000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

270 Proper 20 [25]/Year C
prophet speaks not in self-righteous anger but in anguish over the
calamity the people bring upon themselves. The former tends to put off
listeners and destroy communication whereas the latter tends to build
identification and keep alive the possibility of communication and change.
Using language that echoes Genesis 1:1–2:4a, Jeremiah hauntingly
depicts the results of invasion and siege (4:22–28). Creation will be
reversed and Judah will revert to chaos, much as it was before God spoke
the words of creation: a waste, a void, without light, the mountains and hills
quaking as they come apart, no human beings present, birds fleeing, the
land a desert, cities in ruin (4:22–26). However, the destruction will not be
complete; God will leave open the possibility of regeneration (4:27).
The preacher can help the congregation consider whether the future
depicted in this text is one they want for their households, the congregation,
the nation, and the world. If not, the preacher can help the congregation
identify actions that bespeak repentance and that help others come face
to face with the coming consequences of a way of life based on idolatry,
falsehood, and injustice. Such consequences are more immanent for some
than for others. But even if collapse is months, years, even generations
removed, the preacher can ask whether people want their children, grandchildren,
or great-grandchildren to live in the chaos set in motion today.
The New Testament does not refer to this passage.
Exodus 32:7–14* (Paired)
Please see Proper 23/Year A for our commentary on this passage.
Proper 20 [25]/Year C
Jeremiah 8:1–9:1+ (Semicontinuous)
This passage continues the theme from the reading last week of Judah
being invaded by Babylon as God’s judgment on Judah’s unfaithfulness.
Showing respect for the dead was a key value in the ancient Near East.
Imagine the community’s shock that invasion will bring the disinterment
of the corpses of many leaders and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Their
remains will be spread before the heavenly gods the people had served—
sun, moon, and stars—and will lie like dung on the surface of the ground
before the empty deities impotent to end this disrespect (Jer. 8:1–2). The
prophet is relentlessly straightforward: this outcome is what the people
chose (Jer. 8:3).