What do you see?
“Jeremiah, what do you see?” God asked the newly appointed teenage prophet. “I see a branch of ‘the waking’ tree,” he said. God said: “You see well. I’m awake and I’m watching over my word to perform it.” The almond tree, called the “waking tree” was the first to blossom as the winter closed and the always eager spring nosed its way in. The Hebrew name for the tree sounds like the Hebrew word for (among other things) “watch”. In the days ahead when the young man would see the blossoms of the tree, or the tree itself, he might say its name to himself and God would say, “Yes, I’m watching to perform my word.”
“Jeremiah, what do you see?” God asked again. “I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north” (as if it were about to spill all over the southern regions)
He saw the evil of Judah and was almost frightened by its depth, intensity and pervasiveness. He saw the reformation of the good king Josiah and saw that it was too little too late and that it changed the face of things but couldn’t change the heart of the nation. He saw the political upheaval at the death of Asshurbanipal, the fall of Nineveh in 612 to a coalition of nations headed up by the new Babylonian king, Nabopolasser and he would see, by and by, Nebuchadnezzar.
He wouldn’t be the only one to see all these things for all the little nations around Judah and powerful Egypt to the south-west would see the “boiling” that was going on in the north and they’d fret and plot and watch to see what the outcome would be. They all saw the political turmoil, the gatherings of nations and their armies but they didn’t see God, watching over his word to perform it. From time to time Jeremiah saw the sovereign God and that made all the difference but he too lost sight of the Lord who was calling him on just as Peter lost sight of Jesus when the waves got his attention and he began to sink. That's tragic in a way and yet sometimes sinking leads you to cry out, "Lord, save me!" Believing your faith can fix everything is surely a mistake and sometimes we need to get proof that it isn't faith in our faith that's the cure.
PT Forsyth, a stern Scottish theologian of several generations ago spoke the truth. Those who claimed that moral education, social and political reform would cure our diseases didn't know what they were talking about and two world wars cured us of the nonsense that "every day, in every way we're getting better and better." The frightening events, the destruction of cities, the pillage of nations—how could they be missed? What chaos, what wild beasts ruled the world (see Daniel 7)—how could anyone make sense out of it all, where was the sense, where was the meaning and purpose? Jeremiah told them—God was uprooting and planting!
There now, isn't that an interesting little piece of scripture, then! How well it opens up when we get a little of the background! How well it will preach. Delightful! Hmmm.
“What do you see?” God asked in Luke (3:1-2). Imagine how the world was boiling when Tiberius was emperor in Rome, and Herod was ruling in Galilee and his brother Philip was calling the shots in Iturea and Lysanius in Abilene; when Annas and Caiaphas were running the priesthood in Jerusalem and Pilate was governor in Judea. All eyes were on the power-brokers, everyone was watching for their moves and listening for their announcements but Luke says, “The word of the Lord came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.” All those big names and Luke uses them only to date the beginning of the ministry of the son of an old priest?
And this morning—and every other day—as I read the news and reflect on the ups and downs in my own life I seem to hear God saying: “What do you see, Jim?”
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