Monday 07 July 2008
- Bible Book:
- Jeremiah
"Thus the Lord said to me: Make yourself a yoke of straps and bars, and put them on your neck ... any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, says the Lord, to till it and live there. Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live." (v.2, 11-12)
Background
The prophet Jeremiah was a deeply sensitive and caring personwith a very difficult job to do. He had to tell his people, theIsraelites, that it was God's will that they should suffer. Hewarned King Zedekiah and the other nations around him that they hada stark choice to make - resist and suffer the consequences, orsurrender and survive. Jeremiah also warned the king not to listento false prophets who only told him what he wanted to hear. It wasGod's will that the people should be taken into captivity but oneday they would return home.
But Jeremiah was imprisoned for delivering this message andsuffered by seeing his people ignore his warnings and being carriedoff into captivity without him. The only piece of good news inJeremiah's life it seems was that for a brief period he was welltreated by the conquering king - Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (inpresent day Iraq).
As a visual gesture, to back up the lesson God was trying to teachthe people, God asked Jeremiah to make and wear a yoke of leatherstraps and bars. The yoke and the spoken message should beconsidered as two separate acts adding impact to each other. Themessage was one of doom and gloom but the yoke was an invitationfor the people to join themselves to God during this difficulttime.
It is likely that Jesus, knowing the Scriptures well, had thisincident in mind when he invited his disciples to
To Ponder
Are these words from the Methodist Church'sCovenant Service - "Put me to doing, put me to suffering" aboutasking God to make us suffer, or about accepting whatever is God'swill for us? Why?
Many people come to Britain as refugees afterconflict in their own countries. In what ways do they suffer andwhat do we gain from their presence with us?
When have you wanted to hear, or have felt youshould have stated clearly an unpalatable truth? What held you backor made you decide to go ahead?