Basic text: Jeremiah 1. 4-19
“The word of the Lord came to me ??? The God of the Covenant speaks to Jeremiah telling him that he chose him and called him to carry God’s message to the nations. And when God calls a man to announce a message, God has prepared this man? before I trained you ??? God already agrees with him.
- And God gave Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations?As you did with Jesus.
- Know that a man called to proclaim God’s message deeply imitates Christ.
However, is Jeremiah considered unsuitable for the mission?Oh, God! Behold, I cannot speak; Why am I still a kid?Aren’t they real men called to preach the word voluntary?They know they’re kids.
To this God responds that he puts in his mouth the word that Jeremiah must teach and puts an end to his objections, then Jeremiah enters into dialogue with God Himself, Jeremiah is no longer simply someone called of God, but someone who speaks, speaks. , he exposes his fears to God. How important prayer is in vocational life and today we see countless books without the subject of prayer.
In this dialogue, does God suppress Jeremiah’s fear?Don’t be afraid. God knows that fear can paralyze us, but He assures us that He will deliver His people. I AM I will be with your messenger at all times. And if you proclaim the word of God with excellence, love, and fidelity, this message will resonate among the nations for the glory of God Himself.
Today, however, the pastor, according to Peter Berger, is now considered an ecclesiastical bureaucrat; the image of the shepherd is no longer nourished by scripture, but from secular culture; However, God’s vocation to the messenger is not that of someone who is there to do things, but to call people to the word of salvation and judgment.
Although the housewife is both a priest and the one who speaks in the pulpit and Sunday school, God was glad to call men to work especially in the teaching and proclamation of the gospel; and God calls them inwardly, but this call is confirmed with gifts. that manifest themselves from the outside, will this man’s appeal also bear fruit?
We must understand that the word is of God, not of the prophet, the message comes from God, the prophet is only a herald, and the message given to Jeremiah is a message of purification, of purification, in the Covenant Community, but also a reminder of the Covenant and future restoration.
As God’s message, we have no right to exchange God’s message for ideological and political discourse. Aren’t we called to exchange pastoral practice for the language of problematization?and the use of techniques. We are called to bring the people of idols to God. What a great temptation for the messenger to make God a simple commodity.
Like Jeremiah, the shepherd fights in an environment imbued with evil and idolatry, there is no middle ground. Either the call enters the fight, or God gives it to the adversaries. You are called not to go back an inch for the love of the God who called you. Ministry can often be an arid desert. But you’re not here to do it. do anything, or to fix people. You are here to preach the word of God.