Open-ended,
Life-centred,
Gospel-Focused Explorations of the Hebrew Bible Readings from the
Australian Prayer Book.
Jeremiah 23: 23-29...12th S. after Pentecost, C ....(For Lk
12:49-59,
scroll.)
NOTES: 1]Read the Hebrew Bible in the light
of our Christian understanding of God revealed in Jesus.2] Born
about 646BC, JER was
called to be a Prophet in 626-7, &
lived through the siege of
Jerusalem & the captivity of its people by Babylon in the mid
580's. 3] This is part of JER's on-going
attacks on false prophets.
WARMING UP: How much of
what we read, see, or hear in the media do we believe?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
23-24 Do we ever act like those God castigates here, i.e.
we respond to God as God when we 'feel' God is near or that we're near
God, but neglect God when we don't 'feel' He's near or ourselves near to Him? What leads to this kind of
uncommitted & unstable relationship with God? If this cap ever fits
us, how do we move on from there? How do we feel towards others who
show symptoms of such an unstable relationship? Do we ever get mad as
JER does? So far as bearing witness to God is concerned, could we or
anyone else be other than a false & unreliable prophet if we run
hot & cold like God complains of here? Do we ourselves ever think
of God sometimes as 'hiding' in some 'secret place', & at other
times, 'filling heaven & earth'? If God seems inadequate to
us, who made God inadequate? Is it more likely a matter of us being
inadequate rather than God being inadequate?
25-29 Are we so
unfamiliar with anyone playing a prophetic role these days that the
issue of true & false prophecy isn't what it was back in JER's
time, or even JES's time? Is the issue today more likely to be that
there is no prophet? Or, if there is, are they necessarily inside the
church (any of the churches)? Would we expect dreams (or visions?) to
be the stock in trade of a prophet today, or some other way of
proclaiming 'thus says the Lord'? Do we have any ideas about what that
other way might be today?
What might 'prophesying the
deceit of our own heart' mean? Is it the same as recognizing the deceit
in our own heart or more than that? Does it necessarily include
admitting / telling / confessing it as well as recognizing it? Or is
this way of looking at things not really meaningful to us now? Would
'deceit' be a reasonable way of looking at much of the 'New Age' stuff
out there today? If we see that kind of stuff as a threat, at what
point does it become a threat? What's made it a threat? Can't God deal
with his own threats? Or is
that why God needs faithful prophets as much as ever now? But what if
people, even church members, aren't tuned into prophets any more?
Does v.28 suggest that
'dreaming' on the part of so-called prophets is likely to be false,
whereas we should be able to recognize God's word spoken faithfully by
a genuine one? How do we resolve this age-old question of genuine v.
not genuine, faithful v. not faithful? What does straw have in common with
wheat? How many differences can we list? Keeping that metaphor, is God
more likely to be seeing us
as chaff or wheat? What is the consequence for us of how God sees us?
When God faces us with tough terms like fire, or hammer, do we squirm,
or just shrug them off?
What light does the Gospel (LK12:49-59) throw on all this?
