Jeremiah 15:15-21
{Prayer}
The North Grand Island Bridge on the Niagara River is an extremely important bridge. Part of Interstate 190 it connects Buffalo, New York, with the Canadian border at Lewiston, New York, near Niagara Falls. More importantly, to the locals who live and boat on the Niagara River, this bridge serves as an extremely important reminder. You see, the bridge unioffically marks the point of no return. If you disregard or misinterpret the river and ignore the signs, you are sure to cross this point and potentially become another statistic, another victim whose body was recovered downstream or perhaps never seen again.
This same idea of crossing the point of no return applies to our Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah. But you would never know that just from our reading. If you look at just what Jeremiah says in our reading, it sounds like he is crying out to God for help. And you’d be right. Jeremiah is lamenting to God; he’s passionately crying out to God. But why? What’s going on here? Well, this is where we have to zoom out and look at the bigger picture.
The Israelites are in exile; they are in Babylonian captivity. But again, why? Well you could say that they sinned, which is true but it’s more than that. The Israelites have sinned to the point that they have crossed that line, that point of no return. We learn about this in 2 Kings 21.
10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets: 11 “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, 15 because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day.”
Manasseh, is said to be the worst king to ever sit on the throne in Israel. Right after this section from 2 Kings 21 it says that Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end – besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit (21:16). Through his personal actions of rebelling against God, through the murdering of innocent people, and through his kingly actions of leading the people away from God … Manasseh ignored all the warning signs went right on past the point of no return. And God had had enough. The Israelites went past the bridge of forgiveness, and they were washed right over the waterfall, out of the Promised Land, and into the land of exile.
In 2 Chronicles 33 it says that the army commander of the King of Assyria took Manasseh as a prisoner. The commander put a hook in Manasseh’s nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him on to Babylon (33:11).
Taken captive, humiliated, distressed … Manasseh sought favor with God. He humbled himself greatly and prayed to God for forgiveness, for help, for restoration. In the words we heard from Jeremiah, we can almost hear Manasseh praying them as he repents, as he cries out. Listen again to these words.
15 O Lord; remember me and care for me. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. 16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty. 17 … I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails? 19 Therefore this is what the Lord says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. 20 … they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” declares the Lord. 21 “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.”
Manasseh goes from unredeemable to restored, from death to life. This is what Jeremiah is holding up before God’s people in exile. Their story could be like Manasseh’s story. Even though they have sinned and turned their back on God, they can repent, they can return to God and He will restore them!
And this story of Manasseh, this story of the Israelites in exile … this is our story. We too, in the midst of our living our lives have repeatedly sinned against God. We ask for forgiveness, but then we go right back to gratifying the sinful desires of our flesh. We too have passed that point of no return.
Like a man on a boat with his neighbor’s two kids in July of 1960 went past the point of no return on the Niagara River, he found himself struggling. When he realized what he did, he turned his boat around and went full throttle with his 7.5 horsepower motor attached to his 12-foot aluminum boat. But no matter how hard the motor tried, the boat was still going backwards. With the pressure of the current, the shear-pin broke and the propeller fell off. The man grabbed the oars and tried with all his might to row them to shore, but that too failed. The boat hit the rapids and flipped. In the end, the two kids were separated, the boat went over the falls, and the man driving the boat died.
You and I are that man in the boat. No matter how hard we try to fix our sinful selves, try to make things right, and save ourselves, we can’t do it. Our boat on the river of life is losing ground, have had the shear-pin break off, and we are being washed over the falls into eternal death. In our lives, in our sinfulness … we have passed that point of no return. We have been bounded with the shackles of sin and led off into exile. There is nothing left for us to do except to humble ourselves and pray to God for forgiveness, for help, for restoration. We cry out and pray the words Jeremiah speaks to us today.
And like with Manasseh, the worst king to ever live, like with Jeremiah and the Israelites … God hears you, He hears our prayers. Jeremiah writes in chapter 23, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which He will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’’” (23:5-6).
Jeremiah holds up for us to see a greater prophet than himself, a greater King. Jeremiah holds up a Savior, who has already come. Jeremiah holds up the one whose message is all about death and resurrection. “Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer man things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 16:21).
Jesus came to restore you, to restore all of humanity back to God. Jeremiah wants us to see that there is life after Babylon, that there is life after this world in which we live. There’s life because of the great mercy of God found in Christ Jesus. Because of the blood that was shed on the cross and because of Jesus’ victorious resurrection, there is life for you beyond the grave. We must die to sin in order to be raised again in Christ.
“Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but Thou art mighty; Hold me with Thy pow’rful hand.” And “when I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Bear me thro’ the swelling current, Land me safe on Canaan’s side.” Land me safe on heaven’s side. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.
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