2022-11-9 Evening Prayer

 2022-11-9 Evening Prayer            Jeremiah 22:1-23  Matthew 25:1-13

Commemoration of Martin Chemnitz

In the name of the Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.  

The prophet Jeremiah had only one king of Judah with which he did not have to speak God’s judgment against. King Josiah deviated from the evil ways of his predecessors and those who came after him by initiating a religious reform while he reigned as king.  A copy of the Torah was found in the temple while it was being repaired. It was read to Josiah. Josiah had it read to the people. All the idols were cleared out of the temple.  And, the Passover was kept for the first time in decades in the palace as well as in households across the land. 

King Josiah was the one bright spot of leadership in Jerusalem that Jeremiah witnessed.  But, as soon as Josiah died and Josiah’s sons took over, they went right back to the evil ways that their father forbade.  Josiah’s faith and his commitment to keeping the covenant God gave on Mount Sinai changed not only religious practices, but also the way that the people in the kingdom treated one another and outsiders.  

As Jeremiah repeats God’s word, Jeremiah is confident that some will remember that it is possible to live as a nation with justice and righteousness. In those dreadful and disobedient years following King Josiah’s death, some will remember how things once were and how they can be again.  Jeremiah speaks God’s commands “Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.” 

Responding to God’s call for godly covenantal living with faith, repentance, and a biblically formed attitude and behaviors, will only lead to blessings.  Community life will flourish. Grace, love, and commitment will grow between neighbors and between people and leadership.  God blesses this kind of faith.  God through Jeremiah reminds leadership and people that life does not have to be so hard or ugly. Obedience and grace enhances life while ruthless power and fear destroy it. 

But, alas, the repeated call to return to God’s covenant fell on deaf ears and hardened and selfish hearts.  God’s judgment on Jerusalem was not averted.

The daily lectionary connects the reading from Jeremiah 22 with Jesus’ parable of the Ten Virgins.  That parable is a teaching about waiting for the fulfillment of Christ’s reign. But it has application for Judah and Jerusalem as well. 

Jerusalem was supposed to be waiting with faith, reverence, and love of God and neighbor for the coming Messiah.  Instead, they lived foolishly.  Except for the brief period under King Josiah, they burned their life light foolishly and sinfully. One could not tell the difference between the pagans and Israel.  It was all the same.  God’s patience wore thin. A ghastly judgment of war and exile was coming through the hands of the Babylonians.  Jerusalem was not prepared. They refused to receive God’s Word with faith and repent. 

These piercing words of both the Prophets and our Lord Jesus Christ serve to call our attention to the state of our faith.  Are we trusting in the LORD God only for our lives?  Are we responding with faith and orienting our lives around the Lord’s teachings?  Are we walking and living in our own confidence or are we living the lives God gave us with faith in the one true God who gives us Son?  We are given this opportunity, this moment in time, to lay our sins before the cross of Christ, so that we may walk forward with the blessing of Christ’s righteousness upon us. 

In the name of the Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.