Daily Prophets
Day 100
“Thus said the Lord: I am devising disaster for you and laying plans against you. Turn back, each of you from your wicked ways and mend your ways and actions. Lord, You know all their plots to kill me, do not pardon their iniquity, do not blot out their guilt from You. Let them stumble before You, in Your moment of anger, act against them.”(Jeremiah 18:11,23).
Jeremiah and God are letting the people of Judah know what is going to happen and giving them an opportunity to repent and change the course of history. We know that they don’t and this warning and call is relevant for us today.
The first verse begins by reminding us that God is involved with and in the matters of humans. In Judaism, in the Bible, God is not distant, God is not far away, God is intimately involved and caring for humanity as a whole and each individual. The warning is a call to action by the people, not some capricious statement by God. The call is a reminder that actions have consequences and none of us are able to escape the consequences of our actions forever.
The second part of the first verse is a plea from God and Jeremiah: “I love you, I want you back, I miss you-please come home” is what they seem to be saying.These words are addressed to the nation as a whole and then to each individual.
The return can’t be by some decree of the king, it has to be an individual decision and commitment to change direction, to look at the ways I have strayed, the evil I have committed, the erroneous paths I have followed and do T’Shuvah for these actions. I also have engage in the soul work to mend my way of seeing things and actions that help me return to ‘right thinking’. Jeremiah is telling us ‘I’m sorry’ isn’t enough, we have to repair not only the damage, we have to repair ourselves.
In the last verse above, Jeremiah has just found out about another plot against him, they have dug a pit to throw him in so they don’t have to hear the truths he is telling them. Kill the messenger if you don’t like the message is their way. Rather than be grateful for Jeremiah’s warnings and path back to God, they believe if they kill him, everything else will be okay. Jeremiah, who earlier in this chapter, gave/gives them the way back is now being hunted and has to pray for the death of his enemies. How sad, how tragic it is that the people you try to help the most turn on you fastest. It hurts so much and is so bewildering.
Rabbi Heschel teaches regarding the first verse above: “Jeremiah did not think that evil was inevitable. Over and above man’s blindness stood the wonder of of repentance, the open gateway through which man could enter if he would.”(The Prophets pg. 104). Over and over again, the prophets remind us how much control we have in our life, in the life our nation and in the lives of others. Our actions either propel or retard the goodness of God, another(s) and ourselves. We impact each and every person and situation in our living and WE MATTER. Yet, so many of us forget this, we believe the lie that we can never return, we can never be transparent about our own errors, we have to blame another(s) and, for us there is no forgiveness so we have to deny any wrongdoing, which is what the people of Judah did! This is why Judah was destroyed and Jerusalem was ransacked and the Temple left in ruins, this is why we are in such turmoil today-still looking to blame another(s) for our errors and inadequacies, ie racism, etc.
In recovery, turning away from the paths that led us into a life of harming another(s) and self is a daily activity. Mending our ways and our actions is also a daily endeavor and we know that we will never do this completely so we continue to maintain the saying: “progress not perfection”. In recovery, we do not hide from ourselves and/or another(s). We have experienced the destruction and ruin that Jeremiah speaks of at the beginning of the first verse above, in fact we have been the cause of it and we know it. Our recovery is life-long because we know that we are susceptible to the call of the negative voice inside and outside us so we give ourselves, God, and everyone around us the gift of daily inventory so we can continue to mend our ways and actions.
I know the call of Jeremiah in the last verse, as do most of us. I know the deep wound of betrayal by people you have helped and/or are helping. I know that desire to get even and have someone (maybe even oneself) beat the disloyal bastards down. I also know the conflict that Jeremiah goes through, wanting mercy for the people from God, wanting the people to return to God and wanting to beat them up for the way they harmed him personally. I know the outbursts that happen when the treachery and the wounds seem too much to bear. And the inner conflict has to be resolved without hurting the innocent and, when outbursts come from me, sometimes the innocent are wounded along with the treacherous ones. I am sorry and am mending these actions. I no longer need to see the treacherous ones “get theirs”, I am at peace with knowing God is helping me, loving me, taking me back and the people who stand with me are the people to focus on, not the treacherous ones-they take up much less space in my being because I am focused on moving forward with authentic, soul to soul relationships. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark