Jeremiah 5:23-31: a reflection

23“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. 24They don’t say in their heart, ‘Let’s now fear the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’ 25“Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. 26For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. 27As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grew rich. 28They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy. 29“Shouldn’t I punish for these things?” says the LORD. “Shouldn’t my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 30“An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land. 31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

God brings a heavy indictment against his people: their hearts are rebellious, the wicked among them grow rich by trapping others, and they do not defend the cause of the fatherless and the needy. And at the end comes a line that names something deeply disturbing: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. The people did not merely tolerate the false prophets and self-serving priests; they loved having it that way.

Notice that last phrase: my people love to have it so. The corruption of the prophets and priests was not forced on an unwilling people; the people preferred it. They liked the false prophets who told them what they wanted to hear, and the priests who ruled to suit themselves; comfortable falsehood suited them better than hard truth. Their leaders' corruption matched, and was welcomed by, their own hearts.

That is a searching word, for we too can love to have it so. We can prefer the voices that tell us what we want to hear over those that tell us the truth; we can choose the comfortable falsehood over the hard reality, the flattering message over the correcting one. And when we do, we get the teachers and messages we prefer, and are the worse for it. Ask whether you love the truth even when it is hard, or whether you prefer what merely pleases you. Do not be among those who love to have it so, welcoming comfortable falsehood over hard truth. Seek out and love the voices that tell you the truth, even when it corrects you, rather than those that only tell you what you want to hear.

Lord, you indicted your people, ending with a disturbing line: the prophets prophesy falsely, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love to have it so. They preferred the false prophets who told them what they wanted to hear. Search me by that word, for I too can love to have it so. I can prefer the voices that tell me what I want to hear over those that tell me the truth; I can choose the comfortable falsehood over the hard reality, the flattering message over the correcting one. And when I do, I get the teachers and messages I prefer, and am the worse for it. Show me whether I love the truth even when it is hard, or whether I prefer what merely pleases me. Keep me from being among those who love to have it so, welcoming comfortable falsehood over hard truth. Help me seek out and love the voices that tell me the truth, even when they correct me, rather than those that only please me. Give me a love for your truth.