A Persistent Call

Jeremiah’s Call, “Die Bibel in Bildern,” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 19th Century, courtesy Pitts Digital Image Archive, Emory University, Atlanta, click the image to link.

Sermon Series “Through the Bible,” № 41, Jeremiah 1:4-10

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you . . . .” –Jeremiah 1:7

We move “Through the Bible” from Isaiah to Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s context is similar to that of First Isaiah. In your worship bulletin, I’ve printed some key sentences from a fine introduction by Walter Brueggemann.[1] Put a bit more simply, the text of Jeremiah was transcribed and edited by the generations that followed. In the process, Jeremiah’s emphasis on judgment, which had seemed so important in the original context, took a slightly lower profile.  What was emphasized during the Exile, and for the generations following, was God’s heartache about the situation, and hope that God would create a better future.

As we enter the book, Jeremiah is having a prayer conversation with God. But there is some confusion, as if Jeremiah feels something has been lost in translation.  As I reflected on this confusion, I wondered whether it might feel a little like the stories of text-messaging errors; these days, every family seems to remember at least one:

“Babe, I don’t feel like cooking tonight. Can you bring home some human beef? “Human Beef?” I mean HUNAN beef, from the Chinese place!”

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday, dead brother, Happy Birthday to you.” I’m so sorry – DEAR brother!”

In our scripture reading, Jeremiah responds as if God’s iPhone has made an auto-correct error. Jeremiah hears, "I've made you a prophet." Jeremiah replies, "I can't speak well enough. I'm not old enough. I'm not brave enough." It is as if Jeremiah is thinking, “The message must have been garbled in transmission. Maybe God meant ‘profit,” p-r-o-f-i-t, that would be good.” It turns out that Jeremiah heard the message right the first time.

When Jeremiah resists the call, notice that God doesn't say, “Oh, well, I guess I'll call someone else if you don't think you're up to it.” Rather, God’s call continues with gentle persistence. God is sensitive to Jeremiah's reluctance, reassuring him, saying “Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you.” Ultimately, however, God expects Jeremiah to go.

Jeremiah’s call narrative seems stylized enough that some scholars say it was probably part of a liturgy used in ordination, with certain predictable features. The template for this kind of liturgy starts with divine initiative, followed by human resistance, followed by rebuke and reassurance, and final commissioning to new service.[2]  From this perspective, the words record not only the experience of Jeremiah, but also the history of the Jewish people, who recognized in Jeremiah’s call a general pattern among people of faith.  They realized that God’s words to Jeremiah were a suitable challenge and comfort to all throw up a defense upon first hearing God’s call:  Don’t make excuses – “for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you . . . .”

It would be perfectly natural for you to hear this text, and think of the similarities it shares with stories about the call of Moses, the call of Isaiah, or the call of Jonah. But the call of Ananias, recorded in our New Testament reading, probably isn’t the first one to spring to mind. Ananias’s story also features God’s call, followed by fear and resistance, God’s reassurance, and final commissioning.

In this part of the Bible, we usually think of Saul’s conversion as a transaction between him and God. This text reminds us Ananias’s participation was an important part of the process. How differently the story might have played out if Ananias had said, “No, God, I won’t go.”

Perhaps you read the story of Jeremiah’s call, and hear something that sounds personal. Certainly, many pastors share stories about a Jeremiah moment in their call-discernment process. Nearly all of us have moments of resistance to what feels like God’s call to serve. The call narratives of scripture remind us God has a way of calling persistently, giving us more than one chance to embrace his will and walk in his ways.

We may overthink what a call must feel like, or overestimate the burden it will create. Perhaps we imagine that we will have to act more like Jesus, or at least more like Moses, and the gap between us and them is too great.  The great Jewish theologian Martin Buber once was pondering his call, and imagined what the final judgment would like. He said: “God will not ask me ‘Why were you not more like Moses?’ but ‘Why were you not more like Martin Buber?’” In other words, God doesn’t ask why you aren’t more like your favorite role model of character and duty.  Rather, God asks, “Why are you not more like the person I created you to be?”

Kyle Childress is a long-tenured Texas pastor who describes what happened in his congregation back in 2005.[3]  A tall, self-conscious seventh-grade girl in the congregation was on the middle-school girls’ track team. No one knew it at the time, but she was trying to fit in with what everyone expected of her, and no one more than her track coach. She started feeling uneasy neglecting what she really wanted to do, which involved living out her commitment to God and the church in a fuller way.  A Saturday track meet was postponed to the following Saturday, a date on which the church had a previously scheduled a mini-mission trip. The girl went to her track coach and told him about the conflict. When he told her, "Your teammates are counting on you and you can't let them down. I expect you here for the meet," she went home in tears. The next day, she composed herself, and talked to him again. He responded, "You are either here for the meet, or you turn in your uniform." More tears were shed that night. She went to him a third time, handed him her uniform, and walked away.

Pastor Childress ponders the way adults in the church responded to this incident. A few people said that they wanted to “whip” the coach (the standard Texas response, he says). Some dreamed of launching a campaign to take over the school board, and banning any school functions that conflict with church events. Many parents were upset, but also willing to go along with the coach’s discipline. Then, the girl translated her actions in terms of a divine call, saying, "This is about God." One of their own, a girl they had baptized and nurtured, was choosing God and church over her school sports team. Many were surprised even though that was the way they had raised her.

Choosing God and church instead of the track team – or the marching band, or the volleyball team, or the dance studio, or the swim team, or the drum line, or the martial-arts studio, or the bowling team –  is not exactly like standing up against racism or war, or ending up on a cross. But, like Pastor Kyle says, prophets old and new, all start somewhere.

NOTES
[1] Walter Brueggemann, A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998, pp. 1-20.

[2] Brueggemann, p. 24.

[3] Kyle Childress, “Expect a call,” “Living by the Word,” The Christian Century,  9 January 2007, p. 19.

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