When the people of Judah and Jerusalem were thinking about what they wanted from their religion they listed “instruction from the priests, counsel from the wise, messages from the prophets.” They didn’t feel Jeremiah provided those things so they would be free to get rid of him. The problem with this understanding is that it creates an image of us down here being separated from God up there. We need God to break into our world with some kind of divine instruction, counsel or message. In this vision, what we need is out there. Jeremiah offered the insight that God is not out there but right here, in the midst of the people. Jesus, of course, embodies that insight since he is Emmanuel — God-with-us.
