Jeremiah begins his complaint by decrying the unfairness of
life. He has neither borrowed nor lent
yet all hate him, he is a man of strife and contention to the whole land. The Lord isn’t exactly sympathetic,
essentially asking, what did you think was going to happen. The hardness of the hearts of the people was
such that they could not hear the Lord but He sent Jeremiah anyway. Jeremiah’s initial reaction to receiving the
word of the Lord was sweet and so he set about the task of speaking them to the
people but what he has found is that this is a bitter and lonely task and
life. He was happy to be alone in God’s
service until indifference turned to persecution. His plea is that the Lord will deliver him
from them. The promise He receives is
that the Lord will protect the prophet but He does not promise that He will
prosper his work. It isn’t going to get
better for Jeremiah but he will finish his work if he is faithful to the word
of the Lord. The life of a prophet can
be difficult to say the least.
After continually telling people His time had not yet come,
now, when the Greeks seek to see Him, Jesus says His time has come. Remember how yesterday’s lesson ended? The Pharisees pointed out that the “whole
world” was going after Jesus. We see the
evidence of that in these people desiring to see Jesus. These were Gentiles, possibly proselytes, who
had come to Jerusalem for the feast, perhaps some of those who saw Him clearing
the court of the Gentiles of the money changers, who now come and ask the
disciples for an audience with the man himself.
Jesus’ words seem a complete paradox, the time has come to be glorified
but also talk of death and dying. The
disciples surely thought there was something a bit amiss in this
discourse. At the moment when it would
seem that it was all coming together Jesus insisted on this talk of death.
What a strange place to begin a lesson, “Let those of us who
are mature think this way…” This way
refers to the pressing on towards the prize, not taking for granted that we
have already obtained it, continuing to pursue Christ-likeness. Remembering that our true citizenship is in
heaven is the best way to continue on that path, the same thing Jesus said in
the Sermon on the Mount, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” Paul here contrasts that with those whose
minds are set on earthly things, whose god is their belly. Those whose minds on set on heavenly things
are unconcerned about glory here on earth, they are content to know that all
this gets swallowed up in the end, the good and the bad, the pleasant and the
painful, eternity is a long time.
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