Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Richard Davenport January 30, 2022 - 4th Sunday after Epiphany Jeremiah 1:4-19 (longer reading) Jeremiah has a problem. He's been given a job to do and he doesn't really want to do it. He's a prophet. That's what he's been given to do. He's supposed to go to people and be God's messenger. Not a big deal, in and of itself, but these people probably won't want to hear what he has to say. In fact, they will probably be rather hostile about it all. Hostile people don't make very good listeners. They tend to be quite rude to the messenger. Depending on how hostile they are, they might do some pretty nasty things to you. All of that is a good reason to not want to go and do the job. If only it were that easy though. Jeremiah doesn't get out of the job just because he doesn't want to do it. If this were a business, then he'd have some options. He could quit and try and find another job. He might suffer a bit on unemployment, but at least he'd have the chance to find something he's a little more interested in doing. Alternatively, he could try and move to a different position in the company to find something more appealing. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, he doesn't get those options. God tells him before he was even born he was already tasked with this particular job. He doesn't get to get out of it. He's stuck. He can complain about it all he wants, but this is what he's been given to do and there's no getting out of it. He probably doesn't know yet exactly what's he's in store for, but we do. Threats of death, insults, despair and misery, loneliness, abuse, and abandonment and more will await him. Usually when you begin some project and you finally see it through to completion you at least get that sense of accomplishment, of seeing a job well done. But Jeremiah doesn't even get that. I mean, he does do the job, but there's no real sense of accomplishment. He may as well be shouting at a wall for all the good his words seem to do. At least the wall wouldn't fight back. So it's no surprise he might come up with an excuse. He sounds quite a lot like his prophetic predecessor, Moses, who gave the very same excuse and got about the same response. Moses, too, knew he would not be well received and that he would likely face a lot of hostility from the Powers that Be. God sent him anyway. Though Moses didn't actually come under attack, Pharaoh had little use for his words. The people of Israel certainly blamed him for everything that went on after they started on their way out of Egypt. Every threat, every danger, every discomfort was shouted loudly in his ears. Jeremiah would have known that too. However important this job may be, it was bound to be a thankless job. He may even know his excuses won't get him anywhere, but he feels he has to at least try. God doesn't accept his excuse and so off he goes. It makes me think a bit of my younger years and doing chores. It would be Saturday and after lunch my dad would send me out to mow the lawn. I was never a fan. It's hot outside and mowing the lawn is boring. It probably didn't take all that long in the grand scheme of things, but it was still time out of my day I could be doing any number of more interesting things. Excuses were common. "I'm tired," I might say. Which could be true since I'd be up early to watch cartoons. "I'll do it later." That probably wouldn't happen, since there's always something more interesting to do. "Can I do something else instead?" The answer was always, "No." The lawn needed mowing and I needed to do it. So there was really nothing left to do but get to work and get the job done. Now, these two things sound quite a bit different. I mean, on the one hand you have a man, chosen before he was even born, to be a prophet. This man would be declaring God's word far and wide. He would be calling the people to account and shining a light on their sinful idolatry. The hope is that these people would turn from their sinful ways and come back to God. Even if they don't, that they would at least hear what God has to say about their actions so they had no excuses when the judgment finally comes. That's important work, life-changing work. That's got to be more important than just about anything else, particularly something as bland as mowing lawns. The outcomes of the two jobs are quite a bit different. You can't really even compare the two. The two don't seem related at all. Yet the motivations aren't really all that different. In both cases there is a job to be done, a job that needs to be done. In both cases, the person who has been given the job isn't very interested in doing the job and would much rather be doing just about anything else. The motivations for trying to get out of the job are the same. My time is more important. My desires are more important. My comfort is more important. I'm more important. It doesn't really matter what the needs are of those around me, I only value me. Doing the job given you to do. Whether we're talking about being a prophet like Jeremiah, or whether we're talking about being a dutiful son or daughter or a caretaker of creation, there are many jobs we are given and we are created to do those jobs. God chose you and molded you for the jobs he has given you. However much you might want to get out of those jobs, it simply isn't an option. It's what you were given to do and nothing you say or do will change that. That desire to escape the hardship, however great or small, whether persecution and misery to mere inconvenience, is a powerful temptation. But Jesus puts it into perspective for us. As he kneels there on the grass under the night sky, he looks up to heaven and says, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." More than a little inconvenience, more even than a little grief and sadness, Jesus takes it all. The misery, the loneliness, the abandonment, the raw pain and anguish, and even the darkness of death. He knows precisely what awaits him and never thinks to offer an excuse. If this is truly the plan, if this is the job he is given, then he will do it, and he does. I mean, if anyone had a reason to try and get out of the job, it would be Jesus, and who of us could blame him? But the human body that Jesus holds has been created for this very purpose, to die for the sins of the world. St. Paul tells us that this plan had been put in place before the world began. This is why he took on human flesh. Without this, we have no hope and nothing to look forward to. So make no mistake, Jesus knows everything that awaits him as he lies there in the manger on that first Christmas. He knows where his life will lead and everything he will have to suffer. He could opt to do anything else, anything and all, and avoid this pain altogether. But he does not. He goes to it willingly because to do any less is to lose you entirely. Looking at ourselves, we have jobs to do too. There's the daily work of following the Fourth Commandment and honoring our parents and those in authority over us, but there are also the tasks specifically related to God's Kingdom. "Go and make disciples," Jesus tells us. "Baptize people and teach them all I have commanded you," he says. And while we need to be about that work, there is something we must do before that. We must put aside the self-centered, comfort-seeking life we all cling to, the life that wants to avoid all pain, all sorrow, even all discomfort, the life that ultimately just wants everyone and everything to leave us alone forever. We must start by asking forgiveness for seeking a lifestyle that declares we are more important than anything else in the world, even those we claim to love and care about. Along with that, we ask God to change our perspective, to change us from being a people who are constantly looking inward and instead give thought to the needs of those around us. We ask his helping in doing for others exactly what he has done for us, to show the love to others he so readily gives us. In the end, he asks us to trust him, not just that he will forgive us, but that his vision and plan for our lives is better than anything we could have come up with on our own, that we were made to do the job he has given us. God doesn't just tell Jeremiah to do the job, he assures him that he really is a prophet because he has everything he needs to be one. He has God's own words and speaks with his own authority. What's more, God himself promises to defend Jeremiah against those who would seek to prevent him from doing his job. He will be attacked, but never defeated. We repent of our selfishness and then look to the tools we are given. God has given you his Word. You have heard his Word here and he has made you his disciple. He has brought you here to receive his forgiveness and his word from his own hand as you come to his table. He has revealed himself to you, so that you would be his messenger. We who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and mouths to speak were created to carry out this very job. Here he also demonstrates that he doesn't send you out to fend for yourselves, but that he is here with you always. The jobs he gives us will probably bring some measure of sorrow, some misery and grief, they may even lead to death. But we are his representatives, his people, in life and in death, which means he will carry us with him into the new life to come. It also means, that as we carry out this job, this privilege, we also share in his love and joy. The same joy he has when he sees you is given to us as well every time someone hears the message and returns to him, every time someone hears and leaves behind their destructive self love to love others instead. In telling you to do the job, God is putting you on the path to where true joy is found, not in serving myself in here, but serving him and serving all of those out there.