Sermon -- 2nd Sunday in Lent (March 16, 2025)

JEREMIAH 26:8-15

THE MAN OF SORROWS YEARNS TO SAVE JERUSALEM.

In the name + of Jesus.

     The prophet Jeremiah had a ministry that no one would envy.  The Lord had told him, “You must go to everyone to whom I send you and say whatever I command you” (Jeremiah 1:7).  So far, this sounds like a great honor.  Not only was it a great honor, but it sounds like a pretty easy job.  The Lord gives you the word, and you repeat it.  Easy, right?

     But the Lord told Jeremiah what he was in for.  “I will pronounce my judgments against Judah because of their wickedness.  They have abandoned me. …Rise up and tell them everything I am commanding you.  …They will fight against you” (Jeremiah 1:16,17,19).  Jeremiah was told that he would be hated and attacked for preaching the word of the Lord faithfully.  God was not lying.  Several times, people in Jerusalem including even Jeremiah’s family members plotted to destroy him.  They despised the word of the Lord and wanted to silence the prophet who preached it.  No wonder Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet.

     Jesus was known as the man of sorrows.  It was not only because of the sufferings he endured, but also because of his grief over the unbelief of the people.  Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem because of their unbelief, so Jeremiah also wept over Jerusalem.  The man of sorrows yearned to save Jerusalem.  So, despite how much people hated to hear his preaching, Jeremiah faithfully delivered the message which the Lord gave to him.  He yearned to save Jerusalem.

     The Lord had sent Jeremiah to the temple courts to preach to the worshipers and to the priests that God’s judgment was about to fall down hard on them.  If they were going to live according to the word of the Lord, the Lord would not accept their worship.  He would dismantle the temple himself.  It would become like Shiloh.  That was where the Lord’s tabernacle had once stood, but it was overrun and destroyed by the Philistines.  Jeremiah warned the temple would suffer the same fate by the Babylonians.  Jesus also warned the Jews that their temple would soon suffer that fate.  “As some were talking about the temple, how it was decorated with beautiful stones and offerings, Jesus said, ‘These things that you see here—the days will come when there will not be one stone left on another—every one will be thrown down’” (Luke 21:5-6).  It was a stern warning, calling people to recognize the depth of their sin so that they would repent.  The man of sorrows yearned to save Jerusalem.

     Out of love for sinners and out of a great desire to see no one perish because of his sin, the Lord sent prophets to preach the word.  Jeremiah was in a long line of preachers whose message was consistent.  He yearned for the people to heed the whole word of God and to repent.  How was it received?  “The priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him and said, ‘You must die!  Why do you prophesy in the name of the Lord that this house will be like Shiloh and that this city will be desolate with no one living here?’  All the people crowded around Jeremiah in the House of the Lord” (Jeremiah 26:8-9).  The man of sorrows yearned to save Jerusalem, and they hated him for it.  Why?  Because they hated God’s word.  They did not believe it was true.  Oh, there were certainly parts of God’s word that they did like.  They liked that God had put his name on their temple.  They liked that God had called them his people.  They probably even liked the pageantry of the worship in the temple.  But they did not like the parts of God’s word which commanded chastity, charity, sobriety, humility, honesty, and the like. 

     This still occurs today.  People like to hear that God loves all mankind.  They believe that Jesus is a really nice man who never makes anyone feel bad about themselves.  They claim that Jesus would never condemn anyone.  People like the parts of God’s word that speak of love and mercy and welcoming.  But that doesn’t mean people like all of God’s word. 

     Everyone likes the part of God’s word that speaks of heavenly peace and glory.  People are repulsed by the teaching of hell and reject its existence.  Everyone loves to hear that God pours out gifts upon us.  People hate to hear that God has expectations of us.  Everyone likes to hear that Jesus forgives all sins.  People do not like to hear that Jesus tells us that we should also renounce and flee from them. 

     The Gospel shows us God’s love for mankind and demonstrates God’s goodness.  What seems to be lost is that God also gave his Law out of love for us and that it also shows God’s goodness.  Both God’s Gospel and God’s Law are God’s word.  Both God’s commands and God’s promises are good and true.  You cannot believe one and reject the other.  It is either all true and all good, or it is not. 

     When we see people who are dear to us adopting behaviors or accepting beliefs that contradict God’s word, we are torn.  On the one hand, we want to believe that God’s word is true.  On the other hand, we love those who are dear to us.  We want to see them happy.  It is unthinkable to us that God would condemn them because we love them.  The temptation is to deny or ignore the parts of God’s word that convict them.  We do this in the name of freedom, or happiness, or harmony.  That makes it sound noble.  But if you were asked, “Do you believe that God’s word on this issue is true?” and you answer, “No,” that is unbelief. 

     If we truly love those who are dear to us, we will not excuse their sins.  If we yearn for them to be saved, we will confess the truth and issue the warning.  And you might be hated for it.  But this betrays the true problem: They hate God’s word.  They reject it, and they want you to reject it for their sake.  But even if the whole world rejects God’s word, it is still true and God will judge everyone accordingly.  If you end up being hated for upholding God’s word, Jeremiah and the prophets of old will tell you that you are in good company.  In our sorrows, we will still yearn for the salvation of sinners.

     Our Lord demonstrates a perfect love for both his word and for the sinners who live in opposition to it.  Out of love for the sinners, he called us all to repent.  That’s what Jeremiah did for the people of Jerusalem.  He said, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the things that you have heard.  Now reform your ways and your actions, and obey the Lord your God.  Then the Lord will relent and not bring about the disaster he has pronounced against you” (Jeremiah 26:12-13).  The Lord did not want to destroy Jerusalem.  He sent the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, for their good.  The man of sorrows yearned to save Jerusalem.

     The Lord yearns to save all mankind.  When he issues warnings, he does not send empty threats.  The warning for the people of Jerusalem was genuine.  Moses had warned that failure to follow the word of the Lord would result in the destruction of Jerusalem and its people.  Jeremiah was only repeating what the Lord had promised.  That’s why Jeremiah was able to say, “As for me, look, I am in your hands.  Do with me whatever seems good and right in your eyes.  But you can be certain of this.  If you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live here, for it is true that the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing” (Jeremiah 26:14-15).  

     Jesus could say the same about Jerusalem.  The man of sorrows yearned to save Jerusalem, but they were not willing.  They rejected every overture that God made.  And while Jeremiah was spared on this day, Jesus was not.  They shed his innocent blood—the blood of the very one who had come to save them from divine punishment.

     Some people ask, “If God loves everyone, then why didn’t he save everyone?”  The reality is that he did.  Regarding God’s desires for the salvation of all mankind, this is what the Bible says, “God our Savior … wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).  Regarding God’s action in winning salvation for all mankind, this is what the Bible says, “[Jesus Christ] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).  Regarding our Lord’s sincerity about the salvation of all mankind when they reject the gift that could be theirs, this is what Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, …how often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Luke 13:34)!  Let it be known and make no mistake: God has done everything to secure the salvation of every person on earth.  Let this truth also stand: People reject God’s gift because of their stubborn unbelief.  It grieves our Lord that this happens, because he takes no delight in the death of anyone.  But God’s word is true, and he will uphold it.  So, Jerusalem was destroyed as Jeremiah had forewarned.  The man of sorrows took no joy in it.  The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed a few decades after Jesus’ ascension.  Most apostles did not live to see it, having been killed for their testimony.  Still, they would have take no joy in it.  And God will damn all who do not believe in Jesus.  We take no joy in that, either.

     Only Jesus has the words of eternal life, and he commissions his people to go into the world and proclaim them to as many as we can.  These are the words that show us how dearly God loves us.  These are the words that expose the devil’s lies and show us that his promises end up in death.  These are the words that guide us in lives that honor God with loving obedience and benefit our fellow man with loving service.

     It grieves our Lord when his words are rejected.  It grieves our Lord when the love he pours out on all mankind is met with ridicule and rebellion.  The man of sorrows yearns to save all people.  But our Lord has never considered his lavish grace a waste, and Jesus does not regret his sufferings and death for sinners.  That grace has been poured out upon you.  That grace covers over all your sins.  That grace leads you to trust God’s word is always good and true and brings a blessing to all who live according to it.  And that grace in intended for all.

     Jesus is the man of sorrows—dying in innocence on behalf of the guilty, and grieved that many would rather die in their guilt than confess it.  But that man will come again, not in sorrow, but in glory.  He will come to deliver you to the heavenly Jerusalem which will forever be the dwelling of the redeemed.  By God’s grace, that means you.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.