Preparing for disaster
This week is on Jeremiah 16:1-9:
These are some rough commands that God has given Jeremiah. He pretty much tells him that he is not to share life with anyone. No starting a family. No hanging out with friends. No compassion for the hurt. He is to be an observer only, like Star Trek's prime directive.
There are some people who would consider that a blessing: "Finally, more time for World of Warcraft!" "No splitting my wealth with some gold-digger or some guy who won't pull his weight!" "No more listening to people whine about how miserable they are!" Other people, to them, are a distraction, an inconvenience, and a threat.
The average modern American isn't part of anything that Jeremiah would have recognized as a community: About half of all babies are born out of wedlock. About half of all marriages end in divorce. Americans pass the buck to the government to administer first aid, defend property, feed the poor, educate the young, care for the old, etc. People change careers every couple years, often moving to other regions in the process. Vague acquaintances on Facebook can be called friends, because we no longer know the difference.
This state of existence we consider normal now would have been painful and strange to Jeremiah. Life was about family and relationships. God had to tell him to separate himself, because it would have been unnatural for him to do so otherwise. If he had entered into life, started a family, made friends, and so on, he would have had to mourn them. It would have been unbearable. It also demonstrated God's curse on Israel at the time. There would be such a disaster that people would die quickly and in such numbers that nobody would be there to comfort the dying and bury the dead. They would die out of community and relationship because community and relationship would die with them. That would have been shocking.
God hasn't withdrawn his blessing, his love, and his pity from us. Why do we live as though he did? We know more about imaginary TV characters, or movie stars who live thousands of miles away, than we do about our neighbors and sometimes even our own families. We live as observers, as those cursed would live.
Choose to share life with people, and to share the lives of others. Enter into partnerships. Take up the yoke your neighbor struggles to carry, and ask for help when yours is too heavy or tedious for you to bear. Eat and drink with people. Care. If someone asks who your people are, don't point to a flag or a street sign. Those are things. Your life is supposed to be mixed in with the lives of those around you. Ask God who your neighbors are, who your community is, and then live in their shared blessing, not as someone waiting for death to arrive.
Then the word of the LORD came to me: “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.” For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”
For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the LORD. “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.
“And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.
These are some rough commands that God has given Jeremiah. He pretty much tells him that he is not to share life with anyone. No starting a family. No hanging out with friends. No compassion for the hurt. He is to be an observer only, like Star Trek's prime directive.
There are some people who would consider that a blessing: "Finally, more time for World of Warcraft!" "No splitting my wealth with some gold-digger or some guy who won't pull his weight!" "No more listening to people whine about how miserable they are!" Other people, to them, are a distraction, an inconvenience, and a threat.
The average modern American isn't part of anything that Jeremiah would have recognized as a community: About half of all babies are born out of wedlock. About half of all marriages end in divorce. Americans pass the buck to the government to administer first aid, defend property, feed the poor, educate the young, care for the old, etc. People change careers every couple years, often moving to other regions in the process. Vague acquaintances on Facebook can be called friends, because we no longer know the difference.
This state of existence we consider normal now would have been painful and strange to Jeremiah. Life was about family and relationships. God had to tell him to separate himself, because it would have been unnatural for him to do so otherwise. If he had entered into life, started a family, made friends, and so on, he would have had to mourn them. It would have been unbearable. It also demonstrated God's curse on Israel at the time. There would be such a disaster that people would die quickly and in such numbers that nobody would be there to comfort the dying and bury the dead. They would die out of community and relationship because community and relationship would die with them. That would have been shocking.
God hasn't withdrawn his blessing, his love, and his pity from us. Why do we live as though he did? We know more about imaginary TV characters, or movie stars who live thousands of miles away, than we do about our neighbors and sometimes even our own families. We live as observers, as those cursed would live.
Choose to share life with people, and to share the lives of others. Enter into partnerships. Take up the yoke your neighbor struggles to carry, and ask for help when yours is too heavy or tedious for you to bear. Eat and drink with people. Care. If someone asks who your people are, don't point to a flag or a street sign. Those are things. Your life is supposed to be mixed in with the lives of those around you. Ask God who your neighbors are, who your community is, and then live in their shared blessing, not as someone waiting for death to arrive.
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