The people of Jerusalem were telling the prophet Jeremiah “stay in your lane.” All they wanted was instruction, counsel, a message. They did not want to be challenged, to be called to conversion, to be asked to change. The same tendency exists today. We want our preachers to offer us consolation, to comfort us. But at times the role of the preacher is to “afflict the comfortable.” Jeremiah wanted his people to understand that unless they changed disaster was inevitable. In our time we must be open to hearing an uncomfortable word as well — a word that calls us out of our accustomed way of acting and propels us into God’s future. As Jesus impressed upon the apostles, sometimes the plan of God involves sacrifice.
