Please read the passage before reading the commentary.
Jeremiah lived at the end of the monarchy. He walked with his people into exile. His task, before the Exile, was to call the people to repent of their sins. His constant preaching was that they were doing all wrong, that they were sinning, that they needed to repent or to Exile they would go. In fact, we use the term Jeremiad to describe this kind of preaching and writing that is full of constant fault-finding, doom-preaching and negative attitude of those who seem never to find a good word of encouragement to say.
Jeremiah certainly had much to criticize. In the midst of diatribe, condemnation and blaming, Jeremiah however, did foresee and preach that there would be a time of repentance and a return from Exile. A prophet must use all the prophet’s powers of persuasion and threat to guide the people to conversion.
When that fails and the doom has come upon the people, the prophet’s task changes to one of support.
The prophet cannot simply walk away and say, “I told you so”. He cannot leave them to wallow in their grief. He must speak to them words of comfort and kindness. The prophet knows that God desires not the death of the sinner, but the life of the sinner.
The prophet has to declare to the people that God is always ready to forgive and take back those who have turned their backs on God. “The days are coming when I will raise up a righteous shoot”. God always comes in mercy. The birth of Jesus is an example of this. When the fulness of evil filled the world, God sent the Sun, born in a manger, to show us what mercy means.
Now we are preparing to celebrate the feast of that birth. We celebrate to remind ourselves that we must be God’s mercy to others and that we have to grow as Jesus grew in wisdom, age and grace before God and people. We have to leave behind the Jeremiads and proclaim, through our lives, God’s mercy.
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