Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
February 16, 2025
Jeremiah 17:1-13 (14-18)
At the beginning of worship:
Delivered to my inbox every day is a new word. I generally look at the word. Often, I don’t know the word, I’ll look at the meaning realize it’s so obscure I’ll never use it. But this week, one of the words made me ponder the passage I’m preaching on today. Actually, it’s two words, Amor Propre. Rousseau, the 17thCentury French philosopher, coined the term which means “self-love,” especially a love which comes from the adoration of others who make us feel important.[1] Now that I used it, I’ll never use it again.
As followers of Jesus, the only one who truly matters and provides us with self-worth is God. Seeking such approval from everyone else, to quote Jeremiah, is to trust in mere mortals, as we turn away from the Lord.
Before reading the scripture:
Since Christmas, I’ve been preaching from the Old Testament reading from the lectionary. This will be the last Sunday doing this. Next week, God willing, I’ll return to Mark’s gospel. Hopefully, we’ll finish up Mark between then and Palm Sunday. While I really like building upon the previous week’s passage as I preach through a book, it’s also refreshing to occasionally focus on odd passages as I’ve done for the past month.
Today, we’re back in Jeremiah. The lectionary only calls for the reading from the heart of this passage, verses 5 through 10. That cuts out a good deal of the passage’s power. I am going to read the entire section which starts with verse 1 and goes through verse 18. But I’ll save the last 5 verses for the prayer at the end of the sermon.
In some ways, this is an unusual section for Jeremiah. Unlike many other places, we do not hear from Jeremiah in first person, until his prayer at the end. Instead, this section begins with God speaking through the prophet, indicting Judah. Then, we hear a series of proverbs which start off sounding like Psalm 1. Many scholars think that instead of Jeremiah writing these himself, he borrowed from traditional proverbs.[2] Kind of like how we might quote Ben Franklin or Mark Twain. In the Psalm and in verses 5 to 8, two trees are used as a metaphor of those who place their trust in God’s hands and those who trust human hands. Jeremiah continues by reflecting on the human heart and giving a warning against unearned gains.
All this sounds kind of depressing, doesn’t it. But like a good lament, our passage focuses back on God and the hope offered to those who trust in God. Finally, I’ll read the ending of the passage at the end of the sermon, as a prayer. There, we’ll hear Jeremiah’s plea for relief. Let’s now listen to this passage.
Read Jeremiah 17:1-13
Why do humans behave so badly? I wonder if Jeremiah asked this question. After all, he’s addressing a people guilty of forsaking their first love, the God in whom they have made a covenant to worship, honor, and obey in exchange for prosperity and protection.
This passage opens with an indictment. This sounds like a judge sentencing a guilty criminal. Judah’s sin has been engraved with a diamond pointed chisel onto granite hearts and on the horns of their altars. They are guilty. Of course, the altars are not the altar to God in the temple in Jerusalem, but altars and scared poles placed on high hills honoring the ancient Canaanite deities: Baal and Ashera.[3] Such idolatry breaks their covenant with God.
The deal was that if they placed their trust in God, the Lord would watch out for them and protect them. But they’ve broken this trust. We’re also often reminded in the Old Testament of God’s jealously.[4] We see God’s jealously expressed here. God responds to their lack of trust by giving their enemies their treasures and allowing the people to once again be slaves.
In verse five, God identifies the people’s sin, in addition to idolatry, as trusting in themselves and in other humans. The people may look to a powerful Rambo-like character or see the shiny spears and shields of their army in formation and think they’re safe. But that’s not safety, God says. For they’ve turned their hearts from the Lord. Human power is like a shrub in the desert.
Here, the wording of the indictment echoes Psalm 1, which contrasts the faithful and wicked as two different trees. The Psalm first highlights those who do not follow the path of the wicked. Comparing them to trees planted by streams of water, they thrive. The wicked are like chaff which cannot withstand the wind and the judgment which comes upon it.
In Jeremiah, unlike Psalm 1, the wicked are dealt with first. The cursed are those who trust in human strength. They’re like a shrub in the desert. John Calvin, who uses the metaphor of God as the fountain of all that’s good,[5] as we see in this passage, suggests that this particular shrub spoken of by Jeremiah, appears alive but its roots have dried up. Unable to drink from God’s fountain, Judah waits for justice.[6]
On the contrast are the blessed, those who trust in the Lord. Like a tree by a stream, they thrive. Because they have deep roots, they don’t even fear drought or heat, for they can tap into life-giving water.
Notice that for both metaphorical trees, trouble will come. They’ll be hot winds and droughts. The one who doesn’t trust in God have no roots to sustain life when trouble arises. The one does place his or her trust in God will survive the trials.
Next, our passage speaks of the devious and perverse hearts. As I spoke at the beginning of last week’s service, we live in a world which often confuses feelings and actions.[7] We probably don’t feel our hearts are devious and perverse. This may sound harsh. But it reflects a realization that we often look to our own well-being instead of trusting in God to do what is right.
To quote Calvin again, the heart is a perpetual factory of idols.[8]We find it easier to trust in ourselves or those who promise protection. We with our own strength, or those we idolize, may deliver in the short run. But we’ll so give up, or our contract with others will require us to compromise our morals. Sooner or later, such situations will fail us.
Our passage asks the rhetorical question as to who can understand the human heart. Then it answers itself, reminding us that God searches both our hearts and minds, rewarding us for the fruits of what we do and think. We must remember that while in this life, evil may seem to go unpunished, God sees and there is a life to come. We may not always see the consequences, but we worship a God of justice.
In the next proverb, we catch glimpse of such justice in this world. A partridge warms and hatches an egg it did not lay. To say it in another way, it hatched an egg that did not belong to it. Obviously, it would not be another partridge and as it grows would seek out its own family, abandoning the partridge. This observation from the natural world is linked to those who amass wealth unjustly.
After providing these bits of wisdom, our song shifts focus to God, reminding those who hear these words of the danger of ignoring God, who is the fountain of living water.
Our hope is with the Lord. Jeremiah understood this as we see in his prayer at the end of this passage. I will close reading verses 14 to 18. Consider it a prayer not just for the prophet, but for all of us. For we need to turn from that which is mortal and center our lives in God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me warn you that the ending of this prayer may seem harsh. We must remember that Jeremiah was a persecuted man and those persecuting him were guilty of not trusting in God, but in their own strength. And they used their strength to torment Jeremiah. The prophet, trusting in God’s justice, demands it and asks that he be spared. Let us pray with Jeremiah:
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for you are my praise.
See how they say to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come!”
But I have not run away from being a shepherd in your service,
nor have I desired the fatal day.
You know what came from my lips;
it was before your face.
Do not become a terror to me;
you are my refuge in the day of disaster;
Let my persecutors be shamed,
but do not let me be shamed;
let them be dismayed,
but do not let me be dismayed;
bring on them the day of disaster;
destroy them with double destruction! Amen.
[1] https://worddaily.com/words/Amour-Propre/
[2] R. E. Clements, Jeremiah: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988), 107.
[3] Clements, 105.
[4] See Exodus 20:5, 34:14 and Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9, 6:15. See also Joshua 24:19.
[5] See B. A. Gerrish, Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), especially chapter 2.
[6] John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, vol 1 (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1979), 351-352. As quoted by Walter Brueggemann, Jeremiah 1-25, To Pluck Up, to Tear Down (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1988), 151.
[7] https://fromarockyhillside.com/2025/02/09/isaiahs-tough-message/
[8] John Calvin, Institute of the Christian Religion, 1.11.8.
It was interesting reading this. I hope you have a good week.
May you also have a good week!
I remember N.T. Wright saying something to the effect that Christians need to understand the importance of a lament.
I have been drawn to laments like I’m drawn to music in minor keys.
Amor Propre is a prominent theme around the blogosphere this post Valentine’s Day weekend… I sense people feeling vulnerable, for all kinds of reasons.
Have a great week, Rev.
Sadly, we’re vulnerable, probably more so than ever.