Context for Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
The Temple was the undisputable heart of Jerusalem, both physically and spiritually. Even the most ardent unbeliever in that city understood that nature. In Jeremiah’s time, however, this heart was polluted, filled with the sinfulness of idolatry that represented the truth of Judah’s relationship to their God: they had rejected Him. Because of that rejection, God proclaimed that their heart was going to be taken away.
What is the center of your city? Of your neighborhood? Of your home? What is your center? I do not necessarily mean the physical center, although the focus can be the same. By center, I mean what is the most important, defining feature of those things? Where can the people of those places most likely be found. What is the most important part?
I doubt many of us would mention a temple in the answer to those questions. In fact, I suspect that most of us would be embarrassed to answer those questions upon honest reflection. Yet, they are important questions to ask because the answers tell a lot about who we are.
The Temple of Jerusalem was its heart, the place where God chose to reveal Himself to His chosen people and to accept their devotion to Him. Unfortunately, sin corrupted that heart just as surely as it corrupts our own hearts. While the Temple remained the physical center of Jerusalem, the corruption within it became the center of the people.
This lesson brings us back to my original questions. What are our centers? If we look around us and cannot say ‘Christ our Savior and Lord’, then what can we say? This is a great question of faith, one that defines who we are, for where the heart is, there also lies faith.
