Which Prophet Did You Hear About This Sunday, Nathan or Jeremiah?

This Sunday's Old Testament readings present rectors with two options. They can either let their sheep hear 2 Samuel 7:1-14a or Jeremiah 23:1-6. I suspect that revisionists will shy away from Jeremiah and opt for the reading from 2 Samuel in which Nathan tells David, "Thus says the Lord". Let's look at both readings and consider what might be going on in worship leaders' minds as they decide which reading to choose.

First, read 2 Samuel 7:1-14

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.’

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders* of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings.

Nathan tells David that the Lord says that David's son will be the one to build a permanent house for the Lord, squashing David's plans. Not much here for a revisionist to worry about. I suppose one could stretch a point and try to say that kings always want to leave their legacy in great building projects, but prophets will stand up to those kings and tell them they are wrong. Today, the prophets are telling President Trump that it is wrong and inhumane to build a border wall, and those prophetic voices are, you guessed it, progressive Episcopal priests and bishops.

If that doesn't sound like good sermon material, the other option is Jeremiah 23:1-6,

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. 

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Okay, as I wrote two years ago,

 "The really bad shepherd of today will scrupulously avoid discussing Jeremiah, knowing that the words of the prophet of Israel are aimed right at the pulpit in which they are standing.
The average bad shepherd of today, believing that their progressive gospel is the right one, will be totally unaware of the fact that it is that very same false gospel that has driven God's flock away, and that is why they are staring at so many empty chairs today.
The slightly bad shepherd will shy away from Jeremiah perhaps by saying that the prophets words were aimed at the priests of ancient Israel and leave it there."

On second thought, I think a progressive Episcopal priest would believe that Jeremiah is warning people from following other Anglican leaders out of the Episcopal sect, and a true progressive would have no trouble with this Old Testament option.

I pray that the false teachers among us will come to the realization that there are some criminal acts, such as driving away God's flock, which put them in jeopardy of God's punishment, and that they repent before they wind up like the less fortunate criminal who derided our Lord as he hung beside Jesus.