Jeremiah 45: Weary from Groaning
Monday, January 21, 2019
From Psalm 6, we hear a plaint from one who is weary from groaning, whose life has become a living hell.
In the HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE DICTIONARY Sheol is described as a biblical term for the netherworld and even, in Isaiah 5:14, a reference to a power that can destroy the living. Sheol is another word for Hades; it is a place where departed spirits live (Proverbs 9:18). It may also be the deepest depths of the earth (Deuteronomy 32:22 and Amos 9:2) where there is no light, no joy, and no hope. (Achetemeier 1011) In Sheol there is only darkness and terror; and some of us have been there . . . and back.
How do we humans climb out of the miry cistern in which we sometimes find ourselves? What do we do to calm inner terror even though we manage to dry outward tears? How is it possible for us to experience the happiness and warmth of a life lived in faith when all possibility of rescue seems gone? What do we do to stop the chattering of trembling bones and chase away our too many foes? How do we sleep on a bed that is drenched from our weeping?
Jeremiah is a Book we will want to open when we find ourselves overcome with grief. His prophecy is one that speaks to those who have visited the depths of despair or who are even beyond the place where all hope is abandoned. Today we are told that Jeremiah’s words were recorded by his secretary Baruch and we might wonder why the prophet wishes to terrify us. When we reflect further we know that Jeremiah’s real message is not fear; rather, it is this: with God there is hope for the hopeless, there is gain for those who have lost all, there is rescue for the weary, and there is planting where before there was only uprooting . . .
Jeremiah’s life and prophecy, we are told, require “us to face up more directly to the impediments and barriers along the way than to bask in the complete light at the end of the way . . . God intends prophecy to guide us through the path of human, emotional reactions, not round about them. If we transfer this approach into New Testament thought, Jesus is ‘the way and the truth and the life’ (Jn 14,6) – therefore, as much the way through human life as its destination, as much the truth that gradually emerges along the way forward as its definitive statement, as much life in its stages of growth as it is life bearing fruit t harvest (Mt 4,26-29) . . . Jeremiah does not allow us to detour round a difficulty. Persons gifted with keen, sensitive emotions, and thoroughly involved in their work and message, do not normally avoid the excesses of these virtues! They plunge straight ahead”. (Senior RG 305-306)
Jeremiah speaks his words to us today through his faithful secretary Baruch. When we feel ourselves sinking into the profundity of his muddy cistern, when our bed is drenched from our weeping, when we are weary from all of our groaning . . . let us plunge straight ahead and move toward God, singing as the psalmist sings:
Away from me, all who do evil! The Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my prayer; the Lord takes up my plea. My foes will be terrified and disgraced; all will fall back in sudden shame. (Psalm 6:8-10)
A re-post from Monday, January 21, 2012.
Images from: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+6%3A8-10&version=GNT;NRSV;CJB;MSG and http://www.alljewishlinks.com/steps-to-becoming-a-jewish-scribe/
Achetemeier, Paul J. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE DICTIONARY. 2nd edition. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996. 1011. Print.
For more on the Book of Jeremiah see the page on this blog: Jeremiah – Person and Mesage
For more information on Jewish scribes, click the images above or go to: http://www.mmiweb.org.uk/gcsere/revision/judaism/people/importantpeople.html or http://www.alljewishlinks.com/steps-to-becoming-a-jewish-scribe/
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