Responsibility

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 24, 2013

Responsibility

Jeremiah 23:1-6

“You are utterly faithless,

and utterly irresponsible.”

This is the searing message God spoke to the children of Israel

through the prophet Jeremiah more than 2600 years ago.

Everyone, throughout the land,

all the way up to the very top,

the king himself.

They were all faithless,

all irresponsible.

These are words spoken so long ago,

yet they are timeless,

as timely today

as they were when they first came out of Jeremiah’s mouth.

God upset with his children

for their faithlessness,

irresponsible in how they lived their lives,

living in disobedience,

following their own desires,

their own whims,

their own ways.

Ancient words, but timeless,

timely.

Our human history is one of faithlessness,

of irresponsibility toward God.

We say we’ll be obedient,

but then we go off on our own way,

doing what we want to do.

And then when God confronts us with our waywardness,

our faithlessness,

we try our best to wriggle out of it,

quick to blame someone or something else,

point the finger elsewhere,

turn ourselves into victims.

saying it is someone else’s fault.

We’ve tried to get out of responsibility

ever since the days of Adam and Eve,

when Eve tried to blame the serpent,

and Adam not only tried to blame the woman,

he even tried to blame God:

arguing that if God hadn’t given him

the woman in the first place

the tree would have been untouched,

the fruit still hanging from the branch,

and Adam never would have found himself

in trouble with God.

Reliable,

accountable,

dependable,

trustworthy –

these are some of the words

that go with responsibility.

To be irresponsible is to be

unreliable,

undependable,

untrustworthy.

In our lesson God condemned the leaders

of Israel and Judah,

the leaders of his people,

those who occupied the throne of David;

God condemned them for their irresponsibility,

for turning from the responsibilities

that went with being a king,

for pursuing their own desires,

building up their wealth,

their power,

seeking their own glory, rather than God’s.

This isn’t what God expected of his kings.

To be a king was to be responsible for God’s people,

all God’s people.

To be a king was to be a shepherd,

looking after all God’s people,

with a special concern for the weak, the sick,

the elderly, the young.

Psalm 72 tells us what God expected from the king,

 “Give the king your justice, O God,

and your righteousness to a king’s son.

May he judge your people with righteousness

and your poor with justice.

…May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,

give deliverance to the needy…

In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound…

for he delivers the needy when they call,

the poor and those who have no helper.

He has pity on the weak and needy.”

Speaking through Jeremiah, God indicted his kings,

“You have not attended to my flock,”

“You haven’t kept your eye on my people.”

(Peterson, The Message)

“You have failed to take care of them,

You’ve pursued your own interests,

gone down your own path,

You have been irresponsible –

you’ve been faithless.”

It is a powerful indictment.

And following it comes an equally powerful punishment:

they would be swept away, banished,

gone with the desert winds,

to make way for a godly king,

one who understood what it meant to be king,

one who would “execute justice

and righteousness in the land,”

one who would look after all God’s children

in the same way a shepherd takes responsibility

for all his flock:

watching over them,

caring for them,

tending them.

This “Righteous Branch” would be our Lord Jesus Christ,

a king who reigns not with sword and army,

not with power and might,

but with “peace as his scepter and love as his crown,”

as John Rutter’s beautiful “Christmas Lullaby” reminds us.

This is a king who is a shepherd, our shepherd,

who tends his flock with love,

looking after all,

including the weak,

the sick,

the old, the young,

the different.

This is a king who calls us to model our lives on his

even as we follow him.

This is a king who calls us to be shepherds to one another,

looking after one another,

all tending all in the flock.

When Cain said to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

(Genesis 4:9)

he was trying to turn from his own responsibility

by reminding God that God was the one

who promised to be the keeper, the keeper of all:

As the psalmist would later write,

“The Lord is your keeper…

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in

from this time on and forevermore.”

(Psalm 121)

But even as Cain tried to run from his responsibility,

he knew the answer:

we are one another’s keepers,

for as our Lord teaches us

we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Life often distracts us, though,

and turns us from responding faithfully to our calling.

We see choices that look so much more appealing,

exciting,

or that may simply require less effort,

or are more fun.

Isn’t it enough, we think,

that we try our best to be nice

more often than not,

that we do good more often than not,

that we say a prayer every now and then?

Doesn’t God know how busy we are?

Isn’t that enough?

And the answer is, of course, no.

We are called to new life,

transformed life

obedient life,

responsible life

following our king,

our shepherd.

Jesus wants followers,

not admirers,

(Kierkegaard)

not those along just for a day trip.

Following Jesus our Lord, our shepherd,

puts great responsibility on each of us.

But we have one another to help us along the way.

Together we are the Body of Christ;

together we are shepherds,

caring for one another,

all of us responsible for the flock.

The life of a shepherd can be a difficult one,

there’s no question about that.

But it can also be filled with joy,

a life rich in blessings,

for we follow the one who is our shepherd,

and so we shall not want,

for our cup runs over;

goodness and mercy will follow us

all the days of our lives,

and we will dwell in the house of the Lord

forever and ever.

AMEN