SPEAKER_00: There's a line in today's first reading that should give us pause.
SPEAKER_00: I like a trusting lamb led to the slaughter.
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah doesn't even realize what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: People are plotting against him.
SPEAKER_00: They they want to silence him, erase him, cut him off so that his name will be spoken no more.
SPEAKER_00: And what's his crime?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he told the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Now hold that image.
SPEAKER_00: If we go to the gospel, the crowd is divided over Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Some say, This is the prophet, others, this is the Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Others reject him right out.
SPEAKER_00: And then the authorities step in, not to seek the truth, but to control the situation.
SPEAKER_00: And the guards, this is one of the most fascinating moments, come back empty-handed and say, Never before has anyone spoken like this man.
SPEAKER_00: They were sent to arrest him, of course, but something happened.
SPEAKER_00: They encountered him, Jesus, and they couldn't move.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's an important teaching for us.
SPEAKER_00: When truth is real, it divides.
SPEAKER_00: Not because truth is violent, but because truth demands a response.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot stay neutral around it.
SPEAKER_00: You either open yourself up to it or begin to resist it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the contrast in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The guards are open.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have all the answers, but they're honest.
SPEAKER_00: Never has anyone spoken like this man.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's the beginning of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Not certainty, but openness.
SPEAKER_00: There's been a theme that has been through all of our readings this past week.
SPEAKER_00: But if, and then if you continue on, we see the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: They already know, they have categories, they have expectations, they know the scriptures, they know right, they have conclusions, and because of that, they cannot see what is right in front of them.
SPEAKER_00: They even mock the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: This crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.
SPEAKER_00: Well, be careful.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can know all the religion in the world, you know all of the law and whatever it the church is asking of you and still miss God.
SPEAKER_00: And then quietly, almost hidden in the text, you get Nicodemus.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't make a grand speech, he just says, Don't does our law condemn a man before it first hears him?
SPEAKER_00: Small, but it matters.
SPEAKER_00: It's the voice of someone beginning to move towards the light.
SPEAKER_00: This brings us back to our own lives because this is not just Jeremiah, this is not just about Jesus, it's also about us.
SPEAKER_00: There are moments when living the truth will cost you, not dramatically, but quietly.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to be misunderstood, you're going to be questioned, sometimes even opposed, because your life, if it is aligned with God, will challenge others.
SPEAKER_00: Not by what you say, but how you live.
SPEAKER_00: Again, there's that theme that we've been talking about this week.
SPEAKER_00: And there's also moments when truth comes to you, not loudly, but clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe through conversation, maybe through a confession, a conviction, a moment in prayer, a call you know you've been avoiding.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment you become one of the characters in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Which one?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the guard, open, honest, willing to be moved, the Pharisee, certain, closed, already decided, or Nicodemus, quietly stepping towards truth, even if it is, even if it cost him something.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the deeper teaching.
SPEAKER_00: The real danger is not rejecting truth outright.
SPEAKER_00: The real danger is thinking you already possess it completely.
SPEAKER_00: That's what blinds us, that's what hardens us.
SPEAKER_00: That's what keeps people from recognizing Christ when he is right there in front of their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And then we return to that image, like a lamb led to slaughter.
SPEAKER_00: That is Jeremiah, but it's also Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He knows the plot, he knows the rejection, he knows where this is going, and he does not turn away.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because truth is not just something he speaks, truth is who he is.
SPEAKER_00: So, my brothers and sisters on this Saturday, don't just admire the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Get energized, get disciplined, structure your lives, locate yourself in all of this.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you resisting?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you in a funk?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you stuck?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you being invited to listen?
SPEAKER_00: Where is God speaking to you?
SPEAKER_00: And why are you hesitating still?
SPEAKER_00: Ask for one grace, not to have all the answers, but to have the humility to recognize his voice when he speaks, and the courage to follow it.
SPEAKER_00: Because those guards were right, never has anyone spoken like this man.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, are you still listening?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.