Today’s Scripture Reading (June 2, 2020): Jeremiah 34
Making a promise is easy. Keeping it is hard. It is a truth that we know all too well. Politicians make so many promises that we come to expect some of them not to be kept. It is the reason why political pundits rely so heavily on a politician’s past behavior. If a politician runs on a Pro-Life platform, but most of their actions have been Pro-Choice, then there is an excellent reason to doubt the promise of the politician. And if they say they are people of peace, but in the past have voted for war, then, once again, we get to question the promise.
Some broken promises are memorable. I actually felt sorry for George H. W. Bush, who became a one-term president based on a single broken promise. The promise? Read my lips; no new taxes. The reality, George H. W. Bush was backed into a corner during his first term as President and was forced to raise taxes, once again reinforcing the idea that making a promise is easy and keeping it is hard. The truth is that we all have broken our promises. Sometimes the break is unintentional, and at other times it is something into which we are forced. But I hope that while making a promise is easy, breaking a promise never becomes so. If we are people of our word, breaking our promises is something to which we never want to become accustomed.
Jeremiah talks about the leaders of Jerusalem who have entered into a covenant relationship with God; they made a promise. But in the ancient world, you never made a promise or a covenant; you cut one. The idea was that you would sacrifice an animal and split it or cut it in two. Then you cut a covenant, promising to do something while walking between the two halves of the animal. The imagery was striking. The promise meant that if you failed to uphold your end of the agreement or covenant, then you were accepting a curse on your life that said that you would become like the sacrificed animal; you would be severed in two. The ceremony made the idea of a covenant a very visual one, and the sacrifice of the animal and the walking between the two halves was a graphic reminder of what it was to which you were committing yourself. Don’t make this promise easily because, if it is broken, you are accepting a fate that you do not want.
Could you imagine the President doing this every time he made a promise to the people? “I stand before you today committing to (abolish abortion or whatever your favorite campaign promise might be), and as a symbol of my commitment. I have sacrificed a lamb, cut it in two, and I will now, in front of the millions of people watching on television, walk between the two halves. If I fail to keep this promise, may what has happened to the lamb, happen to me.”
Yeah, don’t look for that ceremony on the campaign trail any time soon. But maybe as the voters, we should stop asking for meaningless promises. Perhaps a better way to phrase it is this. What are the things that are most important to you that you will try to complete while in office? I don’t want the hundred and one things for which you have a plan. I want the, at most, five things that are most important to you. We know you will do other things. But can you give us the big five, fully realizing that something valuable to your listeners is bound to be left off of the list? Because it is likely only these five that you can commit to getting done.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 35
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