Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 255

I hear the whispering of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

Christian typology has long recognized the Prophet Jeremiah as the most Christlike of all the Hebrew prophets. The young unmarried man was chosen before he was born; he was despised and abused by many of his contemporaries; he warned of impending doom, and saw it come. So we read his anxious musings in today's reading in the light of what happened to Jesus, and we suppose that the Lord found his own fate in the words of Jeremiah. 

First, they heard the whispering of their enemies. A speaker should watch and read the reactions of their hearers as they speak to them, and both prophets knew their audiences far better than the faithful who stood among them and were rapt in every word they spoke. They saw those who were not as enthusiastic; as well as those who walked away, and those could not be bothered. They saw those who wanted to trap them, that they might prevail and take their vengeance on them.

But Jeremiah and Jesus also knew "...the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph." Only with that assurance can they continue. 

In their failure they will be put to utter shame,

to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

True sons of Abraham, they shared the confidence of the psalmist who wrote 

I have seen a ruthless scoundrel,

spreading out like a green cedar.

When I passed by again, he was gone;

though I searched, he could not be found. (Psalm 37:35-36)

Jeremiah prayed that he might see the downfall of his foes in the words,

O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,

who probe mind and heart,

Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,

for to you I have entrusted my cause. 

God's vengeance is severe: his Word will never speak to them, relieve their anxiety, heal their distress, or give them a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, or purpose. It will not allow them even a sense of humor about themselves and their failure. Left entirely to themselves, which was clearly what they preferred, they wicked will wish for death and never learn that the only way to die is to oneself. 

And finally, in the resurrection Jesus will sing with Jeremiah... 

Sing to the LORD, and 

praise the LORD,

For he has rescued the life of the poor

from the power of the wicked!