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Prophets did not always bring good news. The role of a prophet was to tell God’s truth. We don’t always want to hear the truth. Jeremiah was trying to tell the people of Judah that they were on a collision course with destruction. No one wanted to listen and Babylon soon overtook Judah and sent the citizens into exile. We don’t like prophets either. We don’t like it when we are warned that we need to change our behavior or we will run into a problem. Now, that can be as simple as letting the gas in your car get down to the warning light believing that you will always be able to find a gas station before you run out and then you get stuck because of an accident and you run out of gas on the highway. Don’t you just hate those people who were always warning you not to do that! It can be as serious as the world’s refusal to believe that over use of fossil fuels and the decimation of the world’s rain forests will result in weather changes we won’t like. But, these last few years have brought problems we now have to find ways to either fix or better prepare to survive. We are often no different from the people of Judah. We don’t want to think about what can happen when we disregard the teachings of Christ. It’s too late for us to join the group that wanted to kill Jeremiah, but we still might not want to listen to him. Let us use this time to remember the warnings of Jeremiah and also those of Jesus and work at following God’s will.Prayer: Loving God, you have sent prophets to your people from the beginning and we have often not listened to your message. Keep our hearts open to your teachings. Amen.