NOTES for Jer 14:1-22

Finding himself on the brink of destruction, a person is forced to rethink his ideas about God. Jeremiah stands between two incompatible ways of understanding the situation. On the one hand, the disasters taking place come from God; they are punishment for unbelief, and therefore God will not help or even listen to pleas for help. On the other hand, the prophet cannot relinquish his certainty that “God's name has been called over us,” that despite everything God remains Israel's only hope and salvation. In this paradox, the demanding, just, and punishing God meets the God who forgives and saves. There is only one way to resolve this contradiction: to unite these two opposing images in the single word “YOU.” This is prayer; this is repentance; this is a direct encounter with the reality of God, which cannot be fitted into any neat system of ideas.