(Jer.15:10,16-21; Ps.59:2-4,10-11,17-18; Mt.13:44-46) "If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand." The Lord called Jeremiah even from before he was formed in his mother's womb, but it seems he falls short of fulfilling that call, for the Lord says to His prophet today, "If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece." Indeed it seemed that Christ's words in His parable today – "The reign of God is like a buried treasure which a man found in a field" – had been realized in Jeremiah, who declares, "When I found your words, I devoured them; they became the joy and the happiness of my heart." Yet it seems the prophet struggles to heed the Lord's instruction to "put up for sale all he had," to give up all else to receive fully the gift of God's gracious presence. Jeremiah complains to God, "Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?" And what is this pain but the persecution he continually finds as "a man of strife and contention to all the land"? The Lord has called him to be a continual sign of contradiction toward His rebellious house, and the difficulties of this cross he must bear move the prophet toward despair. What is the "vile" matter of which Jeremiah must "repent" to become "a solid wall of brass" in his mission for God? It is, I believe, the "indignation" he says he has toward his fellow people, who, though evil in the sight of God, must be borne with patience, according to the Lord's call. It is his failure to be as really only Christ is – able to forgive His persecutors even as He stands nailed to the cross. Jeremiah must accept his weakness and trials, as does Paul later, but struggles greatly in this time before the coming of the Son. Yet the Lord promises to "free [him] from the hand of the wicked, and rescue [him] from the grasp of the violent." Yet the Lord is with him to answer his prayer when he cries out as has David, "Rescue me from my enemies, O my God; from my adversaries defend me." And yet he will know what David proclaims: "You have been my stronghold, my refuge in the day of distress." For whoever cries out to Him from the cross, the Lord hears; and to him He brings the greatest treasure of all – His own presence within him. (If you would find this "pearl" of greatest value, brothers and sisters, in a word, learn to love thy enemy.) ******* O LORD, you will defend us if we but trust in you; why do we not make you our pearl of great price? YHWH, you free us from the hand of the wicked, the grasp of the violent, for you are our refuge, our stronghold; and so, what need we fear? Let us trust in you and bear our Cross in joy. LORD, if we are to be your disciples, your prophets – your light – we cannot be less than you are. If with anger or indignation we speak to your people, how can it be you who are calling them to repentance? We must first repent ourselves of any vile matter that may be polluting our souls, and then we can serve as your image in this world. Help us to set aside all sin and attachment to sin that we might find you at work in our lives. O LORD, it is you who are the pearl of great price and so we should treasure above all our service of you and the persecution it necessarily brings. Would we be other than you were among us? Should we lay down our cross? Never, I pray. Rather, let us freely lay down our lives that we might find them in you.
