Daily Prophets
Day 95
“Hear and give ear; don’t be proud, for God has spoken. Give honor to Adonai, your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains in twilight, while you hope for light, it is turned to gloom and God turns it to darkness. For if you will not listen my soul must weep in secret for your pride, my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because God’s flock has been taken captive.”(Jeremiah 13:15-17).
The opening of this snippet from Jeremiah is asking, begging, pleading even with the people to hear with their souls, with their ears and bypass the intellect that lies to them and tells them they will be fine. Let go of the false pride, the puffed-up ego and hear truth, open up your ears to what is really being said by God, by the poor, the needy, etc.
The only way to honor God, is to stop living entitled, privileged lives and be of service, keep the covenant with God and care for the poor, the needy, the stranger, etc. Honoring God is not in how we do sacrifices, rather to honor God we have to live God’s words, principles in our daily lives and be an example for the other nations. This was the call of God to the Jewish people and Jeremiah is telling them that there are consequences for their abandonment of God, the covenant and the principles.
Abandoning the principles, the values and the Words of God lead us to stumble around in the darkness and gloom. It leads to hopelessness and helplessness.It leads to despair, paralyzing fear, capture and enslavement by our inner negativity and outer enemies. Jeremiah is reminding us of these truths and he is totally invested in the people’s response.
Jeremiah, as with all prophets, is deeply invested in the welfare of the people. His soul is invested in the outcome. He is not angry for his sake, he is angry and rails against what the people are doing for their sake, for God’s sake. He is torn up inside, his soul weeps because of the stubbornness of the people. He is distraught beyond, beyond by the prospect/fact that the people of Judah will be taken captive. These are not the words and experience of an uncaring person.
Rabbi Heschel teaches: “Impassioned with a sense of the divine disturbance, Jeremiah could condemn with a vehemence that was at times terrifying and devoid of charity. But his own heart was rich in tenderness and sensitivity to other people’s suffering. He terrified in order to save… This, indeed, was the root of his anguish. Those whom he loved he was called upon to condemn.”(The Prophets pg. 120,121). Rabbi Heschel is reminding us that the prophets were not angry men, they were men who heard God’s call, saw the world through God’s ‘eyes’ and were terrified by the people’s lack of understanding and arrogance towards God. Jeremiah is not worried for himself, he is terrified for what it will do to the people themselves. He doesn’t want to see the people be taken captive, he doesn’t want to experience the captivity of those he loves and he doesn’t want God to experience this loss either. Lets not be too sensitive to the delivery of the message, be sensitive to the essence of the message, the call of the message. We know how deeply the messenger cares just by she/he bringing the message at all, rather than let us go down in flames without a warning.
In recovery, we know the stubbornness and pride that prevents us from listening, giving ear to and understanding messages to change our ways and return to God, family, decency, etc. We believed our self-deception that we could live any way we wanted to and get away with it. The errors of our thinking and ways finally opened up our ears, our souls and our ability to listen/hear the call of God to return to a life of decency and service. We were the bringers of darkness, we stumbled often and were hopeless until we made a decision to return to/turn our lives over to God. In recovery, we honor God each and everyday through our actions, through carrying the message, through acts of lovingkindness, charity, service, decent living, etc. In recovery we get to show up and we weep when someone else returns to captivity, doesn’t leave captivity and/or dies in captivity. We take it personally because each soul matters and when someone dies in captivity it is a tragedy for all of us.
I know Jeremiah’s pain and I know the pain of being seen as uncaring and angry. I understand that Jeremiah’s way is not always appropriate in every situation and, I see that Jeremiah could plead with the people from his soul and they still could not hear. Once people have decided something about someone, they are loathe to change their minds, no matter what the facts are. I have fallen prey to this way of being occasionally in my recovery and I am blessed to be able to hear God’s call to return and hear the person anew. I have also had Jeremiah’s experience of being exiled/be an outcast because of my message and my way of delivery. I weep/have wept Jeremiah’s tears and my soul aches from the pain of seeing people return to captivity and, at times, die there. Having stumbled for years, and, in contrast, much more rarely now, I am so grateful to God and the people who love me for speaking into my ears and helping me return to honoring God and not self. Honoring God, staying in pride and ego, where are you today? Stay Safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark