heard their words, and their consciences burned within them as they realized that they needed help. But others were ready to stone them, lynch them, or crucify them because they found their message offensive -- they didn t see their sinfulness nor did they want to listen to anyone who had different ideas than their own. Jesus too was given a mixed review. While people were long awaiting The Messiah who would rescue them from their lost condition and many were thrilled to see Jesus miracles and
teachings as evidence of His fulfillment of the prophecies. Others were anxious to be rid of this man of God. They didn t like the way he challenged their actions, questioned their motives, and called them to account for their false beliefs. The Conscience of God s people isn t always a popular role -- especially in a world where people desire to live as they please and do what they want. The pastor who chooses to confront gossip or unkindness, lust or lies, materialism or selfishness, jealousy or pride, is often, himself, attacked by those who do not wish to have their consciences uncovered and their guilt revealed. How dare he have the audacity to proclaim that there is right and wrong, good and bad, -- to suggest that God has standards and that I am not the only judge of my thoughts, actions, words and deeds. Doesn t he know that today s mantra is coexistence -- that it s about telling people happy things and making them feel all good inside? And soon, much like Jeremiah, Paul, Peter, and Jesus, an effort is sometimes undertaken to undermine the messenger, to be rid of him because he won t stop rocking the boat. Lets flick Jiminy off of our skin -- he s causing a rash. The prophet, apostle, disciple, pastor, -- in his role as Jiminy Cricket -- the conscience -- is often rejected for his message by those who do not yet see their need. But that s not everyone. And that takes us to the second role of those who proclaim the message of God. For, you see, to those who listen to the prophet or apostle -- who have come to recognize that they DO need help -- that they are not all they could be -- and that life itself has a different meaning that what they once thought -- to THEM the prophet or disciple is given the opportunity to move on to part two of their message. And part two is the part that transforms, the pour balm on the wounds that have been uncovered by the conscience, that brings hope and comfort to those who have come to the knowledge of the truth.. But part two can t really happen until part one has done its work. Part two, of course, is the Good News -- the Gospel message that despite our sins and despite our failures and despite our inability to live up to our conscience and serve the true God with all faithfulness and intention, that our God loves us still. And in grace and mercy, He chose, without any merit or worthiness in us, He chose to bring rescue.
It is the paint that is applied to the prepared wood. It is the solder that is applied to the sanded pipe. It is the crop that is planted in the plowed field. Jeremiah stood before the people and said this: "The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness. Jeremiah prophecies of a New Covenant -- that is, of a fulfilled promise of God where the Messiah has come and accomplished God s rescue by being cut off in our place and then rising up from death. It Jeremiah s day it was faith in that promise that would enable God s people to rise above the fallenness of their nation and to live in holiness and righteousness. When Jesus and the disciples come the message continues as they declare to all the broken and repentant sinners that the Messiah came not to condemn them, but to die for them -- that He is God s answer to the broken conscience and the continuous cycles of failure and disappointment. Because in Him we are forgiven, in Him we are cleansed, in Him we are made righteous and given the inheritance that is for all those who are made right by His precious blood. What a joy it is for the modern preacher, like myself, to apply this Good News to a people who are aching to hear it -- whose conscience has been convicted and who are ready to lay down their lives at the foot of the cross. And I get to see it all the time as people who know their traps, who know their dark secrets, who know their faults and failings are leading them down a path toward destruction and are pleased to know that Jesus died for them -- that His wounds on that cross, while caused by sins just like theirs, can bring healing and forgiveness, and eternity even to them. But it is not just my privilege. It is yours too, for you are His disciples and you also have been entrusted with the Good News of salvation. And the Lord leads you out among His people where you get to see the same thing as me: the emptiness and loneliness that comes from living life Hananiah s way. The delusion of thinking that doing whatever you want is the key to happiness.
You know better. You know that real peace and real happiness comes from living in the light of God s love. And so you go forth as ambassadors of reconciliation. Jiminy Cricket, yes - - but iminy Cricket who also knows that there is One who opens His arms to the infected and afflicted and who can bring life and hope and peace to them. May God bless you as you share God s truth, both Law and Gospel, with the people you encounter. May He open up many doors for you as you lift up His name with boldness, confidence, courage and faith. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.