Sermon "Is There No Balm?”

Sermon “Is There No Balm?”

📖 Jeremiah 8:18–9:1

📅 September 21, 2025 – Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

[Opening]

Jeremiah cries out:

“My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.

… For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”

The prophet’s lament is still our question: Is there healing for a broken land? And the answer is yes—Christ is the balm. But the people must be willing to receive the healing.

1. Tears Tell the Truth

Jeremiah doesn’t stand above his people—he weeps with them. His tears are his testimony.

Beloved, when the nation is bleeding, the pulpit can’t stand dry-eyed. When young people are gunned down in our streets, when immigrant children cry for their mothers, when families are crushed under the weight of poverty, the church must weep.

Tears are not weakness. Tears are holy protest. Tears tell the truth.

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2. America’s Wound Won’t Heal Itself

Jeremiah names Judah as a nation wounded beyond self-repair. America is in the same condition today.

We are bleeding from racism that still structures our systems.

We are bleeding from greed that puts profit over people.

We are bleeding from Christian nationalism that twists faith into an idol of power.

We are bleeding from lies that masquerade as truth.

We try to patch it with slogans, but the infection remains. A wound ignored only festers. America’s wound won’t heal itself—it needs repentance, justice, and truth.

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3. Beware of Poison Pills, Not Healing Balms

In Jeremiah’s day, false prophets offered quick cures. They said, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace. In our time, the same spirit is alive.

There are projects being pushed—like Project 2025—that claim they will restore the nation. But hear me: they are poison pills dressed up as medicine. They promise healing while stripping away the rights of women, immigrants, the poor, LGBTQ siblings, and people of color.

That is not balm—that is infection. Beware of poison pills masquerading as healing balms.

4. Christ Is the Balm That Heals

So we return to the prophet’s cry: “Is there no balm in Gilead?” And the church answers: Yes, there is!

The balm is not found in nationalism, in greed, or in political power. The balm is Christ—the one who binds up the brokenhearted, who liberates the oppressed, who makes the wounded whole.

Our ancestors believed this so deeply that they sang through slavery, through Jim Crow, through every storm:

🎶 “There is a balm in Gilead,

to make the wounded whole.

There is a balm in Gilead,

to heal the sin-sick soul.” 🎶

[Illustration Expanded: Tamika Mallory]

Let me bring this closer with the witness of Tamika Mallory. She’s a modern-day prophet, an activist, and a truth-teller. She co-chaired the Women’s March in 2017, co-founded Until Freedom, and has stood on the frontlines of gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform.

But here’s what strikes me most: Mallory has never been afraid to name America’s wounds. After George Floyd was murdered, she stood in Minneapolis and declared to the world: “America is choking on its own blood. America is on fire. And if you don’t listen to us now, we’ll burn it all down trying to be heard.”

That was not hate—that was holy lament. That was Jeremiah standing in the streets of America. That was balm applied through truth-telling.

And like Jeremiah, her tears turned into testimony. Like Jeremiah, her grief became fuel for justice. Like Jeremiah, she asks, “Is there no healing for my people?” and then lives her life as part of the answer.

Beloved, Tamika Mallory reminds us: healing won’t come through silence. Healing won’t come by pretending everything is fine. Healing requires courage, faith, and a willingness to confront the infection.

[Call to Action]

So here is the charge:

• Let your tears tell the truth.

• Remember that America’s wound won’t heal itself.

• Beware poison pills, not healing balms.

• And never forget: Christ is the balm that heals.

Like Jeremiah, weep for the people. Like Tamika Mallory, speak the truth to power. And like Christ, be the balm—carrying justice, love, and healing into a broken world.

So don’t just ask, “Is there a balm?” Be the balm.

Amen.