Jeremiah 6:9-15: a reflection

9The LORD of Armies says, “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine. Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.” 10To whom should I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, the LORD’s word has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of the LORD’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. 12Their houses will be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.” 13“For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. 14They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says the LORD.

As Jeremiah describes the corruption of his people, he names a failure of those who should have healed them: They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, Peace, peace! when there is no peace. The prophets and priests, who should have dealt with the people's real spiritual sickness, instead offered a superficial healing, papering over the wound with reassuring words of peace while the real problem remained untouched. They cried peace where there was no peace, giving false comfort that did not deal with the root, healing the wound only on the surface while the sickness beneath went unaddressed. The comfort was superficial, the healing shallow, the real problem left untreated.

Notice the failure of superficial healing: crying peace where there is no peace. The people's hurt was real, their spiritual sickness deep; but those who should have dealt with it offered only a surface healing, reassuring words of peace that did not reach the real problem. To cry peace where there is no peace is to give a false comfort, to paper over the wound without healing it, to reassure while the sickness festers beneath. The superficial healing left the real problem untouched; the comforting words did not deal with the root. Such surface comfort is not true healing; it only masks the problem while it goes untreated, crying peace where the real trouble remains. True healing must reach the root, not merely soothe the surface.

That is worth taking to heart, for we can be tempted to offer or accept superficial comfort that papers over the real problem rather than dealing with it. When there is real trouble, real sin, real spiritual sickness, we can be tempted to cry peace where there is no peace, to offer or accept reassuring words that soothe the surface while the root goes untreated, as the prophets did to the people. Such superficial comfort is not true healing. Do not offer or accept a superficial comfort that cries peace while the real problem remains untouched; true healing must reach the root, not merely soothe the surface. Seek and offer true healing that reaches the root of the problem, rather than a superficial comfort that cries peace where there is no peace, as the prophets healed the people's hurt only superficially; for surface comfort that leaves the real trouble untreated is not true healing, and it is better to face and deal with the root than to paper over it with reassuring words.

Lord, as Jeremiah describes the corruption of his people, he names a failure of those who should have healed them: they have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, Peace, peace! when there is no peace. The prophets and priests, who should have dealt with the people's real spiritual sickness, instead offered a superficial healing, papering over the wound with reassuring words of peace while the real problem remained untouched. They cried peace where there was no peace. Show me the failure of superficial healing: crying peace where there is no peace. The people's hurt was real, their spiritual sickness deep; but those who should have dealt with it offered only a surface healing, reassuring words that did not reach the real problem. To cry peace where there is no peace is to give a false comfort, to paper over the wound without healing it. The superficial healing left the real problem untouched. True healing must reach the root, not merely soothe the surface. Take that to my heart, for I can be tempted to offer or accept superficial comfort that papers over the real problem rather than dealing with it. When there is real trouble, real sin, real spiritual sickness, I can be tempted to cry peace where there is no peace, to offer or accept reassuring words that soothe the surface while the root goes untreated, as the prophets did. Such superficial comfort is not true healing. Keep me from offering or accepting a superficial comfort that cries peace while the real problem remains untouched; help me seek and offer true healing that reaches the root, Lord, rather than papering over it with reassuring words.