The scriptures read are Jeremiah 13-15, Psalm 51 and Hebrews 7.
Jeremiah 13. Remember God having Isaiah walk around naked? Jeremiah gets off easy wearing a loincloth. For a long time. Then he is to put them in a crack. For a long time. When he retrieves them, they are rotting. God is demonstrating how Judah will fare in this enacted parable.
The he switches to wine bottles but that is apparently just a spoken parable.
And we get the famous line about a leopard changing its spots.
Jeremiah 14. Like bad kids who have gotten themselves into trouble and expect their parents to bail them out, the people of Judah are pleading with God to spare them in spite of their continued bad behavior. God is over their pattern of not having anything to do with him until they screw up badly and have to pay.
And God is tired of preachers who tell the people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear.
Jeremiah weeps and pleads for his people.
Jeremiah 15. This judgment is a done deal, says God. I'm tired of bailing you out.
Jeremiah is taking a lot of heat for his criticism of the people and the government. Where is God? Is he an illusion?
God calls Jeremiah to repent and come back to him. He will protect his prophet.
Psalm 51. An appropriately searching and honest acoustic version of this psalm of repentance.
Hebrews 7. The author points out the parallels between this mysterious priest Melchizedek and our high priest Jesus. And he builds the case for Jesus' priesthood being superior to the old Aaronic priesthood. They had to offer sacrifices continually for the sins of themselves and the people. Jesus doesn't need to offer sacrifices for himself; he is the sacrifice, offered once for all.
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