Princes, Prophets, and Priests

Jeremiah 26  So many lessons in this chapter!  It's hard to choose just one. 
Here's something I thought was interesting...and convicting.

In this chapter, Jeremiah obeys God who tells him to stand in the court of the Lord's house where he could speak to people from across Judah who came there to worship  (which at this point was mostly hypocritical rituals, not true worship).  Jeremiah told them of the coming severe judgment of God on the city if they did not listen to God, walk according to His laws, and turn from their evil ways.

Guess who gets viciously angry at Jeremiah for doing this?  It's the priests and prophets! They are the ones who call for Jeremiah's death for speaking these strong words against the city.  They were making him out to be some kind of spy or traitor!

The priests and prophets!  These were the ones who were supposed to be God's representatives to lead the people to worship and obey God!  They were supposed to have the knowledge of the laws of God and the spiritual discernment to advise the leaders and judge the people.  But it is the princes in verse 16 and following who have the insight to defend Jeremiah.  The princes had more spiritual discernment than the priests and prophets! 

Most likely, the religious leaders had purely selfish reasons for wanting to permanently shut Jeremiah up.  If Jeremiah were to convince the people that they were living in sin, they would realize that the priests had not been doing their jobs, and that the prophets were actually false prophets and worthy of death themselves!  These religious leaders were more concerned about their own welfare than about following God's laws.  They had evidently placed themselves as gods over the people.  They thought that the people of Judah should listen to them over God's own laws and words of warning.  But the response of the princes indicates that these proud priests and prophets didn't quite have the respect and authority that they thought they had.

What lessons to those in leadership in 2015!  Too often, God-called ministry leaders begin to think that they are the ones in charge rather than God.  They think that they should be respected and obeyed purely because of their titles, when they have actually allowed their pride to blind them for seeing that they have drifted away from God and lost their spiritual discernment. 

God help us as ministry leaders to remain humble and teachable as servant leaders, continuing to learn and grow in our own love for God and in our walk with Him.