Ordinary Time

January 25, 2022

Scripture Reading:

Jeremiah 1:4-10
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you
says the Lord.’
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’

What in our lives do we need to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow? Those are harsh words of action.  Pluck means to take hold of something and quickly move it from its place. The word pluck reminds me of the unpleasant task of removing the feathers from a dead chicken before it could be cooked. Pulling down probably refers to tearing down a building, destroying means to turn something like a building into ashes, and overthrowing means removing and replacing one in control. However, I do not think these are the concerns of Jeremiah. He is using symbolism to suggest how people need to change and change drastically if they are going to get out of the mess in which they find themselves. We are in such a situation today. We each need to consider what is holding us back from creating the Kingdom God envisioned for us when God sent Jesus, the Christ, to us for the purpose of remolding us to be the people we are totally capable of being. We have moved a long way from that standard, and it will take serious intentional change to live into that vision.

The final phrase, to build and to plant, is our source of hope. Once we clear out the rubble, we can rebuild and plant needs seeds of love.

Prayer: Lord, help us examine ourselves and our communities of faith to find your path and follow it as we rebuild and renew our love and act within it. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.