February 3, 2013
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Our Scripture today is the call of Jeremiah the prophet. When I was in seminary in the Boston area some 40 years ago, one of my Old Testament professors, Bill Holladay was the internationally known scholar on Jeremiah. If you want to know about the prophet Jeremiah, you would quote from Dr. Holladay. And whenever I read Jeremiah, I think about Dr. Holladay because I have now associated him with Jeremiah. Holladay was frenetic and hyperactive with piles of research paper and notes surrounding his office. His hair was wild and out of control and his beard must have looked like Jeremiah’s. And when he taught, it was almost like hearing Jeremiah in front of you.
Enough said of my professor, but of all the prophets, Jeremiah is truly one of the greats. When we studied the prophets, we studied their words, their stirring, inspired pronouncements. The prophets were great poetic writers in any age. We studied the probable context in which the prophets worked; the 8th century was the golden age of prophesy in Israel when we also had the prophet Isaiah. We also examined prophetic theology, their ideas about God, and the great theological ideas that moved them.
After all of this high level of thinking, one thing that we noticed in studying the prophets is that we know next to nothing about where the prophets came from or what they were doing before they were prophets. I can always find a biographical resume of Bill Holladay but not one for Jeremiah. Jeremiah says that he was a youth when he became a prophet. But we know hardly anything about Jeremiah’s family of origin. We know that the prophet Amos was a farmer, but that’s about all we know about him.
So when we read Dr. Holladay’s commentary on Jeremiah and the other prophets about their origins or their backgrounds, we resorted to speculation, attempting to surmise the prophet’s origins through implications from their writings.
Jeremiah
Most of us like to read biographies because it’s fun to learn about what makes some famous people tick. I like to read the short biographies of local ordinary people in the Chronicle and see how their lives are making a difference in the world. All biographies start in much the same way—with infancy and childhood. Some biographies begin a century before the birth of the subject of the biography, discussing the person’s ancestors and family background. Most of us can still remember Alex Haley’s biographical history, Roots that goes back to many generations tracing his roots back to Africa. Most of us think that it’s absurd to try to understand anybody without first understanding the person’s past, the family of origin, and the historical antecedents. This is the reason why so many of us have gone to the National Archives in San Bruno to research our family origins back to Angel Island or the Immigration Station in San Francisco and then back to the villages in China.
That makes it all the more strange that when we come to a prophet like Jeremiah we are given next to nothing about where he came from, who his family was, or any of that background information that we think is so important. It’s as if the prophet comes from out of nowhere. It’s as if all of the prophet’s family background, childhood, and youth is irrelevant to understanding who the prophet is.
The first verses from the Book of Jeremiah that we have just read give us a clue to understanding why we know nothing about Jeremiah before God called him to be a prophet. I think that clue is in the words, “And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.” It is the word of the Lord, the call of God, coming to this young man Jeremiah that gets the story of Jeremiah going. There is a sense in which there is no Jeremiah to know before God called Jeremiah.
Jeremiah’s family background, his own youthful aspirations and inclinations, none of that made Jeremiah a prophet. As today’s scripture shows, Jeremiah did not want to be a prophet: “Call someone else,” he protested. But God called Jeremiah. The idea of Jeremiah being a spokesperson for God was God’s idea before it was Jeremiah’s.
Our Calls
But isn’t this is the way it is between God and us? Maybe you are not called to be a prophet, but we believe that all of us here are called to be someone, called to be somebody we would not have been without God’s call upon our lives. You being a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, was God’s idea before it was yours.
I think this is very important. It means that the life you are living is not necessarily your own. It means that your relationship to God is not dependent on your having the right family background, a good history of yearning for God, or any natural inclinations that keep you near God. It means that if you are not a member of the Chuck family or the Wong family or the Dong family or any other family actively involved in this church, that you are not called by God. It means that your relationship with God is based solely upon God.
Jeremiah resisted the call of God. In so doing, he showed he understood that to be summoned by God is not necessarily to be called to that which will make our lives easier and more fulfilling. It is to be called to participate in God’s work in the world. Jeremiah was often put in great danger and much misery because he had been called by God to speak God’s truth.
When Jesus in Luke 4 went to the synagogue and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and said,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” he then rolled up the scroll and said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,”
the people in the synagogue were filled with rage and they drove him out of the town and wanted to throw him off the cliff. It’s dangerous to be a prophet.
In the Psalm lesson for today, we read in Psalm 71,
In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
The psalmist faces his enemies asking for deliverance and describing God as a refuge, rock and a fortress and in light of such danger, he too affirms the truth that God has known him in his mother’s womb.
Our relationship with God is based solely upon God and when we accept God’s call, he also puts us in great danger and much misery because we have been called by God to speak of God’s truth.
When we give our hearts to Jesus we often put ourselves in peril of being placed by Jesus with people whom we might not, left to our own devices have chosen on our own.
Jesus said that he is called to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind and let the oppressed go free. And for that, Jesus was drove out of town and if he didn’t escape from their midst, they would have thrown him off the cliff.
The Psalmist faced his wicked enemies who were unjust and cruel and sought after the Lord’s rescue in refuge, rock and fortress.
The Lord put out his hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth and put words in his mouth to appoint him over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to over throw, to build and to plant. And with that, we know how the people resisted hearing Jeremiah’s pronouncement and Jeremiah’s life was threatened.
Fear Factor
When I think about Jeremiah’s call, I can identify with it and so can you. At the time of Jeremiah’s call, it was around 627 BC and he was approximately 18 years old. According to the cultural standards, he was hardly a boy. God rejects Jeremiah’s hesitancy and goes on to recount how completely the Lord will use him. If Jeremiah’s hesitancy came from his lack of confidence to articulate adequately God’s word, the Lord now dismisses that excuse.
The Lord said, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.” And the Lord simply reaches out and touches the young man’s mouth and he no longer was afraid that he would suffer from a lack of words.
The Psalmist was afraid of his enemies and Jesus was probably afraid of the people in the synagogue who were about to hurl him off the cliff. Being prophets today, called by God to proclaim the truth and Good News can be frightening.
Our 2013 church theme is E-F-G to mean Evangelism, Fellowship and Go. Some of us are afraid of even the word, “evangelism” thinking that we have no words to share with others about our belief in Jesus Christ. We may be afraid of meeting strangers and visitors to our church because we don’t know them. We may be afraid even to share with our next door neighbors why we get up early on Sunday morning to come into San Francisco to church because we think that religion is only a private matter and it would be best to keep it undercover.
People are often persuaded to ask Jesus into their hearts. But, when they do, Jesus asks, “Can I bring my friends, the poor, the despised, the hungry, the dirty, the powerless?” People often respond, “Well, Jesus, it is really only you we wanted.” And Jesus replies, “Love me, love my friends.”
God’s Idea
Our church located at this corner of Chinatown is as much God’s idea as it is your decision to remain faithful to be the Baptist witness in this community. And I believe that it’s God’s idea to have some homeless people encamping in front of our church doors just to remind us that these are Jesus’ friends too. And I am happy that when Bobby comes upstairs and he is welcomed to have a free breakfast that we are inviting another one of Jesus’ friends to share in our abundance and in our hospitality.
To be called by God is to be given a summons to do God’s work. And when we receive this summons, we usually will feel inadequate or reluctant just like Jeremiah. Jeremiah thought he was too young and that he was not good at public speaking, but God told him that he will tell him what to speak and how to speak. And when Jeremiah resisted, God said, “Do not be afraid.”
Jeremiah was chosen for God’s service solely out of God’s good pleasure, not because of any apparent talent in Jeremiah. You and I are chosen for God’s service through this church solely out of God’s good pleasure, not because of any apparent talents that we have. When God summons you and me, he is saying, “Do not be afraid” for I will touch your mouths and put my words in your mouths so that we may be anointed to be prophets to the nations.
Let us pray.
Dear God, we pray that you would touch our mouths and give us the words to speak of your Good News in the world. Teach us not to be afraid for you will give us strength and the courage to persevere in times of trouble and threats. Our world needs prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah and Amos to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to over throw, to build and to plant. May we become your prophets today. Amen.