Commentary on Jeremiah 15:10,16-21

The call of Jeremiah is renewed. We have today the third of Jeremiah’s so-called ‘confessions’, in which he bares his soul to God. It includes two responses from the Lord, of which part of one is included in today’s reading.

Jeremiah is experiencing a spiritual crisis half-way through his ministry and is feeling very sorry for himself. Here, God, far from issuing sympathetic noises, tells him to get his act together and to stop his orgy of self-pity. He calls Jeremiah back to a new conversion and renews, in almost the same words, the commands and promises of the prophet’s original call. (For a helpful picture of Jeremiah and his difficulties, see the Introduction to the Prophets in the New Jerusalem Bible.)

The tone is set by the opening words:

Woe is me…

The reason for Jeremiah’s moaning is that he has become, as a prophet, a source of strife and dissension. He regrets that his mother gave birth to him to have to face such problems in his prophetic calling. He sees himself merely as a source of strife and division everywhere.

He says:

I have not lent, nor have I borrowed…

And yet he has all this trouble, everyone is against him. We know how lending or borrowing money can be a serious source of friction and even violence between lenders and borrowers.

The people causing him so much trouble are those he is accusing of being unfaithful and disobedient to God, but they are being allowed to get away with it. Where is God’s protection for his prophet? In case his God is not aware of what he is going through and who is the real cause of his troubles, he says:

…know that on your account I suffer insult. (Jer 15:15)

He says It does not make sense, because he has been so faithful to God and his Law:

Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart…

He had made God’s word and God’s law his very own; he had assimilated them into his very being. For he had been called in Yahweh’s name; he belonged to Yahweh in a special way.

He never had anything to do with “merrymakers” (‘scoffers’ in some translations), the rich and the arrogant who felt they were above any law, including God’s. They were those who mocked at and rejected the message he brought. Under God’s constraint, he held himself aloof:

…under the weight of your hand I sat alone…

This means that he never married and he had few friends because, “with [God’s] hand” on him, he felt that that was part of his calling. Part of his loneliness was his distancing himself with indignation at the sins of Judah. The prophet’s lot can be a lonely one.

Why, then, does he have to suffer such continuous pain from a wound that will not heal?

…you are to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail.

God has become for him a treacherous brook, whose waters are inconstant. Jeremiah here, with a hint of sarcasm, accuses God of being undependable, in contrast to the Lord’s own earlier description of himself as a “fountain of living water”. Earlier (see Thursday of Week 16), Yahweh had said:

…my people…
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water… (Jer 2:13)

Yahweh then replies to Jeremiah’s ‘confession.’ The Lord commands Jeremiah to repent, then encourages him and renews his call. If Jeremiah is willing to return then God will happily take him back into his service. But there is a condition. He must speak ‘noble’, not despicable thoughts like those he has just been uttering:

…you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall serve as my mouth.

Only then can he truly act as the spokesperson of God. Those negatives thoughts will come back to him, but he must not go back to them.

If he follows the Lord’s command, then the Lord guarantees that he will be strong enough to face any opposition from the people:

…a fortified wall of bronze…

But there is no promise that life will be any easier. On the contrary:

…they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you…

Why?

…for I am with you
to save you and deliver you…

And this is a solemn pledge “says the Lord.”

Persecution and rejection are almost inevitable for anyone who takes a prophetic stance in the Church or outside it. The prophet, by his or her calling, calls into question the conventional wisdom of a society or church.

It is the role of the prophet, not so much to tell the future, as to point out the direction in which the community should be going—what it should be doing and what it should not be doing, and what the consequences of its actions are likely to be.

Sometimes the prophet, in order to be heard, may speak in very clear and blunt language. This is not likely to enhance his popularity with those who become the object of his attacks or criticisms!

Jesus told us to love unconditionally and to forgive forever, but he never, never said that we would be loved in return. On the contrary, he said that among the ‘blessed’ would be included those who suffered persecution for the sake of the gospel.

Jeremiah does not seem to have understood this fully. He felt that because of his loyalty to God he should have been protected by God and respected by the people. He told God this in no uncertain terms. In reply he was told that, as a prophet, he would continue to be scorned and rejected, but that he would be given the strength to carry on. We cannot expect anything different.