Perusing the
library of Sacred Scriptures this summer, I decided to read through the book of
the prophet Jeremiah. One of the most tragic and unnerving figures in Old
Testament literature, I have found Jeremiah to be particularly relevant for our
world today. In exposing sin and injustice, he confounded the comfortable and
perturbed the presumptuous. He prophesied national defeat when others believed
Jerusalem could never fall. They thought he was a blasphemous traitor, when,
far from desiring Judah’s destruction, he hoped his country would be repentant
and become a holier, more just kingdom. A recent message thread with my sisters
about Megan Rapinoe got me thinking the other day about actions at sporting
events that protest the status quo. I couldn’t help but think of Jeremiah and
his own controversial signs he had performed. And I thought, might Jeremiah be
a lens for interpreting and appreciating sporting arena protests? No doubt an
unsettling (perhaps touchy) topic, so first, let’s take a look at our prophet
from Scripture.
I don’t want to belabor you with too much about
what a prophet is. One of my earliest, longest, and (not surprisingly) least
viewed posts is all about the prophets. If you want, you can check that out by
clicking here. I will, however, recycle a quote
from scholar Victor Matthews. The prophet’s “role was to challenge the
establishment and the social order, to remind the leadership and the people of
their obligation to the covenant with Yahweh, and to warn the people of the
punishment that would surely ensue if they violated this covenantal agreement.”[1] It’s no wonder
prophets, like Jeremiah, were so unpopular.
Now there’s a lot of historical and political
intrigue going on in Judah during Jeremiah’s career, but I’ll be honest, it gets
really convoluted. Kings are killed in battle. Puppet kings are put on the
throne. Egypt’s in control. Babylon’s in control. Judah’s allegiances
flip-flop. There’s a smaller exile in 597 BCE, and then the really
bad one happens twenty years later when Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed.
And up until then, the people still thought that they couldn’t be defeated.
Yeah. Little ol’ Judah… against Babylon. Really?
But “the temple of the LORD! The temple of the
LORD! The temple of the LORD” – so the people thought to put their trust (Jeremiah 7:4). Indeed, Jerusalem, seemed to have miraculously survived a
devastating siege by the Assyrians over a century earlier. But Jeremiah
condemns the presumption that they would be safe because of the temple.
On top of Judah’s tumultuous political crisis,
the religious reform begun by King Josiah never really came to fruition after
his untimely death in battle - not long before the call of Jeremiah. So not
only is Judah politically weak, they’re also morally bankrupt. They’re still
worshipping false gods, their worship of the LORD is empty and insincere,
and they do not keep the covenant commands of justice and love of neighbor.
They have not protected the widow, orphan, and immigrant. In the midst of all
this, Jeremiah is called by God to preach repentance and eventually to
prophesy Jerusalem’s destruction and, with it, the temple as well.
Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your
deeds; if each of you deals justly with your neighbor; if you no longer
oppress the alien [sic], the
orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or
follow after other gods to your own harm, only then will I let you
continue to dwell in this place…
But look at you! You put your trust in deceptive
words to your own loss! Do you think you can steal and murder, commit
adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal, follow other gods that you do not
know, and then come and stand in my presence in this house, which bears my
name, and say: “We are safe! We can commit all these abominations again!”?...
And now, because you have committed all these
deeds—oracle of the Lord—because you did not listen…I will do to this
house, which bears my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave
you and your ancestors, exactly what I did to Shiloh. I will cast you out
of my sight… (7:5-7a, 8-10, 13a,
14-15a)
What had become of Jerusalem and its temple? What
had become of our ancestors in faith at this time in history? Had not the
temple, a good and holy thing, become an idol? In their eyes, this edifice was
an emblem that seemed to say, “God is on our side (whether we live justly or
not) and therefore we can’t be beat.” And to them, Jeremiah’s denunciation of
the temple was both blasphemy and treason. How dare he say that in the
name of the LORD!
As with other prophets, Jeremiah did not just
preach the message. He also performed prophetic actions to convey God’s Word.
For example, in chapter 27 the LORD commands Jeremiah to place a yoke on
his shoulders to signify that the people should submit to the yoke of Babylon
or perish. One of my favorite passages in all of Scripture is chapter 13,
when God orders the prophet to bury an unwashed loincloth near a river. After a
while, Jeremiah is told to fetch the cloth, only to discover that it is rotted
and good for nothing. And then God says, “So also I will allow the pride of
Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem” (v. 9). Not the most charming
of stories, but I love how in verse 11 God says to Jeremiah, “So close as
the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD; to be my people,
my renown, my praise, my beauty.”
What a profoundly intimate image of God toward
his people! To think, this is how close we are to God! I mean, don’t overthink
it, folks. This is poetry in action. But the point is that this is not a god
who is distant and indifferent; this is the God who deeply cares for us and
wants to be in union with us. And so you can hear the sigh of heartbreak when
God then says: “But they did not listen.”
It’s prophetic signs like these that bring to
mind certain actions of athletes at sporting events. Although there are many
other kinds of symbols used in protests, there’s something about kneeling
during the national anthem before a game or raising a fist on the medalist
stand at the Olympics that strikes a powerful chord - whether people like it or
not. For one, these are high-profile people on a vastly public stage. But I
also think it has so much to do with the startling juxtaposition of criticism
and dearly held national symbols. Consider the British suffragette, Emily
Davison (not an athlete herself), who, it would seem, tried to pin a women’s
suffrage emblem to, not just any horse, but the king’s horse!
In any case, it was the king’s horse who crashed into her and killed her, and
if that wasn’t a high-profile protest colliding with a national symbol, I don’t
know what is.
Sit-ins and marches send a message, no doubt, but
mess with people’s symbols, and you strike a well of emotions that runs
inordinately deep. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a sports fan, but
even I couldn’t escape the tidal wave of opinions in the news and social media
about Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem. I hardly watched a
lick of the Women’s World Cup, but I still heard about Megan Rapinoe’s public
activism. And I was far from even being born when this photo of Tommie Smith
and John Carlos was taken,
but the image still reverberates today. Symbolic
actions like these send some people into tailspins, but honestly… they ain’t
got nothing on Jeremiah.
One of Jeremiah’s most shocking prophetic signs
is when he takes the elders and priests out to Jerusalem’s city dump
(Ben-hinnom) and shatters before them an earthen vessel, saying “Thus says
the Lord of hosts: Thus will I smash this people and this city, as one smashes
a clay pot so that it cannot be repaired” (19:11). What makes this act so
provocative is that when a king was installed, he was presented with pottery
inscribed with the names of enemy nations, and the newly anointed king would
break them with a rod, symbolizing his power over them. An echo of this is
referenced in Psalm 2, a coronation hymn: “With an iron rod you will
shepherd them, like a potter’s vessel you will shatter them” (Ps 2:9). To
put Jeremiah’s action into context, imagine someone gathering congress at a
garbage dump, burning the American flag, and saying “This is what will become
of the United States!”
Jeremiah’s prophetic signs were intended to draw
his people’s attention to God’s message of conversion. Likewise, the actions of
athletes who take the knee during the national anthem, enter the field with
heads bowed and arms raised, wear jerseys that say “Los Spurs” or “Los Suns” or
shirts emblazoned with “I CAN’T BREATE” are calling us to examine our
conscience about a message we’re not hearing with mere words – a message we
perhaps don’t want to hear. Far from disrespecting the flag or country, and farther
still from symbolic acts of treason as Jeremiah teetered on, these prophetic
actions in our day are rather signifying injustice in our midst. That there are
systems in our country that are broken. That racial prejudices have fueled
police brutality against minorities. That our immigration laws and attitudes
are unjust. Etc.
The leaders of Judah were outraged by the words
and actions of Jeremiah. They denounced him as a liar and a traitor and they
tried to kill him. Yet for all of the religious and social critique that he
preached and all the devastation he prophesied, Jeremiah did not despise his
nation nor his fellow countrymen. On the contrary, it tore him up inside that
he was called upon to proclaim such a demoralizing message and that his people
would suffer so much. He wished he could remain silent, but alas, he felt
compelled to utter his warning (cf. 8:18-23, 20:7-9).
Moreover, he prophesied God’s judgment and
Jerusalem’s fall not out of spite, but in sorrow for a people who could do
better. There is hope in Jeremiah, and in chapter 31 he speaks of the new
covenant God will make with Israel: “I will place my law within them and
write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my
people” (v. 33). Although he vehemently condemned their sins and
foretold the dire consequences of their actions, ultimately
Jeremiah believed that, by God’s grace and mercy, they can be a holier, more
just nation. This, I believe, is what motivates prophetic actions in today’s
world, not spite or contempt.
Jesus of Nazareth faced a similar experience as Jeremiah. He criticized the religious and social corruption of his time. He, too, challenged the authorities’ presumptions about the temple and was thought to be a blasphemer and a traitor. His words and actions defied the nationalism of his day (e.g. conversing with a Samaritan woman and pagan officials). Even his teachings regarding the family as those “who do the will of God”, or his pithy response of “Let the dead bury the dead” to the man who was going to have a funeral for his father were ways in which Jesus broke with the prevailing tribalism in favor of a far more encompassing kingdom than that built on bloodline or citizenship. But this does not mean Jesus hated his country or fellow Jews either. He wanted them truly to be a light to all the nations as they were called to be (cf. Is 42:6, 49:6, 60:3, and Mt. 5:14-16). Disappointment, criticism, or even anger toward the status quo are not reprehensible; they are catalysts for change toward the better.
By the time I write another post you can probably
read the entire book of Jeremiah from beginning to end, but for this week I
recommend 7:1-15, 13:1-11,
and 19:1-15.
These are not necessarily comforting passages, but then, the Word of God is not
always meant to console. Oftentimes it calls us to task and cuts us to the
quick. Jeremiah’s protests and signs disturbed and infuriated his audience, as
sometimes the prophetic actions of athletes do today. Nevertheless, we are
called to recognize that things are not right in the world. Things are not
right in this country, where racial prejudice threatens the lives of black
Americans. Where minorities and the economically poor are inhibited from
advancing in society. Where bigoted remarks from the nation’s leaders are
dismissed or, worse, defended. Where women do not receive equal pay for equal
work. Where even a viable yet unborn infant is unprotected. Where the cries of
our brothers and sisters seeking refuge from the violence in their homelands
are being ignored. Families are torn apart; children are caged in detention centers;
walls are raised, and tear gas is hurled.
Read these or other passages from Jeremiah and
ask yourself: do we listen? Or do we let pride obstruct us from
hearing the message to reform. Have good and honorable symbols become idols, as
the temple had? Does a piece of cloth or a song mean more than a human life? Do
we persecute the prophets among us because they look, speak, think, or believe
differently than we do? Has nationalism turned our hearts into stone? And what
future do we face if these things are so?
Until next time,
Peace and all good,
[1] Victor H. Matthews, The Hebrew Prophets and their
Social World, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 19.
