March 16, 2025 Text: Jeremiah 26:8-15
Dear Friends in Christ,
October 16-28, 1962, is probably that as well known to be people today as it should be. In those 13 days nuclear war was averted. We know it as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet Union was sending missiles to Cuba because the US had a build-up in Italy and Turkey. Cuba, 90 miles from Florida, was dangerously close. The US set up a blockade. After a US plane was shot down, a US invasion force was ready. Robert McNamara, US Defense Secretary later said, “I thought it was the last Saturday I would ever see.” President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev had intense negotiations. The Soviets turned their ships around. No nuclear missiles launched. No World War III. Crisis averted.
In our text today, it is a pivotal moment for God’s people, will they survive as a nation? God sends his prophet Jeremiah to speak some harsh words. Will the words be heard, and the crisis averted?
How about us? Do you feel your survival is threatened? Are missiles pointed our way? Will God’s Word preached to us . . .
“AVERT THE CRISIS?”
God’s people, the kingdom of Judah, had a crisis because they were rejecting the Word of God. They were dissing the Creator – Yahweh. Jeremiah had just spoken and let’s just say . . . it was not well received. He told them they were turning to other gods and away from the God who had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt and given them a Promised Land.
Jeremiah finishes his little diatribe, and the corrupt priests and prophets do not give his speech a favorable rating. They tell him “You shall die!” Like a playground fight, everyone gathers together. It is not a standoff between two superpowers, but between good and evil. Jeremiah tells them that he is speaking for God, and he calls them to repent. If they repent, crisis averted. If they refuse, well . . . God has a little destruction plan. “Is this the last Saturday they will ever see?”
What crisis do we will live under? Eternal catastrophe in hell caused by sin. We have gods we haven’t given up. Carnal desires. Trust in plastic and glass and steel. Lying and cheating for temporal things that don’t last.
You hear it every Sunday from this pulpit, but the desire is still there to turn inward and rebel. On this journey of Lent, as we live the days of our lives, we are in crisis, we know the wages of sin is death.
There is a way out of the crisis. We need a mediator. The Living Word in the flesh intervenes. Don’t these priests of Jeremiah’s time remind you of the Pharisees and Sadducees and chief priests scurrying from the lairs to get Jesus before Pilate and condemn him to death? Jesus too spoke God’s Word. God had sent many prophets who were murdered. Now it is time for the Son. They will listen to Him, won’t they?
This is the only scenario where our crisis of damnation can be averted. God in the flesh would have to live the commandments perfectly. God in the flesh would have to take the punishment for our sins. God in the flesh would have to shed his blood to save us from hell. It is God’s love for us that averts the crisis.
The verses after our text tell us cooler heads prevailed. Jeremiah wasn’t killed. But 22 years later Judah was dragged off into captivity in Babylon. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, just as Jeremiah had warned. The people never really took God’s Word to heart.
Let’s listen to God’s messengers of today. Let’s hear the voice of repentance and live as children of God. History bears out that over the years many crises have been averted and millions of lives have been saved. Jesus’ death and resurrection overcame our crisis of sin and death. We look forward to the final resolution when Christ will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.
Crisis averted.
Amen.