Jeremiah 25:15-38; 27:12-28:17
Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live.
Jeremiah 27:12b
That’s a hard thing to hear. In fact, it smacks of treason! Jeremiah might just as well be Nebuchadnezzar’s version of Tokyo Rose. Who wants to hear a message like that, especially when all the other prophets are much more encouraging? They, too, speak in the name of the LORD but are clearly much more loyal to the nation, much more patriotic — not like this traitor, Jeremiah.
We know that Jeremiah speaks the truth and that all the other “prophets” are lying. We know because we can look back and see how things work out for Judah and Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar. But when it comes to the voices around us today, it seems to me that we don’t do so well. In fact, I think we evangelicals do a pretty good job of training ourselves to believe the false prophets. Just think about all your Sunday School lessons: Moses vs. Pharaoh; Joshua and the walls of Jericho; David against Goliath; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego defying Nebuchadnezzar and his fiery furnace. It’s always victory through faith. And yes, faith is good! But where is the children’s Sunday School lesson on exile? Or surrender? Or suffering? Those require faith, too — deeper faith.
As a kid I could have easily told you about Daniel and the lions’ den or about Daniel’s friends and the fiery furnace. But I could have told you nothing at all about Jeremiah. Absolutely nothing. And I am pretty sure the reason for that is that we still don’t really want to hear what he has to say.
To whom do you listen?