The Truth Hurts

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Pentecost 4 2023 Proper 7A

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Vicar Kaleb Yaeger
6/25/2023
Jeremiah 20:7–13, Romans 6:12–23, Matthew 10:5a, 21–33

The Truth Hurts

The truth is not always an easy thing to hear. It’s not always an easy thing to say. You might avoid speaking the truth to preserve someone’s ego. Let the other person save face and not point out all their faults and failures. In many cases, not telling the naked truth is the right way to go. As the saying goes, the truth hurts. 

But sometimes, speaking the truth is necessary. Even if it hurts, truth is important. The prophet Jeremiah lived in such a time. He had a hard word to say to the people of Israel. Exile was coming. The people of Israel had rebelled against God again and again. God would soon send the Babylonians against His people to punish them for their spiritual adultery. 

The people of Israel didn’t want to hear it. They had other prophets, false prophets who gave the people an easy lie to listen to, reassuring the people in their sins. So, when Jeremiah comes along, speaking the painful truth of God, the people were angry. 

To the authorities, Jeremiah was a troublemaker. A troublemaker that needed to be silenced. So, they beat him and put him in stocks overnight so all the crowds could mock him. It is right after this that our text today takes place. 

O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.(...) For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

Jeremiah has spoken God’s truth, and God’s truth hurts. The people didn’t want to hear it. So, they persecuted Jeremiah. They beat him, imprisoned him, and mocked him. Even his close friends plotted his downfall. 

For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” say all my close friends, watching for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.”

God’s truth isn’t popular. After all, the truth hurts. People will not love you for speaking the truth. They will hate you. They will turn against you. Perhaps even your family and friends will turn their back on you. 

Jeremiah had a choice to make. Either he could keep preaching God’s word, keep giving people the truth they didn’t want to hear; or just stop. All he’d need to do is nothing at all. Just stop preaching God’s word and persecution would just go away. So which will it be, Jeremiah? Preach the hard truth of God’s Word? Or just stop and be quiet?

Jeremiah was not the only man to face this question. A couple thousand years after Jeremiah, God’s church was in a Babylonian captivity. Not by actual Babylonians, but the church was held captive by false doctrine. The year is 1530. The Roman Catholic church holds the monopoly on Christianity. This Roman church is the new Babylon. It holds the true church in captivity by its many false teachings. 

But there’s one troublemaker, one angry German monk who has been speaking against the Roman church’s false prophets. He’s even spoken against the Pope himself. The Pope had a lot of political power at this time. This angry German monk, by the name of Martin Luther, had gotten himself declared an outlaw and a heretic for his teachings. 

Being an outlaw at this time in history was a big deal. Luther was a wanted man. If he was recognized by the authorities, he would be arrested immediately. The way that the Roman Church tended to deal with heretics was to burn them at the stake. If Luther was caught, he would likely be killed.

Like Jeremiah, Luther has a choice to make. Either keep writing, teaching and preaching the harsh truth; or just apologize. Say he was wrong. Just recant his teachings and be quiet. All he had to do was nothing and all of this would go away. 

Jeremiah might have tried this route. Just say nothing. Don’t speak the truth and the people won’t hurt you. He writes: 

If I say, “I will not mention Him, or speak any more in His name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

God’s truth is as a burning fire in the bones of Jeremiah. He cannot hold it in. He knows that the truth of God must be spoken. The sins of the people and the lies of the false prophets are just too much. Jeremiah really doesn’t have a choice. He will speak in the name of the LORD. He will give the hard truth to the people of Israel. They will hate him. They will stand against him, beating him, putting him in prison, mocking him. But Jeremiah will speak the truth. 

Luther too, will speak the truth. He doesn’t go silent. God’s truth is like a burning fire shut up in his bones. He cannot hold it in. He continues to write against the abuses of the Roman church. He writes against the Pope. He even translates Scripture into German so that the common people can read it. Martin Luther does not quietly go away. 

People begin to listen. Several German princes find themselves agreeing with Luther’s points. The Reformation gains momentum. The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, turns his full attention to this angry German troublemaker. This was the man who declared Luther an outlaw. He is opposed to the Reformation, both religiously and politically. 

Charles V wants to know what these reformers believe. So, he arranges a Diet, or council in a city called Augsburg. Luther, as an outlaw, cannot attend without being arrested. In his place, several theologians of the Reformation attend. In the days leading up to the Diet of Augsburg, headed by Philip Melanchthon, these men write down the truths they confess. 

And so, 493 years ago, on this very date, June 25 1530, the Augsburg Confession is read in the presence of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This document would become the foundation of the Lutheran Confessions we hold to today. The Augsburg Confession details the truths of the Christian faith, and it lists the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. That is not an easy thing to read to a Catholic Emperor. 

Like the prophet Jeremiah, Luther and the theologians of the Reformation speak a hard truth. They call for the Roman Catholic Church to repent, to turn from her wickedness and live. They are persecuted and mocked. Yet they do not waver. They do not turn from their true confession. 

But make no mistake. These men did not stand alone. It was not their own extraordinary willpower that guided them in the right path. Jeremiah did stand against mockery and shame. His friends became his enemies, plotting his downfall. If Jeremiah was standing alone, he would have failed. 

But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed.

The LORD is with Jeremiah as a dread warrior. Like a mighty man of old, God Himself stands beside him. The words Jeremiah spoke God’s words, and The LORD God Himself backed them up. Now, Jeremiah was still imprisoned, mocked and beaten. But his persecutors could not overcome him. Because Jeremiah understood what Jesus said to His disciples in our Gospel text today. 

…do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. 

The LORD is with Jeremiah as a dread warrior on the battlefield of eternity. For the LORD would vanquish evil with nails and a spear. By dying and rising again, Jesus, the LORD, the dread warrior with Jeremiah, takes the power of the persecutor away. Death has no dominion over the righteous. This is what Jeremiah means. His persecutors can beat him, imprison him, even kill him, but they would not overcome him. 

Neither would they overcome the theologians of the Reformation a couple thousand years later. Like Jeremiah, they couldn’t keep the truth contained. Like Jeremiah, they were persecuted. But like Jeremiah, they were not alone. Even when Luther was declared an outlaw, when the world was turned against him, when it would have been easier to just give up and recant, the LORD was with Luther and his followers like a dread warrior. The pure message of the cross took away any power that an opponent could wield. 

Dear Christian, you stand in the legacy of these men. You have the pure truth of God’s holy Word. It is a truth the world would rather not hear. But you will not yield. In the words of the hymn that the choir will soon sing this morning: 

Rise, ye children of salvation. All who cleave to Christ the head. Wake, arise O mighty nation, ere the foe on Zion tread. He draws nigh and would defy all the hosts of God most high. 

This is the world we find ourselves in today. The foe is eager to tread on the walls of Zion. He is ready to defy all the hosts of God. You stand in his path. You, Immanuel Lutheran Church, are the children of salvation. You stand shoulder to shoulder with all the churches of God. And you do not stand alone. 

Saints and heroes long before us firmly on this ground have stood; See their banners waving o’er us, Conqu'rors through the Savior's blood. Ground we hold, whereon of old, Fought the faithful and the bold.

This is not a new fight. This is the fight saints and heroes have fought before us. Saints like Jeremiah like Martin Luther, like Phillip Melanchthon, and all the theologians at Augsburg. See their courage. See their victory! They have conquered through the Savior’s blood! The ground we now hold is the ground they have won. They did not win it alone. You don’t hold it alone either. 

Fighting, we shall be victorious by the blood of Christ our Lord; On our foreheads, bright and glorious, Shines the witness of His Word; Spear and shield on battlefield, His great name; we cannot yield.

Your persecutors shall not overcome you. They shall stumble. They shall fall. You cannot yield the great name of Christ! For the LORD is with you as a dread warrior. Victory is a fact. Let the world come. Let them mock you, beat you, even let them kill you. They cannot overcome you. They cannot kill your soul. 

When His servants stand before Him, Each receiving his reward. When His saints in light adore Him, giving glory to the Lord; "Victory!" our song shall be, Like the thunder of the sea.

Amen