& i realize

the joke was on me

A sermon from Jeremiah's final lament:

Jeremiah’s prayer is a bit of a scandal for us. Isn’t it? The fact that thoughts like these are in our Bible, much less read aloud in our public worship, shocks us a little. Doesn’t it?

Because every week we gather here wearing out “Sunday Best,” acting as if we have no reason for being here. As if we have it all together. That we’re doing just fine on our own, thank you very much…

But poor Jeremiah, couldn’t pretend otherwise. 

Jeremiah’s life was lived, as we’d say, between “a rock and a hard place.” The rock, of course, was the Rock of the Ages; God. And the hard place was the people he’d been commissioned to speak to…

From the first day God spoke to Jeremiah, God had been incessant. Constantly assaulting Jeremiah with messages to deliver. That alone would be hard enough, but the people Jeremiah was to deliver the message to, were stubborn and they refused to give him a hearing time and time again!

Harder still was the fact that these two parties had only become more unmovable over the years! The people only became more obstinate and God only got more vociferous!

And poor Jeremiah was stuck between them, with no end in sight…

Eventually the pressure got to be too much to bear, and Jeremiah broke under the eight of it. He cried out. He made his grievances known; What was the point of all his struggles? The people were no more receptive than when we he started; and God was just as relentless! What was all his suffering for?

Worse still, whenever Jeremiah tried to quit, an internal pressure welled up within him. A pressure so intense, he couldn’t not speak!

Jeremiah was caught between can’t and can’t not…

Unable to bear the pressure any longer, Jeremiah uttered the unspeakable; perhaps it would have been better if he were never born…

And although it’s scary to admit, we have an idea how Jeremiah must have felt, don’t we?

We’ve all had moments like Jeremiah’s. The intensity may vary, but we’ve all been there. Those times and places that bear down on us.

We may try and pretend we’ve never felt that way, but today Jeremiah’s honest prayer cuts through all our pretensions. And thank heavens, because as he does so, he also puts his thumb to the pulse of what’s really hard about those moments.

That it isn’t whatever’s bearing down on us that’s so hard, it’s the why behind them. Or actually, the fear that there is no why behind them…

What’s really hard is how we can often make no sense of, find no reason for why the weight of the world is bearing down on us.

It’s like that old Taylor Swift song, “Trouble.”

It’s relatively benign, albeit catchy, song. Basically a jilted lovers tune. Suddenly and unexpectedly, though, Ms. Swift, the sage of our age, names what’s really hard about a break up singing: “When the saddest fear / comes creeping in / that you never loved her / or me / or ANYONE / or ANYTHING”

What any teenager knows is, what’s really hard about a break up isn’t the rejection. It’s the fear that maybe behind it all is never and nothing.

And it isn’t just with break ups, is it? It’s any time our hearts break under the pressure of life.

We’ve all, like Jeremiah, wondered what’s it all for, and when the answers don’t come, we worry that maybe it’s all for nothing!

Poor Jeremiah, like so many of us, couldn’t ignore that “saddest fear” any longer…

We can tell, too. In Jeremiah there are a series of laments, and this is the last one. These laments give us a glimpse into Jeremiah’s heart, and we see he didn’t pray this until he felt he had no other conclusion to come to!

What if that’s what’s really scandalizing about these prayers; that one of God’s people could find themselves in such a hard place?

And poor Jeremiah was born into that.

His life was lived, as we’d say, between “a rock and a hard place.” The rock, of course, was the Rock of the Ages; God. And the hard place was the people he’d been commissioned to speak to…

When the pressure got to be too much, those two unmovable objects broke Jeremiah. He could see no reason for all the pressure, and wondered why he was even, ever born…

Caught between The One who has caused all the trouble and the people who were giving him so much trouble, Jeremiah had to cry out to the only one there is to go to in times of trouble! Caught between can’t and can’t not, Jeremiah made his supplications known. 

And that’s the thing, isn’t it? 

It may not be a happy prayer, but it’s still a prayer!

Jeremiah couldn’t deal with God, but he couldn’t NOT deal with God, either!

It’s a paradox for sure, but that’s the nature of so much of our life when it comes to faith. And thanks be to God we have a God who does not spurn this fact. 

The truth is, for all our pretending otherwise, WE know what it’s like to stand where Jeremiah stood. We know how a heart feels when words like Jeremiah’s just come tumbling out. 

Each week we gather here for plenty of reasons, but the best are when we pursuing God with all our heart. Or, when our heart is broken and we come before God needing it all to be put back together. 

*Which are actually the same thing.

And that’s where Jeremiah was. 

His heart was broken, and the only one who could mend the breach was The One who had put him in a position to broken! And caught there, with nowhere else to turn, Jeremiah learned prayer. 

As the psalmist said long ago, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

At those cross, when Jesus made his final words his cry of “why,” Jesus took Jeremiah’s, and all our cries, and made them his own! 

Many of us are stuck between some hard facts, aren’t we? And we can’t help but wonder, “why.” “What’s it all for?” 

In the absence of any answers, we wonder if there are any.

Like, I remember in college, during a time when all my poor decisions were crushing the life I thought I had planned out. And one day during this time, a bunch of folks were arguing about God. All the usual points were being bandied about, why do bad things happen. 

And one guy had all the answers, an explanation for everything. What I remember, though, was being totally untouched. Listening to that gentleman with all his fine arguments, I couldn’t help but thinking, if he’s right, that only makes all this worse! If those answers are so easy, why is all this so hard?

Our trouble isn’t what’s troubling us, is it? It’s the why, or rather fear that maybe there is no why behind all the trouble.

So listen carefully, because here is God’s answer:

…and it is no answer! God gives you so much more than an answer! God gives you Jesus. God gives you The One who took your cries and made them his own! The One who wears your wounds!

At the cross Jesus threw himself between us and the nothing and never that would crush us, and let himself be crushed! 

His last words were a cry of “why,” and as he breathed his last, he took every such cry and turned them into a his own. Turned them into a prayer. A sacrifice, even!

The answer to your questions aren’t answers. You can’t explain pain away. You can’t reason your way out of it, can you? 

Thanks be to God you have a God who doesn’t try! 

What God gives you instead is The One who wears your wounds. The One who cries your cries.

Those times you’re trapped under the pain of life, they are the ones where Christ’s cross will set you free! The one’s his cross was made to fit in best!

Today if you’re caught in all the pressure in life, and who here isn’t; know you have a place Jesus’ cross fits just perfectly in. If you’ve cried out why in the night, know Jesus took that cry and made it his own. If you’re here nursing your wounds, know that Jesus wears them for you!

It’s a paradox, I know. But thanks be to God it is one your Lord and savior will not spurn!

In fact, it is one he makes into a prayer. Turns into an occasion for true worship. Makes a sacrifice out of!

So we’re about to sing “Healer of Our Every Ill.” And never a truer word has been spoken. As we sing, you can bring whatever it is that is weighing you down before The One who bears it, Jesus. And as you do, offer your burdens as a sacrifice to God. Offer your broken spirit, your contrite heart; Jesus will take it onto himself, make it his own. And in doing so, make true worship happen.