Oculi 3 Mar 2012

Dr Lutz Ackermann (Friedenskirche, Hillbrow)

Fundamental Questions (Jer 20:7-13) LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I am, and you have overpowered me. Everyone makes fun of me; they laugh at me all day long. Whenever I speak, I have to cry out and shout, "Violence! Destruction!" LORD, I am ridiculed and scorned all the time because I proclaim your message. But when I say, "I will forget the LORD and no longer speak in his name," then your message is like a fire burning deep within me. I try my best to hold it in, but can no longer keep it back. I hear everybody whispering, "Terror is everywhere! So let's report him to the authorities!" Even my close friends wait for my downfall. "Perhaps he can be tricked," they say; "then we can catch him and get revenge." But you, LORD, are on my side, strong and mighty, and those who persecute me will fail. (Jer 20:7-11a)

[prayer] When I hear these words from the book of Jeremiah, I am wondering: who would like to be a prophet? (bishop, pope, ABC?)

2013 REV. DR LUTZ ACKERMANN FRIEDENSKIRCHE (CHURCH OF PEACE), HILLBROW

When someone in the OT becomes a prophet it is, because he is called by God. The reaction, in general, is reluctance (Isaiah, Jeremiah); some, it seems can only be dragged in kicking and screaming (Moses). Others run away (Jonah). It is dangerous, tiring and frustrating to be a prophet. So, I guess, we can understand why Jeremiah arrived at the question: what am I doing here? Why am I doing, what I am doing? Now, the pious answer could be: because God wants me to do it, God has called me to do it. But Jeremiah is a bit more drastic: he says to God: you have enticed me to do it, you have seduced me, even you have deceived me. Thats not really flattering for God. Does God trick people into doing something? Is God a trickster? [we will encounter this issue again next week: Jesus in the Garden cf JCS version] Well, one thing at least is clear: for Jeremiah at this point in time it feels like God had seduced and deceived him into preaching Gods word and giving Gods message to the people and the leaders of the Israel. But he goes further: you have become too strong for me, you have overpowered me. Jeremiah is not only arguing with God (like Abraham or Job), he is wrestling with God like Jacob does. Only to find out: God is stronger. -I think, the question J. is essentially asking is a very fundamental one: why am I doing what I am doing? Was it my own choice that brought me to where I am now? If
2013 REV. DR LUTZ ACKERMANN FRIEDENSKIRCHE (CHURCH OF PEACE), HILLBROW

not, who do I blame or make responsible for what I am experiencing? My environment, society, my genes, my parents? My ancestors, other people, God? And what is my place in all this? Am I passive, a victim? Am I struggling, trying to find my own way in life, possibly against the plans and conceptions that others have for me? The answers may differ, not only from one person to the next, but for one person at different times in their lives (youth often feel very fremdbestimmt not being able to do and to live the way they want with a need to break loose). It will also depend on what we are talking about. If it is just what you wear, for example it is a minor matter. But if it is about assuming a position of responsibility like Jeremiah had to [e.g. council member, senior position at work], it is important to distinguish and to see clearly: is it something that we have been able to choose freely? Or have we been pushed to do it? Maybe we felt morally compelled to accept? At times we may even feel like God pushed us into something for which we were not quite ready, yet. But For Jeremiah it does not end there. You have become too strong for me, you have overpowered me he says to God. But then he speaks of how he experienced that in concrete terms. He wanted to forget the LORD and no longer speak in his name. He wanted to suppress this difficult calling that made his life apparently quite miserable. And that is understandable, preaching doom and destruction is not the sort of thing that makes a
2013 REV. DR LUTZ ACKERMANN FRIEDENSKIRCHE (CHURCH OF PEACE), HILLBROW

person very attractive or popular. On the contrary, he mentions anything from ridicule to persecution. But the funny thing is: it doesnt work. Once you are on fire, you cant hold it in, you cant keep it back. So in a second, very fundamental quest, where Jeremiah probes: what are my options? he has to find out, quite to his surprise, there are no options. Yes he can try, not to preach, when the spirit moves him. Yes he can try to keep quiet, where he sees injustice and violence happening around him. The problem is: it doesnt work! Its like a burning fire inside of him, it has to come out! -We too may from time to time arrive at this fundamental question and insight of Jeremiah. The question is: what are my options? Especially if I feel like I am in a place or situation not of my own free choice, but due to external influences, the obvious reaction would be: how can I get out of this? What are my options? Is there a way of breaking out? But like Jeremiah we could come to the surprising realization: it does not work! Have you ever experienced that? You say something like: I have had enough of this or Never again; you resign only to find that after some time you get an urgent phone call, there is some emergency and you are faced with the question: do I let everyone down, just because I stubbornly stick to my previous resignation? In a situation like that it sometimes happens that we come back, nilly-willy, but still. Why? Is it a lack of
2013 REV. DR LUTZ ACKERMANN FRIEDENSKIRCHE (CHURCH OF PEACE), HILLBROW

consistency and determination? Or is it maybe sometimes, because we feel there is a fire burning that keeps us going? There is something more important happening than our own idiosyncrasies. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves we feel called to transcend our negative feelings and do what needs to be done. If you have ever been through anything like that, you may have experienced what Jeremiah felt: I can try, not to serve God. But if his fire is burning within me, it wont work for a long time. Eventually that inner urge will become stronger than any reluctance or resistance on my side. == I think, in the New Testament, in the figure of Jesus we can discover a similar zeal as Jeremiah developed. Jesus, like Jeremiah, was a person who was driven by the understanding that God had called him. Like Jeremiah, it did not necessarily add to his popularity. But it seems that like the prophet of old, Jesus too had to say, when he asked what are my options?: it is burning inside of me and I cant keep it in. Where I see injustice, I just have to speak out! Where I see corruption and power plays I simply cannot keep quiet! This zeal and fervour, of course, as we know eventually would cost him his life. But it appears that even that could not stop Jesus. For him it was more important to do, what God wanted him to do than to save his own skin. And finally, we are told in the resurrection, Jesus experienced that vindication by God, which already
2013 REV. DR LUTZ ACKERMANN FRIEDENSKIRCHE (CHURCH OF PEACE), HILLBROW

Jeremiah spoke of: Even my close friends wait for my downfall. But you, LORD, are on my side, strong and mighty, and those who persecute me will fail. [] Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! He rescues the oppressed from the power of evil people.

I hope and I pray that we will be filled with that same fire which Jeremiah and Jesus experienced. That did not allow them to keep quiet, when they were faced with injustice and violence. I hope and I pray that we all will experience the same urge to speak out, when necessary, because the fire is there, inside of us, and cannot be kept in.

Amen.

2013 REV. DR LUTZ ACKERMANN FRIEDENSKIRCHE (CHURCH OF PEACE), HILLBROW