Jeremiah 29:1-2 – The Word As Trailing Indicator
Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive—to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) Jeremiah 29:1-2, New King James Version
"I can never be sure," admits Roger Kahn in Boys of Summer, "whether it is arrogance, hostility, or a streak of good sense that prevents me from taking millionaires as seriously as they would like to be taken. In the course of an education by journalism one frequently sees millionaires naked of press agents, but such intimacy breeds an unpredictable variety of attitudes."
Disillusionment is old, and useful. So is taking up the pen to guard against it, recover from it, or offer an adjusted perspective to those who have found themselves caught up in the optics of the elite. This is the prophet's place in Jeremiah 29:1-2.
Catch how much time the Holy Spirit spends on setting. Other times in Jeremiah's narrative, it's, "This is the message." "Thus says the Lord." "Spit it out." He is a staccato prophet of short messages ideal for the 21st century. Here, we get some context. This is when the Word came. We get an EKG of the exiles as Jeremiah writes to their spiritual leaders.
As with Kahn, carefully manufactured illusions are being stripped away. Jeremiah is a veteran of such existential discernment. He has been railing against the self-conscious grandeur of the elite for a long time, but this is an opportunity to minister to those who might be experiencing a hangover from the optics they bought into.
Jeremiah's message, pen and ink contending with royal pretensions, comes at such a time, juxtaposes the Holy Spirit, when the king's crown is shown to be symbol without substance. Even the gullible might begin to perceive the dissonance when the king they revered can't keep himself from being uprooted.
The Queen Mother would ordinarily be a figure of enforced stability, but she is subject to Babylon's will. The eunuchs, those whose entire life is bound up not in the rituals of family but in furthering the legacy of the king, they too are powerless. They are subject to an authority not of their choosing. Even the craftsmen and the smiths, those whose skills are essential to maintaining the appearance of royalty, they are also exposed as vulnerable.
This is a reboot. This is a moment of forced recalculation. This is a moment when, by God's gracious design, a guy with a scroll has a chance to engage priests without a Temple, and those priests and prophets have a chance to point people toward God, the REAL Authority.
The infotainment is off the air, exposed as so much fraud. For such a time as this, Jeremiah's pen was taken up. For such a time as this, Jeremiah's messengers undertook the slow hazards of travel. They won't be drowned out by assumptions or auspices.
Po Bronson, so far as I can tell from his book What Should I Do with My Life? unaware of the biblical cadence of his insistence, champions a similar calling. "I want to push people to be aware of what kind of glasses they're wearing. Our surroundings may have changed, but our perspective lacks. We all have our ways of looking at the world, and we have to ask, 'Am I looking through my own eyes, or am I looking through glasses I don't even realize are there?"
Where have the vicissitudes of life exposed and outdated the habits of our eyes to trail after glitter and power? Where would the Word whisper in such disorienting moments, "Walk by faith, and not by sight." Where have our kings proven powerless, other than for distraction, our smiths proven capable only of shaping idols for our hearts which, though grand, haven't provided real protection?
In this place, we need redirection, aid in detection. "If you really want to LIVE in the world," differentiates Henri J. M. Nouwen in Life of the Beloved, "you cannot look to the world itself as the source of that life. The world and its strategies may help you to survive for a long time, but they cannot help you live because the world is not the source even of its own life, let alone yours."
Or, perhaps we are further along in this reorientation. Perhaps, by grace, our place is Jeremiah's. Perhaps, with him, we wept and vented as the stability of the world seemed to drown out the subtle subversive notice of the life message of the Gospel through us. Now might be the time. Now, when assumptions have been exposed and erstwhile sovereigns over-extended, might be when we see God's Word, and God's Word animating the motions of men, vindicated.
"I can never be sure," admits Roger Kahn in Boys of Summer, "whether it is arrogance, hostility, or a streak of good sense that prevents me from taking millionaires as seriously as they would like to be taken. In the course of an education by journalism one frequently sees millionaires naked of press agents, but such intimacy breeds an unpredictable variety of attitudes."
Disillusionment is old, and useful. So is taking up the pen to guard against it, recover from it, or offer an adjusted perspective to those who have found themselves caught up in the optics of the elite. This is the prophet's place in Jeremiah 29:1-2.
Catch how much time the Holy Spirit spends on setting. Other times in Jeremiah's narrative, it's, "This is the message." "Thus says the Lord." "Spit it out." He is a staccato prophet of short messages ideal for the 21st century. Here, we get some context. This is when the Word came. We get an EKG of the exiles as Jeremiah writes to their spiritual leaders.
As with Kahn, carefully manufactured illusions are being stripped away. Jeremiah is a veteran of such existential discernment. He has been railing against the self-conscious grandeur of the elite for a long time, but this is an opportunity to minister to those who might be experiencing a hangover from the optics they bought into.
Jeremiah's message, pen and ink contending with royal pretensions, comes at such a time, juxtaposes the Holy Spirit, when the king's crown is shown to be symbol without substance. Even the gullible might begin to perceive the dissonance when the king they revered can't keep himself from being uprooted.
The Queen Mother would ordinarily be a figure of enforced stability, but she is subject to Babylon's will. The eunuchs, those whose entire life is bound up not in the rituals of family but in furthering the legacy of the king, they too are powerless. They are subject to an authority not of their choosing. Even the craftsmen and the smiths, those whose skills are essential to maintaining the appearance of royalty, they are also exposed as vulnerable.
This is a reboot. This is a moment of forced recalculation. This is a moment when, by God's gracious design, a guy with a scroll has a chance to engage priests without a Temple, and those priests and prophets have a chance to point people toward God, the REAL Authority.
The infotainment is off the air, exposed as so much fraud. For such a time as this, Jeremiah's pen was taken up. For such a time as this, Jeremiah's messengers undertook the slow hazards of travel. They won't be drowned out by assumptions or auspices.
Po Bronson, so far as I can tell from his book What Should I Do with My Life? unaware of the biblical cadence of his insistence, champions a similar calling. "I want to push people to be aware of what kind of glasses they're wearing. Our surroundings may have changed, but our perspective lacks. We all have our ways of looking at the world, and we have to ask, 'Am I looking through my own eyes, or am I looking through glasses I don't even realize are there?"
Where have the vicissitudes of life exposed and outdated the habits of our eyes to trail after glitter and power? Where would the Word whisper in such disorienting moments, "Walk by faith, and not by sight." Where have our kings proven powerless, other than for distraction, our smiths proven capable only of shaping idols for our hearts which, though grand, haven't provided real protection?
In this place, we need redirection, aid in detection. "If you really want to LIVE in the world," differentiates Henri J. M. Nouwen in Life of the Beloved, "you cannot look to the world itself as the source of that life. The world and its strategies may help you to survive for a long time, but they cannot help you live because the world is not the source even of its own life, let alone yours."
Or, perhaps we are further along in this reorientation. Perhaps, by grace, our place is Jeremiah's. Perhaps, with him, we wept and vented as the stability of the world seemed to drown out the subtle subversive notice of the life message of the Gospel through us. Now might be the time. Now, when assumptions have been exposed and erstwhile sovereigns over-extended, might be when we see God's Word, and God's Word animating the motions of men, vindicated.
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