This is the sermon I preached at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 30–31, 2010, for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.

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Readings

Jeremiah 1:4–10
Psalm 71:1–6 (antiphon v.6)
1 Corinthians 13:1–13
Luke 4:21–30

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Prayer

Gracious God, open our eyes to the life-giving light that shines through your Son, Jesus Christ, so that your Holy Spirit may empower us to share your Good News with others. Amen.

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Message

Today’s first reading from the Book of Jeremiah
shares with us the prophet’s call.
This is the account of how God chose him
to serve as a prophet to the people of Israel.

Jeremiah was born about 650 B.C.
in the town of Anathoth, a village near Jerusalem.
He came from a priestly family,
meaning the men were—by tradition—servants of God.

When he still young, about 22,
he received this call from God.
He began his work during the reign of King Josiah.
This king too had begun his work at a young age.
He was only eight when he became king in 640 B.C.

King Josiah is most famous
for his efforts, beginning around 629,
to return Israel to its commitment to live faithfully
by the covenant God had made with his people through Moses.

When renovations of the Temple in Jerusalem
were underway in 622,
workers found an ancient copy of the scrolls
containing the Book of Deuteronomy.

This helped the credibility of King Josiah’s efforts
to restore the faithfulness of the people.

But, in the end, the labors of King Josiah
and the work of the Prophet Jeremiah
did not save Israel from destruction.

King Josiah was killed on the battlefield in 609,
falling to the Egyptian Pharaoh Neco.
And then, after a time,
Babylon eventually overpowered the Egyptians
and placed its own puppet king
on the throne in Jerusalem.

Finally, in 586 B.C., the Babylonians overran Jerusalem,
breaking through its wall,
sacking and destroying the Temple.
Israel’s King Zedekiah was taken prisoner.
He was made to watch the murder of his two sons.
Then the Babylonians put out his eyes,
bound him in chains,
and carried him off to Babylon.

And Jeremiah, who had pleaded with the people
to submit to the Babylonians
because it was God’s will to purify the people,
was finally released from prison.

Jeremiah stayed behind in the ruins of Jerusalem.
He eventually became an exile in Egypt.
And according to tradition,
he was murdered by fellow Israelites.

That’s a long, but still brief snapshot
of what lies both behind Jeremiah’s call
and ahead of him in his life and ministry with Israel.

He lived a long time ago,
weathering upheaval, brutality, disappoint, and sorrow.
He did not have a life of ease, or peace;
God had called him to celibacy,
so had no family.
He loved his people and his country,
and he watched the scattering of one and the end of the other.

More than 2500 years separate us from Jeremiah,
and yet, there is so much we share with him.
Beginning at the beginning,
we, like Jeremiah, are children of God,
known by our Lord even before we were conceived,
selected by him even before we were born. (see Jeremiah 1:5, NRSV)

And from there the details of our lives do differ,
and yet we know how our lives now, like Jeremiah’s then,
are so fragile and fractured.
We can look at global politics and wars,
or our nation’s social and economic controversies,
our Church’s strife over questions of faithfulness,
or our families’ bouts with conflict and estrangement,
our personal struggles with sin and illness and disability.

Different details, but the same basic issues and questions.
How do we live faithfully?
What is the shape of our obedience to God?
Why do we suffer?
When will there be an end to the pain?
Where does God call us to go?
What is the message he wants us to share?

And when we look at our long lists of woes,
we can easily come up with objections
to the call that God extends to us.
We are swamped, we are overwhelmed.
Right now we’re just trying to get by.
When things finally calm down,
then would be a good time.
Or perhaps, we’re too old, or too young,
or too shy, or too uninformed.

I’m not the right person, God,
to answer the call that you extend.
I can’t do what you ask me to do.
Not right now.
Maybe one day.
Yes, just wait, and I’ll let you know.

But you know what?
God has heard it all before.
In fact, he heard it directly from Jeremiah:
“Ah, Lord GOD!
Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” (Jeremiah 1:6, NRSV)

But like a judge hearing a case with compassion,
God says, “Objection overruled.”
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you.” (Jeremiah 1:7–8, NRSV)

Do you hear the assurance, the powerful words of promise?
You shall go; you shall speak; do not be afraid.
Why?
Because God says, “I send you; I command you; I am with you.”

It’s as true for us, for you and me,
as it was for Jeremiah.
He felt the Lord’s hand reach out and touch his mouth
and he heard the voice of the Lord say to him,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms,
to pluck up and pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:9–10, NRSV)

That’s what Jeremiah felt and heard.
And what about us?

We have felt the splash of baptismal water
and heard a voice say on God’s behalf:
“I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

We have felt the cross of oil upon our brows
and heard a voice speak for God, saying:
“You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit
and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”

We have tasted the bread of life
and drunk from the cup of salvation,
and through them, the body and blood of our Lord
have entered us, making us a part of Christ’s body,
as we hear the voices say to us:
“The body of Christ, given for you. The blood of Christ, shed for you.”

With these gifts of grace
and with these words of promise
we can face the turmoil swirling around us.
We can confront the fractures in our midst,
the broken bonds with family and friends,
the sin and suffering and sadness
in our country and community and church.

Through these gifts,
God has blessed and spoken to us.
He has selected, sent, and inspired us,
so that when he says to us, like to Jeremiah,
“Go and speak and do not be afraid,”
we do can just that,
because God himself promises:
“I send you; I command you; I am with you to deliver you.” Amen.