AN UNCERTAIN YES
I used to have a sign in my office that read: “It is important to remember that most of us are doing the important thing in our lives for the first time.” That line certainly applies to the faith journeys of Jeremiah and Mary. These two teenagers kept the ancient wisdom at the center of their lives: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18—would have been their sources. We know these words when Jesus quoted them in Mark 12:30–31)
These lines are the central pillar of our faith. They are the guideposts for our lives. In Christian terms, faithfulness to this core tenet is the task of every Christian regardless of age or circumstance. The words are simple but the task is difficult and often beyond us—but they remain our calling. Our scriptures this week (found at the end of the blog) make that point clearly.
Neither of the scriptural passages includes the word faithful. But both of these stories demonstrate faith in real life. Skip for a moment the dramatic descriptions of heavenly visitations. (Very few of us can report overwhelmingly clear calls from God, but most of us can report the discomfort and uncertainty of facing new and difficult challenges.) Look at the common elements in the call of Jeremiah and Mary.
1. Both Jeremiah and Mary were young—likely in their teens. We don’t expect teenagers to guide us—but God did.
2. Both are called to follow difficult paths that include considerable pain. (Jeremiah is called to speak truth to powerful and antagonistic rulers—rulers who beat and imprisoned him. Mary is called to bear a child out of wedlock, a child she would one day watch die slowly on a cross.)
3. Both are bewildered and feel inadequate to the task at hand. (Jeremiah: “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” and Mary: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”)
4. Both are told in no uncertain terms that their bewilderment and anxiety were not relevant—but at the same time both are promised that neither will be alone. Jeremiah is told: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Mary is told: “…nothing will be impossible with God.”
5. Both of these teenagers were called to follow the Lord.
It is important to remember that faithfulness to God is countercultural and largely unverifiable. We believe loving, mindfulness, and regard belong to every human being. Much of the world does not. We regularly decide who someone is before we have actually met them—by their age, their role, their politics, whatever category is closest at hand. I feel a version of this constantly: the moment people discover I am a minister, I get stereotyped into oblivion. Believers assume I think exactly as they do; skeptics argue with me based on assumptions about what they think I believe. Almost no one asks first what I actually think. Differences become measures of worth rather than markers of individuality, and it is very hard to feel loved in a world that has already decided who you are before it has heard you. Jesus—and, by extension, God—does not respect our definitions and categories. He shows us a better way. He promises to love us and calls us to live like we are loved. God loves us in all of our inadequacy because he does not measure us as we measure ourselves. Inadequate is a very human, but secular, measure of self-worth.
Further, Jesus says every bit of love and regard matters. We are not measured by quantity or outcome. I learned this the hard way, the summer before my senior year of seminary, when my twenty-year-old brother was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and died a few months later. At his funeral, I was struck by an unexpected comfort—scripture I did not fully understand, much less believe, held me anyway. In that same breath, I realized that children die every day, that genocide occurs every generation, that human history is filled with cruelty I could do nothing about. In the middle of that grief, I discovered the faith claim that has never left me: it did not matter if my efforts to love were a single drop in the ocean. Love still mattered. That conviction became the beginning of my ministry, and it is still my answer whenever the question “What difference can I make?” surfaces again—which it does, often. Jesus simply says love one another as I have loved you. It is the way to life. But we must choose it.
Finally, we are promised that, of all the things we can devote our lives to, love is the only thing that is eternal. Love will prevail even when every earthly treasure has turned to dust. This is a hard faith to hold onto when we are threatened, in pain, or see the terrible things that are part of life. I spent one night in the NICU with parents my age who had to pull the plug on their infant daughter. There was no “fair” or “just” to that child’s death. I could only be present and helpless to the pain before me. I call such presence faithfulness. Jesus showed us that pain and even the unjust suffering of innocents are part of our life. The Son of God was not exempt. Learning that truth is saving. It frees us to love anyway.
Neither Jeremiah nor Mary fits the secular version of spiritual leaders. Of course both of them felt overwhelmed. Neither had the proper pedigree for the tasks in front of them. But each surrendered to a God who seemed to be asking the impossible. Both of them said yes—an uncertain and frightened yes—but a yes nevertheless.
Ultimately, faithfulness is saying yes to Love. It means doing the work of love. And it means trusting Love even when the horizon is bleak. That is the example Jeremiah, Mary, Jesus, and countless people in the cloud of witnesses demonstrated. Our direction and confidence are built on that sure foundation.
We find life in every relationship that honors Jesus’ Great Commandment. We cannot do this alone. We need examples. We need community. We need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit, promised by Jesus, who helps us Live like we are loved, Live like love matters, and Live like love will prevail. That is the promise and the sustaining presence we rely upon. Say yes to Love and follow Jesus. Let it be so.
Jeremiah 1:4–10
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” 9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Luke 1:26–38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
