Day 15: Jesus gives us a different way to accept rejection—God’s way

Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 5.1-9 and John 5.30-47

It seems to me that in the Jeremiah passage, the prophet is frustrated, angry, that the people are not listening to him; they are not repenting. So, what does he do?  As most prophets, he says, since you didn’t listen to me, God will get you—and it won’t be pretty!

     “Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them; a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.  A leopard is watching against their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces…”

     “Shall I not punish them for these things? Says the Lord; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”

During this season of Lent, let’s try to avoid wanting to hurt and demonize persons who disagree with our beliefs.  This is a time to be very intentional in our studies to develop an accurate and mature understanding of God’s nature.  Much of our understanding of God comes from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as best we understand it from Scripture, the traditions of the church, our reason and life experience. 

In our passage from the gospel of John, Jesus responds to rejection in a much different way:

     “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope.  If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

It seems to me the fully human Jesus (Christians make the claim that Jesus is fully human and fully divine) is expressing his sadness that people are not embracing his message, but he does not condemn them or wish them harm.

As Methodists, we make the following claims:

• that God created everything that exists in the known universe and beyond;
• that God is love and that God’s love is unconditional, meaning there is nothing we can do that will keep God from appropriately valuing each and every one of us; 
• that God is all-knowing, meaning God knows everything that can possibly be known;
• that God is all-powerful; I take this to mean that God motivates every creature (everything that exists) to do the right thing (whatever that might be) and God cares about and attends to the righteous needs of every creature;
• that God gives all creatures free will; all creatures have the ability to a lesser or greater degree to freely respond to God’s touch, God’s attempts to motivate – OR NOT RESPOND;
• that God is ever present, meaning God is literally everywhere in the known universe and beyond; there are no subatomic particles that are not in the presence of God.  This means God permeates our bodies!  Even though we may choose to deny God’s presence and not to respond, we never escape God’s loving and righteous touch.

Why have I shared all of this theology – another word for God talk?  God having the attributes I just described, would have no need to avenge God’s self or punish those that do not listen.  The words of Jeremiah tell me that the community of faith at that time was doing its very best to understand God’s nature, what it means to be in covenant relationship, with God and all of their neighbors.  Like us, they didn’t always get it right. 

We give thanks as committed Christians involved in a Lenten study in 2013 that we’ve had almost 2,000 years of God’s influence through the Holy Spirit and the witness and living presence of Christ to better (not perfectly) shape our understanding of God, our responsibilities as God’s covenant people, and therefore our witness and discipleship.  Thanks be to God! 

Rev. Jay Cole, Associate Minister/Minister of Crossroads Community Services