January 31, 2016

Not by Choice – not my Choice

Preacher:
Passage: Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke: 4:21-30

Not by Choice – not my Choice! – Jeremiah 1:4-10

Back in high school I was struggling with Physics. Nothing seemed to work for me and I was failing. I quipped to a friend that if I didn’t pass I was going to go into pastoral ministry. I passed physics but had come to the conclusion that my path in life was not to be in the sciences. Of course passing or not passing one course should not be the determining factor as to a choice of vocation in life. On reflection my decision to enter ministry seemed rash but somehow I couldn’t stop thinking about why that thought had come to me.

In a separate incident I was sitting in the choir at my home church. No one was around me when suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was. There was no one there. My back was to a wall and I was the only one sitting in my row. Puzzled, I spoke to my minister about it. He believed that I had been touched by the hand of God. Whether or not this was a call to pastoral ministry had yet to be determined but it was another sign.

A process of discernment began which continued through the rest of high school, college and into my university years. And even though I was pursuing studies designed to lead to eventual ordination to ministry within the Presbyterian Church, I kept praying and asking for confirmation from God as to the legitimacy of the call I felt.

St. Augustine said that if you can do anything but pastoral ministry, do it. He said this not to discourage people from seeking to serve but rather to encourage them to be very sure that their motives for serving came from a place of genuine servant hood. As many of you know I left pastoral ministry for a period of 16 years. The decision to leave was not an easy one nor was the decision to return. I felt great trepidation and uncertainty about the process of returning to pastoral ministry.

I have never seen what I do as anything but a calling. It is not a job, it is not a career. It is a vocation but one that I can only be effective in if I am prepared to listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit and let God direct my days.

The prophet Jeremiah experienced the call of God as a young man. Yes, he was the son of a priest but his call to serve as a prophet of God was not something to which he aspired or even imagined. When you read about the life of this prophet and the suffering he endured, you find not a person who asked for any kind of mercy or understanding from people. He was not a person who sought to be revered or loved. He was a person who – with great compassion and empathy – spoke the words which God gave him. His task was to call the people to return to their God. And nothing swayed him from that task.

Jeremiah was destined to take the path of a prophet for God from before the time he was born. God had his eye on Jeremiah and had determined that he would be the one to be God’s messenger to the people in this time. Despite all the protests of Jeremiah about his youth, God insists that he has been chosen. God then reassures the prophet that no matter what he will deliver him from any situation that he finds himself in – and Jeremiah will find himself in some very bad situations as he speaks to the people.

But Jeremiah’s story is not unique. Over and over again in the Bible, we find the record of people like Jeremiah who have been called by God to be spiritual guides, prophets, and leaders of the people. In some respect, they are all not the kind of people that we would imagine as leaders but they share one thing in common. They are prepared to listen to the word of God and to serve God as faithfully as they can. And while they will have their personal struggles - and even show weakness and fear - in the end they will do what is asked of them and help the people to rebuild and strengthen their relationship with God.

When Jesus came to the synagogue in Nazareth, it is recorded by Luke that he read a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah in which the role of the prophet is proclaimed. The mission of Jesus was the same mission given to the prophets throughout history. It was to preach good news, to proclaim release, to open eyes and to free people from oppression. But Jesus knew that while these things would be welcomed by many, others would find these things disturbing. For it is one thing to speak of such things but to have them actually come to fulfilment is quite another. And while Jesus wanted nothing more than for the people to accept that the prophecy of Isaiah was to come to fruition, he knew that people had always found it easier to accept change when change happened somewhere else. To that end he mentions other prophets like Elijah and Elisha for whom the words of God for their generation struck a chord not with the people of Israel but people outside of the nation and yet people with a deep faith in God.

Jesus knew the path that he had chosen to take would not be an easy one. He knew that miracles of healing of the body would not mean anything without the miracle of the healing of the spirit. But while many people were excited to be healed in their bodies, they were often not as excited about a spiritual healing. And so the prophet - whose message usually involved people making a change in spirit or heart – finds a cold reception in his or her own country.

But a true prophet will never give up. The true prophet will hold fast to the message he or she has been entrusted with and will proclaim that message to the best of their ability no matter what. That kind of tenacity takes courage and strength. Those are the very qualities exhibited by the different prophets over the centuries and most excellently exhibited by God in Jesus Christ.

Each one was chosen by God to be the messenger of their time but not one of them would have dared to choose that role for themselves! It was not their choice; it was God’s choice of them and they honoured that choice with the strength, wisdom and compassion that they received from him.
AMEN