Jeremiah 8:1-16: a reflection

1“At that time,” says the LORD, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth. 3Death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the LORD of Armies. 4“Moreover you shall tell them, ‘The LORD says: “‘Do men fall, and not rise up again? Does one turn away, and not return? 5Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit. They refuse to return. 6I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. 7Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know the LORD’s law. 8“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and the LORD’s law is with us”? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie. 9The wise men are disappointed. They are dismayed and trapped. Behold, they have rejected the LORD’s word. What kind of wisdom is in them? 10Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 11They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. 12Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says the LORD. 13“‘I will utterly consume them, says the LORD. No grapes will be on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will fade. The things that I have given them will pass away from them.’” 14“Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves! Let’s enter into the fortified cities, and let’s be silent there; for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay! 16The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell therein.”

In a sobering word about his people's refusal to turn, God names something painfully absent among them: No one repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. The people rushed on in their ways without ever stopping to ask themselves the honest question, What have I done? They would not pause to examine themselves, to face their own wrongdoing, to repent; they simply pressed on, like a horse charging headlong, never stopping to consider. The absence of that honest question, What have I done, was the mark of their refusal to repent.

Notice what was missing: no one stopped to ask, What have I done? The people were not lacking in activity; they rushed headlong in their course, busy and unpausing. What they lacked was the honest self-examination that stops to ask, What have I done, that faces its own wrongdoing and turns from it. They pressed on without ever pausing to consider their ways, without the honest question that leads to repentance. To rush on without ever stopping to ask what we have done is to make repentance impossible; the horse charging headlong never turns. The honest question, What have I done, is where repentance begins, and it was precisely what they would not ask.

That is worth taking to heart, for we too can rush on without ever stopping to ask honestly, What have I done? We can be busy, active, always pressing forward in our course, and never pause to examine ourselves, to face our own wrongdoing, to ask honestly what we have done; and without that pause, repentance never comes, as it did not come to those who rushed on like a charging horse. The honest question is where turning begins. Do not rush on through your life without ever stopping to ask honestly, What have I done; pause to examine yourself, for that honest question is where repentance begins. Stop to ask honestly, What have I done, examining yourself rather than rushing on unpausing in your course, as those who would not repent charged headlong like a horse in battle; for repentance begins with the honest question we stop to ask, and to rush on without ever facing what we have done is to make turning back impossible.

Lord, in a sobering word about your people's refusal to turn, you name something painfully absent among them: no one repents of his wickedness, saying, what have I done? Everyone turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. The people rushed on in their ways without ever stopping to ask themselves the honest question, what have I done? They would not pause to examine themselves, to face their own wrongdoing, to repent; they simply pressed on. Show me what was missing: no one stopped to ask, what have I done? The people were not lacking in activity; they rushed headlong in their course, busy and unpausing. What they lacked was the honest self-examination that stops to ask, what have I done, that faces its own wrongdoing and turns from it. To rush on without ever stopping to ask what we have done is to make repentance impossible. The honest question is where repentance begins, and it was precisely what they would not ask. Take that to my heart, for I too can rush on without ever stopping to ask honestly, what have I done? I can be busy, active, always pressing forward in my course, and never pause to examine myself, to face my own wrongdoing; and without that pause, repentance never comes. Keep me from rushing on through my life without ever stopping to ask honestly, what have I done; help me pause to examine myself, Lord, for that honest question is where repentance begins. Help me stop to ask honestly, what have I done, rather than rushing on unpausing in my course.