Sermon Tone Analysis
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To borrow a twentieth century phrase, the LORD called Jeremiah to speak truth to power.
The LORD, the God of Israel “made [Jeremiah] a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land – against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.”
A fun job, no doubt.
The prophet Nathan did this at least once that we know of.
His king, David, had devoted himself to another man’s wife – Bathsheba.
For her he committed adultery and murder.
Nathan’s job was simple: convict David.
You can imagine that Nathan did a few dozen laps around the palace screwing his courage to the sticking post before calling his king an adulterer and a murderer.
Nathan did it once.
Jeremiah spent his life antagonizing power.
It left him on the outs most of the time.
His kings didn’t like his message.
The king’s officials certainly sickened at the sight of the weeping prophet.
The high priest and his helpers blanched whenever Jeremiah stood up to preach.
And the people, oh the people loved it, I’m sure, when Jeremiah called them hookers and whores lifting up their skirts for any boy to do as he pleased.
Behind Jeremiah stood the LORD.
Notice those words from Jeremiah 1: “I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall.”
And just after: “I am with you and will rescue you.”
God doesn’t call prophets, give them hard words to say, and then ditch them, “Uh, I’ve got some business over here; good luck with that rebuking.”
It’s Jeremiah speaking, but the LORD declaring.
You heard that four times in Jeremiah 23: “the LORD…says,” “the LORD declares,” “the LORD declares,” “the LORD declares.”
What truth does the LORD have Jeremiah declare to power?
“You shepherds stink.
You’re not doing your job.”
These shepherds to whom the LORD speaks are all those powers to whom Jeremiah speaks: kings, officials, priests, people.
All those assigned a task to watch over and guard souls.
Even if you’ve never seen a shepherd, you can learn about them from the Bible.
Famously, Psalm 23 calls the LORD our Shepherd.
Shepherds find places for sheep to lie down.
Shepherds find good water to drink.
Shepherds guide sheep in good paths.
Shepherds protect sheep in fearful valleys of death.
Shepherds prepare meals.
Almost as famously, Jesus calls Himself a shepherd, and a good one at that, in John 10. Shepherds stay in dangerous times to protect the sheep.
Shepherds know their sheep by name and sight and call out so that the sheep can hear and feel secure.
Shepherds lay down their life for the sheep.
This calls to mind the most famous shepherd, David, who stood against the lion and the bear, protecting his sheep with that sling that later slew Goliath.
Yet once in Scripture we hear of a shepherd leaving sheep.
In Luke 15 Jesus tells three parables about lost things, the first being that about lost sheep.
The shepherd, Jesus says, leaves the ninety-nine to find one lost sheep, because the choirs of heaven rejoice “over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
But you see the gulf that exists between that shepherd seeking missing sheep, and the shepherds described by Jeremiah.
The good shepherd Jesus will only “leave” sheep to find others: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.
I must bring them also.”
Hear how the LORD describes the shepherds at Jeremiah’s time: “You have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care upon them.”
This terrible shepherding left them unkempt, fearing for their lives, and going missing.
These shepherds acted in both a positive and negative way, or, to put it in catechism terms, they sinned by commission and omission.
These shepherds, the kings, priests, and officials leading the nation of Judah, scattered God’s flock by introducing and tolerating the worship of false gods, like the Baals and Asherahs.
King Manassah practiced child sacrifice.
Meanwhile the priests emptied all God’s ceremonial laws of their Christ-centered value by turning them into works done to merit salvation from God.
They also omitted their duties by failing to bestow care.
They let them wander.
Since these aren’t really sheep but people, we can apply terms we’d use with people: child abuse.
These shepherds abused the people by refusing to stand up and do their jobs, to guide the people in true righteousness, the Lord’s righteousness.
Like the children of Israel at the foot of Mt.
Sinai, rather than doing all that God had commanded them in the Ten Commandments of the Law, they chose instead to prostitute themselves to the gods of Egypt, to indulge in drunken revelry and sexual excess.
And the leaders did nothing about it.
Such shepherds deserve punishment.
God says so: “I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done.
I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them.”
God steps in.
And at first you think, that’s a good thing.
“Yes, God’s here!”
And it is.
It’s always better when God’s in charge.
Except it’s also embarrassing.
“Alright, you guys screwed things up enough, I have to step in and take over.”
The Hebrew speaks emphatically: “I myself will do it.
You couldn’t do the job, I can’t trust you anymore.”
To quote Donald Trump, “You’re fired.”
The LORD speaks a Word here that we do well to listen to.
God still sends out shepherds.
We live in a time when Church and State are separate, and rightly so, so we don’t look to our princes, kings, and presidents to guide us spiritually.
Likewise, we have no temple priests offering sacrifices, a special class of Levites.
Still, we have shepherds.
We have pastors and teachers called into the public ministry.
We have church councils and Sunday School teachers and other officers in the congregation.
We have parents and sponsors.
We have shepherds all around us with a high and holy calling: to watch over, take care of, protect, feed, nourish the flock, that is, people, the people under your care.
You don’t just speak empty Words at an ordination or installation, at a Baptism or confirmation.
When you make promises as a parent or sponsor or confirmand, or council member, or pastor or teacher, you swear an oath to the LORD, you accept the shepherd’s staff from Him and promise to care for sheep.
And the LORD pays attention.
Jeremiah felt overwhelmed: “I’m just a child,” he said.
Isaiah felt overwhelmed too: “I am a man of unclean lips.”
Likewise Peter, “I am unclean.”
Hopefully you feel overwhelmed too.
That doesn’t change the fact that God makes you responsible.
Parents raise up children in the training and instruction of the LORD.
Actively bring the Word of God to your child, from font to funeral home.
Members of Bethel’s leadership, care for souls by actively providing them the Word, encouraging them with the Word, nourishing them with the Word.
Pastors and teachers, faithfully preach the Word and distribute the Sacraments.
But there’s an element we often leave out.
Jeremiah called it “bestowing care.”
Jesus described it as leaving behind and finding.
For Jeremiah it meant speaking truth to power.
For Nathan rebuking a king.
For us it’s preaching the Law of God.
It’s calling sin a sin.
It’s rebuking a delinquent, straying, sinning sheep.
It’s doing stuff, not just attending meetings or talking behind closed doors.
Shepherds shepherd.
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