A Journey Through Advent: Day 6
Day 6
December 4, 2020
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We Are Known Before We Know
Jeremiah 4:1-10
Rev. Shelley Woodruff
The prophet Jeremiah’s ministry begins with a strange and intimate gesture followed by a proclamation. The Lord reaches out God’s hand and touches the young man’s mouth; then, God explains just what sort of words the prophet will be charged with bringing to the nations. Words of import and gravity. Words that will pluck up and pull down, words that will destroy and overthrow, and words that will also build and plant.
Anathea Portier-Young (Duke divinity professor) beckons us toward the Hebrew word used for “touch” here. “Touch” is much too familiar or gentle; strike would be more appropriate. In fact, Portier-Young points out, the only other place in the Bible that uses these words is Job 1. The satan says to God, “But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” God’s touch, for Job, rendered him desolate and alone. God’s touch, for Jeremiah, puts him on a path where all of his comings and goings, his wonderings and utterances, are all caught up in God’s mission.
But before God tells Jeremiah of the mighty words the divine touch will bring, God tells the prophet a deeper truth. Before Jeremiah knew that his world was caught up in God’s world, God tells the man that he has always been caught up in God’s world. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” God says, “and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
These verses move from the comforting warmth of intimacy to the scorching blaze of divine plan, which, after all, resonates so well with the rest of our Bible. In Genesis 1, the God who walks in a garden with Adam and Eve, who clothes their naked bodies to alleviate their shame, is the same God who merely speaks to form order in the chaos. In Exodus, one baby in a basket saved from a river is raised up by God to be a leader who will deliver God’s claimed people from slavery. In Esther, a marginalized orphan girl becomes queen and saves those same people, generations later, from genocide. And in our Gospels, the God who comes to earth as a vulnerable baby is the same God who overturns the power of death forevermore.
Our God has a mysterious way of holding us close, drawing us near, and knowing every detail of our souls while simultaneously weaving together a mighty plan of awe and wonder.
We, like Jeremiah, are both touched by a God who stretches out a divine hand to take ours, and “touched” by a magnificent force that is working to reconcile God’s self to a whole people.
As we remember Jeremiah and his call at the beginning of Advent, we remember two simultaneous truths. First, that God has always been a God of relationship—a God who has always partnered with God’s beloved, created children. And second, that God has always been a God of cosmic capacity—a God who has always been about the business of a divine kingdom.
These two truths existed for Jeremiah as he was called to the nations with the power to pluck up, pull down, destroy, overthrow, build, and plant. These two truths existed for our Christ as he was born to overthrow death. And these two truths exist for us today, as we are beckoned to be agents of God’s grace.
I love these words from Eugene Peterson:
“Before we were formed in the womb, God knew us. We are known before we know… We enter a world we didn’t create. We grow into a life already provided for us. We arrive in a complex of relationships with other wills and destinies that are already in full operation before we are introduced. If we are going to live appropriately, we must be aware that we are living in the middle of a story that was begun and will be concluded by another. And this other is God.”
About a Journey Through Advent
This year is unprecedented in its challenges to our global, national, and local communities, let alone the challenges to our own church community and personal spiritual growth. And yet, the rhythm of the church calendar continues to hold us in a life-giving refrain: hope is alive!
This series of devotional readings, scripture readings, and prayers is designed to give you an opportunity to pause and reflect on the hope, peace, joy, and love that the Advent season brings.
We challenge you to set aside time each day to read, reflect, and pray through these offerings presented by our pastoral staff.
May you find encouragement in the remarkable hope this season provides us!