Scripture: Jeremiah 3: 1-20
Sermon: A Wounded Lover’s Plea
Topics: repentance, love, patience, warnings
Preached: March 14, 2004
Rev. Mike Abma
If a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
says the Lord.
2 Look up to the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been lain with?
By the waysides you have sat waiting for lovers,
like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your whoring and wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore,
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to me,
‘My Father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 will he be angry for ever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
This is how you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.
6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and played the whore there? 7And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me’; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. 8She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9Because she took her whoredom so lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but only in pretence, says the Lord.
11 Then the Lord said to me: Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say:
Return, faithless Israel,
says the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for I am merciful,
says the Lord;
I will not be angry for ever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
and scattered your favours among strangers under every green tree,
and have not obeyed my voice,
says the Lord.
14 Return, O faithless children,
says the Lord,
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; nor shall another one be made. 17At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no longer stubbornly follow their own evil will. 18In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your ancestors for a heritage.
19 I thought
how I would set you among my children,
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
says the Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION
The prophet Jeremiah was asked to do a number of strange things in his career.
At one point, the Lord asks Jeremiah to buy a brand new linen belt or waistband. Then he asks Jeremiah to wear it, then to bury this beautiful belt under a bunch of rocks. Later, he asks Jeremiah to dig it back up again. By this time the linen belt is ratty and rotten and useless. This, says the Lord, is what is going to happen to Judah because they are so evil and stubborn (chapter 13).
Another time, the Lord tells Jeremiah to put a yoke over his shoulders and around his neck — the kind of wooden yoke an ox might wear. Jeremiah then had to parade around Jerusalem for days and weeks and months wearing this yoke and announcing to everyone that soon the whole city would be under the yoke of Babylon (chapter 27).
Yet another time, the Lord tells Jeremiah to bring a clay jar to one of the gates of Jerusalem. There Jeremiah had to announce to the city that they were about to be ruined and destroyed. Then Jeremiah had to smash the clay jar to the ground and proclaim that the Lord was about to smash the city and the nation just like the clay jar was smashed. (chapter 19).
I know of a colleague of mine who wanted to dramatically re-enact this particular “clay jar” Jeremiah story. He hid a clay jar behind the pulpit. At just the moment in the sermon when he was emphasizing Jeremiah’s words “I will smash this nation just as this potter’s jar is smashed”
out came the clay jar from behind the pulpit.
This preacher then threw the clay jar against a brick wall that was not too far away. Now I am not sure whether the jar was stronger than he anticipated, or whether he simply didn’t throw the jar hard enough, but that clay jar simply bounced off the wall, unbroken.
There was stunned silence, by the congregation and the preacher. On that day, this preacher learned that being a prophet was a lot tougher than it looked.
PASSION OF THE LORD
The reality is that Jeremiah had a tough job.
He had to communicate the passion the Lord had for his people.
The tough part was that these people did not have a passion for the Lord.
This third chapter of Jeremiah is a continuation of the Lord’s passionate lament for his people. Last week we looked at chapter 2. Chapter 2 spells out the many ways his people had forsaken him, had chased after other false sources of security, and false gods of comfort. Now this week we are in chapter 3. Chapter 3 begins with God wondering “what he should do?” Should he, the jilted lover, take back his wayward spouse?
“I WILL NOT, CANNOT, SHOULD NOT, TAKE THEM BACK”
We might wonder, why not?
Why doesn’t God simply take her back?
Hey, the past is the past – forgive and forget. God is in the business of forgiving, we are in the habit of sinning. So why doesn’t God simply forget about any punishment?
But it isn’t that simple.
Jeremiah is written with the whole covenant history as a back-drop. It is especially the book of Deuteronomy that Jeremiah holds in front of Jerusalem.
In chapter 7 of Deuteronomy, God makes the conditions of this covenant very clear:
“I will lavish my love, my affection, my blessing on you, my people Israel.
And you are to be faithful to me and to my commands.” Plain and Simple.
“But, if you are not faithful, there will be consequences.” God says: “Disobey me, turn your back on me, and you will face destruction, I promise.” Also simple.
Judah had disobeyed. She had turned her back on God.
Judah deserved to be punished.
Even if God wanted to welcome her back, he could not.
Why not? The Law prevented it.
In Deuteronomy 24, the Law says that if a woman wanders off from her husband and marries another man, then their relationship is over, finished. Even if, after some time, the wayward wife wants to return to her first husband, and even if the first husband is ready to welcome back his first wife, by law, the husband could not take her back. (Deuteronomy 24).
This is what God is saying at the beginning of chapter 3. Even if he wanted to, God could not take Judah back. The Law, his word, his promise, prevented it.
Besides, he goes on to say, why would he want to take her back?
Judah was unrepentant. Her religion was all a show, a pretense.
Faithless Israel in the north was bad enough.
Now unfaithful Judah in the south was showing she was no better.
By the end of verse 10, the answer to God’s question, “Can I take her back?” is “No”. No, No.
Because of the Law, I can’t.
Because of her unfaithfulness, I won’t.”
BUT…I MIGHT YET TAKE THEM BACK
But then…… at verse 11…… there is a change.
To the question “Can I take them back?” God is suddenly answering, “Maybe.”
“If you return, faithless Israel, I will frown on you no longer
If you acknowledge your guilt, I will restore you.
If you truly repent, I promise you, things will be much better.”
Suddenly, the answer to the question changes —
“Maybe God will take them back?”
Why the change?
Because God has a deep, deep desire to have them back.
Even if it means bending his own law,
even if it means twisting the covenant,
even if it means God himself risking humiliation,
God wants them back.
If only, if only, they repent
then I will be a faithful husband to them and choose them all over
again.
In a change of metaphor, in verse 19, God says,
“If only they repent,
I will be a parent, and they will be my child.
Then How gladly would I treat them like children,
how gladly would I give them a desirable land
and the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.
If only, if only… they would call me Father and really mean it.
If only, if only…. they would follow me and not wander away.
HOW CAN I TAKE THEM BACK?
But then, we have verse 20. Reality hits.
“How can I take them back” God cries, “They are unfaithful, unrepentant.”
This is the torn heart of God throughout the book of Jeremiah.
“Can I take faithless Judah back?
No, No, I can’t. I can’t.
But do I want to? Yes, Yes, I want to, I want to.”
This is the heart-wrenching tension:
On the one hand, God says “I have my promises, my word, my covenant –
I can’t break my own laws.”
But on the other hand, God shows his deep yearning passionate heart that
desperately wants his wayward people back.
A heart willing to bend, and bend, and bend.
This tension goes on for a long, long time.
Again and again Jeremiah speaks for the Lord and says:
* “I’ve warned you for the last time, you are going to be destroyed.”
Then, he gives one more chance:
“If I can find just one person who is honest, I will forgive this city” 5:1
* “I’ve warned you for the last time”
Then “If you just repent, I will restore you.” 15:19
* “This is it, destruction is at the door.”
Then “If you repent of your evil, then I will relent and not bring disaster.” 18:8
* “Last chance people!”
Then “Perhaps now they will finally listen and repent and I will not bring disaster” 26:3
* “This is really the last chance, really.”
Then “Perhaps if they hear again the disaster that is coming, they will repent and I will forgive them” 36:3
Sounds like the parent of a 3-year old.
For 40 years Jeremiah wanders around Jerusalem saying destruction is
around the corner.
For 40 years, Jeremiah dramatically buries linen belts, wears heavy yokes, smashes pots to the ground, each time with the same message, “Repent, or you will be destroyed.”
Each time, destruction never comes.
People simply smiled, amused. They laughed at Jeremiah.
They said, “Don’t panic, don’t worry. False alarm, folks. Everything is going to be alright.”
What is most infuriating about the book of Jeremiah is that God’s heart is bleeding all over the place, but the people’s hearts are stone cold — there is no response, no repentance, the people do not even blush.
There is a point where Jeremiah is so tired of God’s patience, that he says, “Just kill me now, Lord. I can’t take it anymore” (chapter 19).
DRAMATIC MOMENTS IN LIFE
The job of a prophet is still tough work.
We are still so slow to listen.
Even when it is something dramatic — a ruined linen belt, a smashed jar, a heavy yoke – even when something in our lives has almost been ruined, almost smashed, almost overwhelming, it still often makes little difference.
How many times have we had a near accident or a close call.
Had it gone just slightly differently, a matter of seconds, a matter of inches, and things could have been much worse?
How many times have we been scheduled for a medical test, or lived in the shadow of some bad news with the burden and weight of worry?
How many times has something in our world been hit hard:
our marriage seemed to be on its last legs;
our career teetered on the edge of collapse;
our finances buried deep in debt, and we didn’t know where to turn?
But did it change us?
Did it really make us look at life differently?
Did it knock us to the ground so that we got up new and different than
before?
Did we really repent?
Or did we simply get up and say to ourselves,
“False alarm folks. I’ll be alright. No need to over-react?”
What about us – how many times do we know things must change and we don’t change them?
GOD SENDS A NEW PROPHET
And what about God? What did God do?
How did God resolve this tension between his Law and his Love?
How did God resolve this heartbreaking tug-of-war between his spoken
Word and his yearning heart?
How did God resolve this tension between his promise to destroy and his
passion to forgive?
What God did was send another prophet.
He sent another prophet to weep over Jerusalem,
To cry,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who have killed the prophets …
How often have I longed to gather your children together like a hen
gathers her chicks (Matthew 23:37).
He sent another prophet to carry a wooden yoke – in the form of a cross – not only to warn of punishment, but to be the punishment.
He sent a prophet to be a clay jar of humanity — smashed to the ground, and beaten, and carrying our curse.
He sent this prophet to be a linen belt — broken and buried, and bearing the death we deserved.
He sent his Son to bend, and bend, and bend… until he broke
so that the next time we hear God ask,
“Now do you finally know what will bring you peace?”
we might actually listen.
Amen.
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