Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary

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In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Jeremiah was not real fond of his lectionary.  God had given him the unenviable task of calling the city of Jerusalem to repentance for their unbelief, their evil sacrifices to Baal, and their lackadaisicalness if not outright hostility toward the God of Israel, their God, who had redeemed them from the hand of Pharaoh, who had given them a name, a land and a city to call their own.  The reason they lived in Jerusalem, the city of peace, is because their heavenly Father had delivered it to them with a mighty hand.

So God had put His Word into Jeremiah’s mouth to speak to the people, to warn them of their coming destruction, and to call them to repentance and faith in the one God who would save them.  Just moments before our text, God had placed Jeremiah at the Potsherd Gate outside the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, told him to carry a potsherd with him, and that he was to preach against the city for their idolatry.  God renamed it the Valley of Slaughter, for it is there that the people of Judah would fall, some to death, others to captivity in Babylon.

No, Jeremiah was not fond of this lectionary, but he preached it nonetheless.  This perfect law of God, through which their only hope of survival lay, this perfect law of God was not going to be received well.  Not this time, and it was a part of the pattern of life for Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.  Jeremiah preaches in season and out of season, and breaks the pot in their sight, signaling the beginning of their destruction.

This is not how to win friends and influence people.  The weeper does not want this message, but he sends it.  That is part and parcel of the ministry, after all. Our Lord Himself wept over Jerusalem, crying out to her that this warfare was folly, that He would redeem them of their sins, that God would place a heart of flesh into their heart of stone, and that He would keep them alive in the time of destruction.

But, much like Jeremiah, our Lord is taken outside the gate.  Jeremiah was beaten, scourged for the Word of God which He had spoken and enacted against the people.  Jesus is taken outside the gate, scourged, beaten and murdered.  The high priest’s man goes after Jeremiah for his message of doom.  The high priest himself attacks our Lord.  The high priest’s man goes after Jeremiah for what he thought was a false word from God.  The high priest goes after our Lord Jesus for claiming to be the Son, the very Word of God made flesh.  Where Jeremiah is bound in stocks of wood, our Lord is nailed to the wood of the cross.  Jeremiah is a shadow of the one to come, the prophet like Moses, Jesus Himself.

When Jeremiah is beaten and imprisoned by Pashhur, the chief overseer of the Temple, Jeremiah changes the man’s name.  He says to Him, “The LORD does not call your name  Pashhur, but Terror On Every Side.  4 For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will make you  a terror to yourself and to all your friends.”  Jeremiah knows that this man will end in derision, confusion and death, as will all who steadfastly reject his gracious invitation.

But here the comparison takes a different turn.  Jeremiah knows this man’s fate, along with all of Jerusalem.  Our Lord, too, knows their fate and ours.  But where Jeremiah changes Pashhur’s name to “Terror on Every Side”, our Lord, for them and for you, gives you a new name, a different name.  The name He gives to you is son.  For you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus, according to His word.  St. Paul reminds us:

“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:24-29 ESV [show]Galatians 3:24-29 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)
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The Law was your guardian and tutor, to teach you the will of God, until Christ. Christ has come, and though He was murdered outside the gate, He rose again.  Though we have abandoned Him just as the people of Judah in Jeremiah’s day, He has not abandoned us.  He gives you a new name.  That name has washed you and made you white in His blood.

“You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.  A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.” (Psalms 91:5-8 ESV [show]Psalm 91:5-8 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
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Jeremiah did not like the lectionary which God had given to him, but he delivered it nonetheless.  Even Jeremiah, in his crosses, could see the coming dawn of eternal life.  So weep and rejoice with the prophet, Jeremiah.  Weep that your sins are great, that you deserve the terror of the night like Pashhur and all Judah.  But rejoice, for though you deserve it, you do not bear it.  The terror of this day is but a shadow.  The joy of tomorrow lasts to all eternity.  Believe it for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

Jeremiah 20:1-6 [show]Jeremiah 20:1-6 Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the LORD. The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror On Every Side. For thus says the LORD: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely." (ESV)

Kramer Chapel
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana
June 26, 2008 (Jeremiah)
Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn