Devotion - Thursday, March 26

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he laments the Holy City as the place that rejects the prophets and puts to death those who are sent to her.

In Jeremiah 26 we learn a bit of that reality. Jeremiah is sent to Judah, to proclaim the word of God, but the people of God are not eager to hear this word. They prefer the oracles spoken in affirmation of their accomplishments - even though these self congratulatory pronouncements are erroneous.

What voices do we hear? To whom do we listen?

I was struck by what the Lutheran Campus Pastor in Berlin said about the ministry there. The message of the ministry and the mood among the students aligns them with the Confessing Church Traditions of Germany. We learned a bit about Dietrich Bonhoeffer while there, and of his stance against state sanctioned oppression.

Surely, God's Word is a word of comfort. But it is comforting precisely because it exposes God's insistence that all be looked upon as neighbor and thus worthy of our care and support.

The people of Judah had abandoned the word of God. But they didn't see how slowing, gradually that had happened. The people of Jerusalem had accepted a religious system in place of God's promises. But they found it impossible to break from that system and return.

What will be said of us and this generation, in the centuries to come? The season of Lent demands we ask such questions of ourselves and our church.