Sermon: "Reading the Bible Without Fear" (Jeremiah 2: 4-13)

In Jeremiah chapter 2, we read of a people who have ignored and forgotten God. They got busy, schedules got crazy, and God got pushed to the side. Jeremiah says that the prophets went after things that do not profit.

The people are following after something other than God, giving that something else (whatever it is) more importance than God, seeking safety and refuge in that something else rather than in God.

And what is that something else?

Foreign alliances.

Israel and Judah, at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, were located right in between several major nations. It’s kind of this no-man’s land that the neighboring nations kept a constant eye on. And often, those neighboring nations would invade or take control of Israel and Judah, or at the very least, intimidate and influence Israel and Judah.

In this case, Judah found itself caught between Egypt and Assyria. When times were good and peaceful, and neither Egypt nor Assyria posed a threat, the people forgot God. And when they felt threatened, when Egypt and Assyria were flexing their muscles, the people still forgot God.

When they felt threatened by Egypt, they made an alliance with Assyria for protection. When they felt threatened by Assyria, they made an alliance with Egypt for protection.

Alliances and friendships with other nations is not a bad thing. But in making those political alliances, the people kept forgetting to make an alliance with God.

In verse 18, Jeremiah says, “What do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates?”

The people have put political alliances ahead of their alliance with God. They have put more value in their politics than they have put in their faith.

This happens. It happens a lot.

In Jesus’s time, there were those who allied themselves with the Pharisees, and those who allied themselves with the Sadducees. The people had great respect for the Pharisees, while the Sadducees were influential with a number of wealthy families. These two groups competed with each other, and other political and social groups, for power and influence.

Jesus, however, was annoyed by these two groups, and part of the reason why is that they focused the attention on themselves rather than on God. And the people felt they had to side with either the Pharisees or the Sadducees, but Jesus wanted them to side with God.

The apostle Paul, meanwhile, got annoyed by those who allied themselves with Peter, and those who allied themselves with him.  To the Corinthians, Paul wrote: “Each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ ‘I belong to Apollos,’ ‘I belong to Cephas,’ ‘I belong to Christ.’ What? Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul’s name?”

So just as Jesus got annoyed with the Pharisees and Sadducees, here it sounds as if Paul is annoyed with himself! But really, he’s annoyed by any attempt to place any person or party ahead of God, including himself.

Paul doesn’t want anyone following him; he wants them to follow Christ.

So, this is a fairly common occurrence. Certainly, today, people will shape God to fit their lifestyle, their politics, or their fears. Their idea of who God is and what God wants is constantly being stretched and twisted and distorted in order to fit these other realms that have taken priority in people’s lives.

People have a set of ideas, and they shape God to fit those ideas, instead of reshaping their ideas to fit with God and God’s desires.

This explains why so many Christians will align themselves with political candidates, even though those candidates’ policies and personal lives are so at odds with the vision and teachings of Jesus and the prophets.

This explains why people will say “God hates this” or “God hates that,” or that God is going to punish you, when in reality, God doesn’t hate anyone and doesn’t desire to punish anyone.

In last week’s terrible flooding in Louisiana, the home of Tony Perkins was destroyed.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is an evangelical who has in the past said that natural disasters are God’s punishment for immorality. In the past, when a disaster like a flood has occurred, he has said that it was God’s punishment. Disasters are not caused by weather patterns or climate change; climate change, he insists, isn’t even real. Disasters, he says, are acts of God.

But this week, his own home was destroyed. He says he has no idea why.

Anne Lamott famously said that you can be pretty sure you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you hate.

And who among us hasn’t heard, at one time or another, that God hates us or that God will punish us for something we’ve done, or for who we are?

What have we heard?

Here’s what I’ve heard:

I’ve heard that God will hate you and punish you because you are gay.

I’ve heard that God will hate you and punish you because you belong to the wrong political party.

I’ve heard that God will hate you and punish you because you masturbate.

Sorry. I know that makes some of you uncomfortable; but someone said that to me when I was a teenager, and it scared me to death. I had gone to church with a friend of mine – I don’t remember what kind of church, except that it was a bunch of college-aged kids there – and the preacher kept going on and on about how God will punish all those who masturbate. And, being 18 years old at the time, it scared me.

It’s so ridiculous, though, isn’t it? And yet there are teenagers and adults who hear these messages today, telling them that God hates them, that God is going to punish them, and they are scared to death, because no one is telling them otherwise.

Which is why it’s important to say: God’s not going to send you to hell because you’re gay. God’s not going to send you to hell because you masturbate.

Those are statements made by people with a lot of fear, people who are trying to share their fear with you.

But religion is not about fear.

And while I’m talking about things that are awkward or taboo, you may have heard the comments of Chinese Olympic swimmer Fu Yuanhui, about how she swam in the Olympics while on her period. The media went crazy over that.

But that media frenzy made me realize how ignorant I am about women’s issues. Are women made to feel ashamed or stigmatized over what is a normal physiological phenomenon? Are women made to feel unclean, to use a biblical word?

The image of God is in every person, including those who are gay, those who have sexual urges, and women who are on their period. All are made in the image of God. All are declared to be “very good” by God. To make people feel afraid or guilty or ashamed because of who they are is not something God does, and those who are aligned with God shouldn’t do it either.

There is no reason for anyone to feel guilty or ashamed or unclean, or to live in fear of God’s judgment, because of who they are.

Now, someone listening to me may point out that Jeremiah did describe disasters in his own time as punishment from God. Whether it was war or natural disaster, it was God’s punishment.

OK. Let’s cut the prophet some slack, shall we?

He was writing in ancient times.  He was very wise, but he didn’t have the scientific knowledge that helps us understand why natural disasters occur. The case of Tony Perkins (whose house was flooded) shows us the folly of associating disasters with God’s punishment. Right? God just doesn’t work that way.

Plus, we often forget, that the sins the prophets spoke against were social and political sins; they were sins committed by nations and societies: things like neglecting the poor and crafting policies that allow wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few. In fact, when income inequality was great, the prophets did their prophecizing. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah, Amos, Hosea, and all the rest.

But when the wealth of the nations was more spread out, so that even the poor benefitted…those times when the poor were not left out… the prophets were silent. For the most part, the prophets didn’t really care what individuals did in their own bedrooms, as long as people acted lovingly and were loyal to the commitments they made to one another. What the prophets cared about was the injustice and oppression and inequality that devalues people and neglects to see the image of God in every person.

The same is true for Jesus. His condemnation was for those who oppressed others, those who failed to love and care for the neighbor.

We also forget that both Jesus and the prophets had a vision of what the world would be like when everyone did align themselves with God and God’s ways. And in that vision there is no punishment. There isn’t even a fear of punishment. There isn’t any fear at all.

Because fear and guilt have no place in God’s world.

The Bible says that God is love. The Bible says that there is no fear in love. So a religion that is based on fear or that uses fear is a false religion. A religion that is based on fear is a religion that has made an alliance with something other than God.

But we come to the Bible with our own agendas, our own alliances, and we use the Bible to support those agendas and alliances rather than seeking God’s truth.

When we set aside our agendas and our alliances, we discover that God’s truth is a liberating truth. Always.

God’s truth is a truth that sets people free. Always.

God’s truth is good news to those who are weighed down by burdens. Always.

God’s truth puts an end to fear and replaces it with hope. Always.

God’s truth is healing and wholeness to those whose hearts have been broken and torn apart by what people have said to them. Always.