Then the word of the LORD came to me: “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.” – Jeremiah 16:1-2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 16, 2020): Jeremiah 16

Sheldon Vanauken, in his book “Severe Mercy,” which recounts his friendship with C. S. Lewis, argues that “Signs must be read with caution. The history of Christendom is replete with instances of people who misread the signs.” I couldn’t agree more. The post-exilic author of Chronicles praised the people of the tribe of Issachar, because they understood the times. Sometimes, I wish we had more people like those of Issachar in our society today, because we are missing the times. I have argued that this is especially true when it comes to our arguments around “end times.” The truth that we refuse to see is that we don’t know when this epoch will end, and the Bible does not give us the answer to that question. No matter how hard we study the Bible, or what secrets someone has told us will reveal what is to come, the truth is that we don’t know and we are not supposed to know. Here is what the Bible clearly says about the end; it will come, you don’t know when (even Jesus doesn’t know when [Matthew 24:36], so why would we think we know more than him?), so live every day as if this is the last day. Don’t worry about the signs you think you see.

But maybe even more importantly, our preoccupation with the end is raising a barrier between us and the culture in which we live, and these are people who desperately need to hear the message of Jesus. These people are much more critical than when we think that this world will end. So, put away your “the end is near” signs, and decide to love them as Jesus loves them.

God comes to Hosea and tells him to marry a promiscuous woman so that his life could be lived as an illustration to the people of Judah. But to Jeremiah, he commands the prophet to stay single. And this is a sign that sometimes we miss, but that the people of Jerusalem, hopefully, understood in the early days of the sixth-century B.C.E. It was the duty of every man to marry and fulfill the command of God to “be fruitful and increase in number” (Genesis 1:28). “Marriage was obligatory among the Jews, and the prohibition of it to Jeremiah was a sign that the impending calamity was so great as to override all ordinary duties” (Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes). God’s command that a prophet should not marry is very unusual, and it should have claimed the attention of everyone who came in contact with him.

What was coming was serious. The current situation in Jerusalem was not business as usual. And the coming disaster was something of which all the people needed to be aware; they needed to understand the sign of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was sacrificing something for which he had planned most of his life because the situation had become that desperate. Yet, Jeremiah’s message was not just about what was coming, but also about what the people could do today to avoid the calamity that was already on its way.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17