Wednesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Jeremiah 1: 1;4-10)
No personage of the Old Testament reveals more of himself than the prophet Jeremiah. In the reading today we hear how he reluctantly answers the call to speak in God’s name. In the famous autobiographical passages of the Book of Jeremiah he will lament this vocation because it costs him peace of mind. God tells him, for example, that he cannot marry as a sign of the barrenness that the sins of the people have wrought. However, Jeremiah admits that he cannot do otherwise than speak on behalf of the Lord because God’s name burns within his heart.
Like all the prophets Jeremiah’s role is not primarily to predict the future. Rather, for the most part he is points out how the people swerve from the path of righteousness. Their wandering always leads them to idols, be they craven images or illusory values like excessive consumption of material goods. In our time prophets like Mother Teresa have spoken out regarding radical individualism that leads people from solidarity with the suffering to lives of lustful sterility.
Although prophets are famous for indicating the impending wrath of God, they also convey God’s tender love. In a passage of Jeremiah that has been called “the Gospel before the Gospel” the prophet predicts a new covenant which will be written not in stone but on the hearts of the people so that it may be readily obeyed. He says that when this happens, the Lord will be the only God of the people and they will truly be His people. Of course, we see this prophesy fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As Paul tells the Romans, Christ’s death has led to “the love of God (being) been poured into our hearts though the holy Spirit.”
No comments:
Post a Comment