The Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Dear brothers and sisters,
The words of the prophet Jeremiah which we heard a moment ago may seem strange to us. Why does he feel duped and fooled by the Lord (cf. Jeremiah 20:7)? Why does he now refuse to speak the name of the Lord when he had spoken it so often before (cf. Jeremiah 20:9)? To understand his present situation, we have to situate Jeremiah within the history of Judah.
Oftentimes called the weeping prophet, Jeremiah lived about six centuries before Christ during the time just before and after the conquest and destruction of the two southern tribes in Judah by the Babylonian Empire; the ten northern tribes were wiped out two centuries earlier by the Assyrian Empire. The enemies of Judah destroyed Jerusalem and its great temple in 587 b.c.
About forty years earlier, the Lord God made Jeremiah a prophet about the year 626 b.c. for one purpose: to foretell the coming doom that would befall his people because of their sinfulness. Jeremiah was commanded to proclaim these words to the people:
Beseigers are coming from the distant land, shouting their war cry against the cities of Judah. Like watchers in the field they surround her, for she has rebelled against me… Your conduct, your deeds have done this to you; how bitter is this evil of yours, how it reaches to your very heart (Jeremiah 4:16-18)!
Yet even as Jeremiah spoke these words of doom, he also spoke a word of salvation: “Return, rebellious children! I will heal your rebellions” (Jeremiah 3:22).
But the people would not listen to the Lord’s promise given through Jeremiah. Instead, they tried to kill him because his words were unpleasant (cf. Jeremiah 18:18). After much hardship prophesying great gloom upon the people, Jeremiah complained to the Lord: “Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak on your behalf, to turn your wrath away from them (Jeremiah 18:20). Frustrated with the unrepentance of the people, Jeremiah himself calls for their destruction: “Do not forgive their crime, and their sin do not blot out from your sight! Let them stumble before you, in the time of your anger act against them” (Jeremiah 18:23). Have we not all felt something similar? All of his words and deeds have failed to bring about their desired result and now Jeremiah is exasperated and will prophesy no more. Or so he thinks.
Here, then, we arrive at the passage proclaimed for us, wherein he says, “I say to myself, I will not mention him [the Lord God], I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it” (Jeremiah 20:9). Jeremiah continues to speak harsh words in the name of the Lord; he can do no other, even though the people continue to ignore him. Perhaps foreshadowing the words of Saint Paul, Jeremiah offered himself “as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” because he refused to conform himself to the society around him (Romans 12:1; cf. 12:2).
Jeremiah’s life and preaching is a warning that a willful rejection of God and an intentional worshiping of anything other God will have dire consequences, unless wandering hearts repent and return to the Lord. How will are we to proclaim this message today? It is no great secret that so much of our society has turned its back on God. Does the name of the Lord burn within our hearts like a fire to call men and women to look to the Lord for salvation? Or are we content to turn our eyes away from sin, thinking it will be easier for us if we simply do not stir up any trouble? Such a mindset is not the one Jesus wishes us to have.
It pertains to each one of us, by reason of our baptism into Christ, to live as priests, prophets, and kings. Sharing in the common priesthood of the faithful, we give worship to God in our daily prayers and the sufferings we join to the Cross of Christ. Sharing in the kingly role of Christ, we strive to govern the portion of the world entrusted to us with gentleness, justice, and mercy. Sharing in the prophetic role of the disciple, we ought to speak in the name of God pointing out his presence in the world and calling people to repentance.
This baptismal calling, of course, is not always easy to live out, as it can sometimes make us many enemies. But what others do with the message of the Gospel is not our responsibility, but theirs; it remains for us to proclaim the message of salvation “whether convenient or inconvenient” (II Timothy 4:2). We must remember that “the Christian still has to work, with mind as well as body, to suffer, hope, and die; but he may now perceive that all his bents and faculties have a purpose, which can be redeemed.”[1] The purpose of all of our bents and faculties, the meaning that must undergird each of our daily activities, is the sanctification of the world, to help everyone realize their souls are thirsting for God (cf. Psalm 63:2).
Some will welcome this message and others will reject it. None of us likes to have our words spurned, but such may be the cost of discipleship. The praise of others cannot be our concern, only the praise of him who commands us: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). When we live the faith in this way, strange as it may seem, we discover that “At the heart of Christianity is this surprising news: when you lose your life, when you offer it generously, when you risk your life by dedicating it to love, it comes back to you abundantly, and a joy that does not pass away is poured out in you” (cf. Matthew 16:25).[2]
If we wish to discover this joy and receive this abundance of life, we must be Christians not simply in our thoughts, but in our words and deeds, as well, at every moment and in every place; no matter the cost, we must always make his name known without fear of being laughed at or the object of mockery, saying with every fiber of our lives, “May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of your hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to our call” (cf. Ephesians 1:17-18). Amen.
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