Where the Water Leaks: God's Presence in Our Broken World

This Fall I have been preaching a sermon series in Jeremiah, “The Weeping Prophet: God’s Heart For a Broken World.” On a recent Sunday my sermon focus was Jeremiah 2:13, “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

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Jeremiah shares a word from the Lord that the people have forsaken God, their living water. He describes the people as cutting themselves off from the Lord, therefore removing their source of life. The people have dug cisterns with their own hands, focusing on the water container, rather than the source of water. It is believed that containers in those days were made from clay, requiring plenty of maintenance to prevent cracks, much like our modern day basements, after many years exposed to the expanding the contracting of the ground to dry and wet weather. 

God’s people have endured a long “cracked” lineage of history from 1Samuel 8 to the time of Jeremiah. God’s people preferred to have an earthly king like all the other nations, rather than God be their king. Despite rejection, the Lord remained nearby waiting for the people to call out for the Lord’s help. The Lord is faithful to never leave his people, even if pushed to the fringes, keeping the everlasting covenant that was made with Father Abraham (Genesis15). 

Today the Lord remains near to us to hear us, in our cracked cistern situations, and responds to us when we call out. 

In recent weeks, many called out to the Lord on the week of September 8th. Our nation experienced the tipping point of violence around us, notably, the tragedy of school shootings of two students in Denver and of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10th. Then the horrific stabbing of Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte train. These events happened on the heels of the recent Annunciation Catholic Church and School shooting in Minneapolis, as well as other national and international scenes of sufferings of all kinds. 

On Wed, September 10th after I got home from a late afternoon baptism, I found out about Charlie Kirk’s death and the myriad of ways this tragedy affected people. I went from the beauty and power of God’s presence in baptism to searching for the Lord in the sufferings of our world. The Lord reminded me in this moment that I am called as pastor by God to offer pastoral care in all spaces wherever people find themselves in the world’s pain. No matter opinions or divisions, I mourned with those who mourned. I offered my listening ear, comforting prayers, and many hugs. Being human, immersed in its messiness and beauty, is where we interact with God.  

Jesus modeled this wideness of mercy and love to all, disregarding divisions, in his ministry among us. He healed a Roman Centurion's servant (Luke 7), healed a synagogue leader’s daughter (Mark 5:21-43), ate with tax collectors (Matthew 9:10-13), sat and talked with the woman at the well (John 4), and touched unclean people (Matthew 8:1-4). This was his calling to be our example, our living water, when the world’s pain dries us out. Jesus is the living water that fills our broken cisterns, nourishing us, then leaking beyond our cracks absorbing into parched spaces around us. 

This is humanity and God touching one another. This is what we long for.

Making all things new.