Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet.” He preached for forty years without seeing any apparent fruit for his labors and sufferings among God’s people. They did not listen to his warnings, and they actively persecuted him. Someone has said, “If you want joy, serve sinners; if you want sorrow, serve the saints.” This may be hyperbole, but there is more than just an element of truth in it. Jeremiah’s heart for God’s people and his sorrow are summed up in his words, “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jer. 9:1).

In some ways, Jeremiah’s ministry reflects that of Christ. When the Lord Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” one of the answers was that He was “Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Mt. 16:13–14). Jeremiah stands out here because the people saw in him a similarity to Christ. On many occasions in the Gospels, we see the sympathy, compassion, and tears of the Lord Jesus for the nation. Truly, He was the Man of Sorrows. Like Jeremiah, the people rejected Him, despised Him, and hid their faces from Him (Isa. 53:3).

However, there are striking differences between Jeremiah and Christ. They threw Jeremiah down into the “mire” of a dungeon (Jer. 38:6), but they crucified the Lord of glory. Jeremiah was persecuted by a sinful disobedient people, but Christ bore the sins of that people. Jeremiah prayed to God, “Remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.” He asked for vengeance. The Lord Jesus, however, died for His enemies (Rom. 5:10). He asks them to participate in a holy meal, and to do so “in remembrance of Me.”