Jeremiah 8-9

“They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace” (8:11). Jeremiah mourned that Israel’s leaders celebrated having “the law of the Lord,” but they “handled it falsely” (8:8). God’s people prided themselves on being different, but they were “uncircumcised in heart” just like their pagan neighbors (9:26). Jeremiah saw the coming dire consequences: “Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses” (9:21).

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician here?” (8:22). When we stop trying to hide our wounds, healing and help is available to all of us. Jesus came “not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mt 9:11-13).