Historical Information: To review very briefly the history of the people Moses and Josiah established in the “Promised Land” – we have, after all, just flipped from the end of Deuteronomy where Moses had brought the people of the Exodus to the borders of that promised land – to the very end of the monarchical period, some 600+ years later - VERY BRIEF:
Joshua, who received his appointment as leader from Moses, led the people into the land Moses had led them to. Under his leadership, wars were fought and won to settle the people there and he placed them under the leadership of “Judges” – charismatic but more local leaders who would give guidance and settle disputes among them. The period of the "Judges" would last from about 1200 to approximately 1000 BC.
With several extremely powerful empires around them – Egypt to the south and west, Assyria to the northeast and Babylonia to the southwest – the Jews ultimately felt impelled to abandon the decentralized form of government and establish a stronger, more centralized state, and so begged their leaders for a monarch. Around 1000 BC, a monarchy was established under Saul and then David, and this monarch grew in authority and regional power under Solomon, but when Solomon died around 962 BC, the “kingdom” had had ruled soon broke apart and two separate lines of kings ruled over “Israel” to the north and “Judah” to the south, centered around Jerusalem. In 722 BC the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians, and for another hundred and forty years, the kingdom of Judah tries to hold on to its independence in an environment that is increasingly aggressive. Around 650 BC, Jeremiah is born in Anathoth, to a priestly family three miles NE of Jerusalem. He is 22 years old when he hears a “call” from God.
Jeremiah 1- The Word of the YHWH is addressed to Jeremiah in the days of Josiah, and Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, Josiah’s sons – 608 to 587 BC. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you” (1:5). He tries to beg off, saying he cannot speak, that he is too young; but Yahweh encourages him and touches his mouth: “See, I place my words in your mouth! This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, to root up and to tear down . . .” (1:10). “For it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord” (1:18-19).
The prophet sets up the standard against which even kings, priests and people must measure themselves—among these three we have every kind of civic and religious authority—monarchy, dictator, religious establishment and even democratic opinion. The true prophet must be empowered against every earthly kind of authority, for he represents the divine plumb line against which all earthly authority must be measured.
Jeremiah 2 - Yahweh remembers the affection of Israel in the days of their first love like a lover remembering the ardent devotion of his first love: “I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride. . .” (2:2). What, he asks, made his amazing bride – the people he chose to be one with Him -- desert him. They “went after empty idols, and became empty themselves?” (2:5) Why is it no one asks, “Where is Yahweh?”
The love of God involves a seeking after him, an awareness that he is somehow absent. No one has knowledge of him any more – not the priests and rules, not the prophets. They follow “things with no power in them” (2:8). It is appalling – Yahweh says – unheard of: “. . .my people have committed a double crime: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, only to dig cisterns for themselves, leaky cisterns that hold no water” (2:13). Israel runs after idols and becomes degenerate, yet she is in denial (2:23): “Though you scour it with soap, and use much lye, The stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord God.” (2:22) [Reminds me of Lady Macbeth]
I so admire the way the Jews have embraced the harsh voices of their prophets, even this brutal prophet. We Christians have not shown ourselves to be up to this. Though the unfaithfulness is acknowledged, the ministry of condemnation is received by them in ways we Christians have not yet learned to emulate. The Reformers of the 16th century–and even earlier—lent their voices to the prophetic task, but they were largely rejected. Jeremiah did not do well at the hands of his contemporaries, but his scourging rebukes were eventually embraced. It has been now nearly five hundred years and only now is the Catholic Church beginning to see that there is a need for institutional repentance.Pope John Paul saw it in connection with the church's involvement with anti-semitism, but I wish the leadership of the Catholic Church would see it in connection with how the Church dealt with the "reformation voices" in its history; and I wish the churches established as a result of hard-headedness in the Catholic Church would see that perpetual separateness is not what we should settle for. None of the Jewish prophets went and established separate communities - they struggled with their people and were finally received as voices God had raised up. And how can we incorporate these voices into our very identity? When we find a way to do that, the splits will end – maybe; or, at least, they will begin to mend.
1 Corinthians 7 - “Sex is always a
danger,” Paul says. Marriage is
for this--neither partner owns his own body in a marriage. Each belongs to the other. So he thinks staying as you are at the
time of your call is best (7:25-40). He is sure the “world as we know it is
passing away.” The important thing is to give individual attention to the Lord.
He goes on to say that if you are
married, you are not to separate or divorce; or if you do separate, you
should remain single. He does
permit believing partners whose unbelieving spouses leave them to remarry. “The
brother or sister is not bound in such cases; God has called you to peace” (7:15). The overriding principle with Paul
seems to be that people should not worry about the state they were in before
their call, that decisions about changes to one’s earthly state should become
relatively unimportant in light of the fact that “time is running out . .
.[that] the world in its present form is passing away” (7:31).
What shall we make of
such advice today, made as it was from such a perspective? I think we ought not
to put much weight on it in the last analysis. On the question of how marriage “divides” us from
single-minded service to the gospel, it is true to some extent. Yet
every person must put the Lord first to some end. The single man or woman serving the Lord puts Him first in
order to serve the faith community.
The married person must put Him first in order to faithfully fulfill the
calling of being a spouse and a parent, a citizen or a friend—the only thing
that changes is the field of service, for there is no state of
life—excepting perhaps the purely contemplative—where only the Lord is served;
and then we need to ask “to what end” is He served?
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