Listen to the Scriptures for God’s Call
September 28, 2025
The topic this morning is listening to the call of God for correction. In each of the readings, we have today the psalm in the call to worship, the reading from the book of Jeremiah and the gospel of Luke reading, God calls to us. In Psalm two God wants to speak through Kings. In the Jeremiah reading God speaks through a prophet to the king. And in Luke God speaks to those who act like kings. Let’s break those down because in each there is a warning and a choice.
In Psalm 2, we hear that some kings are getting together and they think that they’re strong enough to break free of the bonds that God puts on them. Bonds that we might know as the 10 commandments or bonds of respecting those of a lower economic or social level. God laughs at them, partly because the kings think they’re all powerful and can choose to break free of God. And I think partly because to break free of God is to break free of wisdom. Now I think that this bothers God more than when you and I foolishly think we’re going to go our own way. And this is because the intention of a king or a queen is to be an example to the average person. God wants the kings, queens and prime ministers, to be wise because they set a standard of behaviour, both in what they do and how their live out their relationship with God. In the text the Hebrew word ‘to break’ as to break a pot, is very similar to the Hebrew word for ‘to Shepherd.’ So, the sense is that God wants the royalty or those who are in leadership to be like shepherds and the iron bar that is mentioned could be a shepherding implement, a royal scepter, or a weapon. All of which suggest that the role of leadership is to guide, protect and be willing to fight for their people. But first, they have to be wise enough to be in an honest relationship with the holy.
Jeremiah on the other hand is having to deal with a king who isn’t wise. This king has shown a disregard for God and because of that example of choosing unwisely and unfaithfully many of the people in Israel were following his example in being cruel to the poor, the widowed, and the orphan. The prophet Jeremiah tells the king what the king doesn’t want to hear, which is that the invading army at the gates of Jerusalem are a punishment sent by God. Not only does the king refuse to listen to Jeremiah’s call to repentance, but the king puts Jeremiah under house arrest so that he cannot speak this truth to the people. There’s more I want to say about that reading, but I’ll get back to that in a moment.
In the gospel of Luke, the rich man is acting like this very unwise king. And Jesus in his masterful storytelling so clearly shows us that lack of wisdom looks like. The king and the poor person named Lazarus, are portrayed in the most darkest and opposite ways. The rich man wears purple and Lazarus wears sores. The rich man eats fabulous feasts, and Lazarus doesn’t even get the crumbs. The rich man has all the comfort s of the world while Lazarus only comfort is having the dogs lick his sores. The rich man is on high, and Lazarus begs from underneath. The rich man is used to being listened to and seen while Lazarus is seemingly invisible to the rich man. The rich man has no name, but Lazarus does, which is the only foreshadowing that maybe Lazarus is to be regarded. In death, that great leveler of humanity, a startling reversal happens. Now Lazarus is on high, and the rich man is below. Now the rich man is now begging because Lazarus has access to the richness of water and comfort that alludes the rich man. But even this new reality does not change the rich man. The rich man still believes he is in control, that he has choices and that Lazarus has no power whatsoever. And we see this in that the rich guy still will not acknowledge that Lazarus has power and choice. He only speaks to Abraham, asking Abraham to send Lazarus first to cool his tongue and secondly to warn his brothers. Even in torment, he has not truly learned any lessons about seeing the worth of others and respecting them. Even death does not transform him.
What should concern us today in this congregation is to ask who in our world has choices and because of those choices, the power to ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters? The answer is you and I. And I know there are 1000’s of reasons why we do not help those who are poor to the full extent of our resources and capacity. Just this week I saw a man wrapped in a blanket, half in a daze wandering into the middle of the street because he knew the light was red and he would ask all the people in the cars who had to stop, for money. Shamefully I was happy when the light turned green before he got to my car. Because I know I was going to have to make a choice to give this poor man a little bit of money or not. Only the turning of the light robbed me of the opportunity and challenge to make that choice. And I was glad of it. The truth is no matter how many excuses I make. Perhaps he is high and dangerous. Perhaps he’ll just use this money to further harm himself or that I’m encouraging him or… well you know because we have all made the same excuses. Out of fear, prejudice and my own desire to have my money for me, I chose to side with the rich man. And if I who preach on a regular basis and as Father Abraham accuses, knows the scriptures both Old and New Testament in their full prophetic power and still side with the rich man. Where is the hope that any of us including me can be saved?
In the book of Jeremiah specifically the passage that we are reading, we have Jeremiah who is under house arrest and outside the city gates is an enemy army ready to attack and destroy Jerusalem. The situation cannot be more dire. What does Jeremiah do? He calls for a relative who owns a piece of land just outside the gates of Jerusalem. Land that the attacking army is camped out on. Jeremiah is clear to follow all the proper procedures to make an offer on the land; pay for the land; and make sure that it is properly notarized in the official land titles office. The relative can’t believe his good luck. What fool buys land when all is hopeless. When an attacking army about to destroy the city and take over not just the city but the land around the city? Well, this kind of fool is one that is foolish enough to hope in a future he can see but believe that because God is good; there might yet be a cause to hope.
On my Facebook feed a moving story appeared in my in box. In 1922, a team of scientists arrived at the Toronto General Hospital, where wards were filled with children suffering from advanced diabetes. Many of the young patients were in diabetic comas, teetering on the edge of death from ketoacidosis. Others were barely surviving on starvation diets—then the only known way to slow the disease. Parents sat helplessly by their children's bedsides, waiting for the inevitable.
Then something extraordinary happened. The scientists went from bed to bed, injecting each child with a new purified extract called insulin. As they reached the last child, still unconscious, the very first child they had treated began to stir. One by one, the children awoke, emerging from their comas. What had been a ward filled with grief and despair transformed into a room overflowing with relief, joy and hope.
This groundbreaking moment was the result of tireless work by Frederick Banting and Charles Best, under the guidance of John Macleod at the University of Toronto. With James Collip’s help, they refined and purified insulin, making it viable for widespread medical use. Rather than profit from their discovery, Banting, Best, and Collip, sold the patent to the University of Toronto for just one dollar, believing it belonged to the world.
What we, who have choice, need is a kind of insulin that will awaken us from our coma of fear, excuses and prejudices. We need to take every opportunity to arouse our faith in God’s wisdom and to deny the earth wisdom that is selfish and self-serving. Orange Shirt Day is one such shot of insulin. But it helps us face our prejudices and our fears. It helps us to choose hope, for a future of a reconciled world. Perhaps in that future there will be fewer people on the streets, and we will all be much more compassionate to those who are. As we journey along the Christian calendar may we take every opportunity to get those faith insulin shots, so that we might be transformed into the wise and compassionate people God has made us to be. Amen