Richard Davenport

February 16, 2025 – Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Jeremiah 17:5-8

                As someone who grew up in a colder climate, I can say it’s something I’ve dealt with with depressing regularity.  You get yourself put together, you grab all your things, you’re probably running a little late.  You hop in the car and turn the key …rrrrrrr …rrrr.. rrrr… click. click.click.  A very dead battery.  Since batteries don’t do as well in the cold, you can be sure that the reason your battery is dead right now is because it is bitterly, bitterly cold out.  The reason you’re already late is because you spent the last fifteen minutes scraping ice off of your car.  Snow is gusting all around you, and now that you spent all that time in the cold and snow, your car battery has been called to that great Autozone in the sky. 

                At this point, you’re probably saying, or at least thinking, some very rude things at your car.  But, it doesn’t make much difference.  The car isn’t going anywhere.  You’re not going anywhere.  Now you’re looking to get a ride to the parts store to get a new battery. Maybe you’re lucky enough to find someone who can jump it for you so you can drive there and let them swap the battery out for you.  Either way, you aren’t going to make it to wherever you were trying to go. 

                It shouldn’t really be all that surprising. Anyone who has driven a car for any length of time has probably had to deal with a dead battery.  Batteries do worse in cold weather.  Even if it doesn’t get quite as cold here in Arkansas as it does further north, it can still get cold and a dead battery can ruin your day. 

                The old German philosopher, Hegel, argued that you can’t really assume anything will happen.  Even if something has happened exactly the same way a thousand times before, that doesn’t mean it will the next time.  You flip a coin a thousand times and a thousand times it comes down heads or tails.  But that doesn’t mean it has to.  You could flip it and it somehow lands on its edge.  You could flip it and it just floats away.  Who knows? 

                Now, he was making a certain philosophical point about the assumptions we make in life.  It isn’t practical to question and doubt everything you come across.  You have to make a certain amount of assumptions to get anything accomplished in the day at all.  If you constantly questioned whether the sun was going to disappear or gravity was somehow just going to turn off or whether you would be struck by lightning out of a clear blue sky or whether the tomatoes you just bought at the store had some horrible poison in them, you would wither away and die from paralyzing paranoia. 

                So we make assumptions.  I assume when I wake up, I won’t have travelled to Mars in my sleep. I assume the words in the book I’m reading actually mean what I think they mean.  I assume the people I meet aren’t carrying some horribly lethal and contagious disease.  So far, these assumptions have all been correct. 

                But, I also make a lot of other assumptions.  I assume that if I leave to get to church or to get Paul to school at this time, that I’ll make it.  I assume that when I pay for something, my card is going to work. I assume that if I hop in my car after taking the time to scrap all of the ice off and feeling my face on the verge of frostbite, that it will start and get me to where I need to be going 15 mins ago.

                Unfortunately, there are many instances where my assumptions fail.  Things didn’t go like I expected, didn’t go like they were supposed to.  So, now what?  How do I deal with the situation now? 

                It’s not always a big deal.  Minor issues might not make any real difference at all. Sometimes they might reveal new and exciting things.  The wine you usually order at the restaurant wasn’t available, so you tried something new and found you really enjoyed it.  Those aren’t usually the assumptions that come to mind.  Instead we think of the times when our faulty assumptions meant the day went well off track.  When a faulty assumption means turns into something quite inconvenient, that’s what sticks with me through the day. 

                I know I shouldn’t really assume that things will always work the way I want.  I know I shouldn’t expect that things will always go my way.  But that doesn’t stop me from getting pretty bent out of shape when they don’t.  It can be pretty easy to start blaming everyone and everything when things fail to pan out.  You get angry and snap at people in frustration. 

                While the frustration is understandable, that anger gets us into all sorts of trouble.  I get angry when something was supposed to go a certain way and it didn’t. I’m supposed to have the day off, but all of the sudden an emergency comes up and I end up busy all day.  The mechanic was supposed to fix my car, but then something else happens and now it needs another $1500 in repairs.  The doctor said the treatment for my illness was going to work, but it didn’t and now my prognosis looks pretty grim.  I’m supposed to just be living my life.  I don’t get into trouble.  I don’t make a big fuss about things.  I try and be helpful and conscientious, but the fire/tornado/flood, just destroyed everything I own.

                Looking for someone to blame, looking for someone to be angry at is sadly typical for us.  We expect things to work out.  We expect things to go our way.  We expect life to go, if not always easy, at least without major bumps.  We expect that our days won’t change much from one to the next unless we want them to. 

                It isn’t just that we assume that the universe generally revolves around us and accommodates itself to our needs, though that is a part of the problem.  It’s also a measure of how highly we consider our own abilities.  Each of us is not only so important that the world should do everything it can to make our lives easier, it should also follow our orders and live up to every expectation we have.

                God gives a message to the Israelites through the prophet Jeremiah.  He warns them against trusting in man.  The person who trusts in man will wither and die.  We tend to look around at other people and know that there are times people let us down.  There are times when other people let their own selfishness take precedence.  There are times when people just aren’t able to help or meet the needs you may have.  It’s unfortunate, but it happens.  In fact, it’s often the reason things don’t go according to your plan.

                We don’t really like it.  We don’t like that people aren’t dependable, but that’s life. But God isn’t really stopping there. While it’s true that people will let you down, that isn’t the point of God’s message.  He isn’t just directing your attention to everyone else.  He wants you to look most especially at yourself. It isn’t because other people let you down that God is sending you into exile.  It isn’t because others failed to live up to your expectations that you’re being punished.  God condemns you for your own sins.  You look down on others and their failures, but you aren’t any better.  God condemns people for idolatry, for their own refusal to acknowledge him as God, as the one who made it possible for you to live in peace and to see that all of your needs were met.  God condemns you for your belief that it was your own efforts that earned everything you have.  It was your own strength that brought you out of slavery and guided you to a land you could call your own.  It was your own purity and righteousness that allowed you to be in God’s presence and earned the right for you to be called one of his own.

                God reminds us that we are all part of the same bunch.  We look down on others for all of the same problems we have ourselves.  We aren’t any more capable or trustworthy than anyone else.  Whatever we think we have because we are worthy, noble, skilled, or anything else, can just as easily be taken away, until we realize all of it had been given to us as a gift.

                God’s message continues through the end of verse 13. There is no good news in it.  The people as a whole are not ready for it.  But there are some who will hear and repent. There are some, like Jeremiah just after this, who will hear and pray to God for mercy.

                God will hear their prayers and have mercy on them. He will restore them to the place that was intended for them.  He will bring them back and give them life once more.  This will happen because God makes it happen.  Those who were trapped in slavery will be set free.  Those trapped in darkness will see the light. Those crushed down under their sins will be lifted up, their burden taken away.  Where man could not, God can and does.  Those who trusted in themselves will be left to their own devices, but those who look to God will find their salvation. 

                Christ comes into the world as a man, a man with all of the weaknesses of any other man, with the exception of sin.  In Christ, man’s weakness is joined to God’s strength.  God works through man to do wonders.  God works through Christ to bring forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.  What we cannot do for ourselves, what we can’t even rely on others to do, God can and does. 

                God doesn't work on assumptions, but on promises.  God promises and he keeps his promises.  God's promises don't follow Hegel's rule, because God's promises always do precisely what he says.  They never fail and never deviate.  He promises to be strong where we are weak and to deal witht he problems of sin and death because we cannot.

               Look at your own life honestly and see the evidence of your own shortcomings, your own failures brought about by your own sinful desires.  Look at your life and see that nothing you do changes your end.  Then look to God and see how he is not constrained like we are, that he is able to do everything we cannot.  Look to him and see his promise that he will forgive you and give you life because it is his joy and pleasure to do so.