Lesson B 0625 Reflection

The Lesson [Thematic Reading Option]

Jeremiah 20:7-13

O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.  I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.  For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, "Violence and destruction!"  For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.  If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.  For I hear many whispering: "Terror is all around!  Denounce him!  Let us denounce him!"  All my close friends are watching for me to stumble.  "Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him." But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail.  They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed.  Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord!  For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.

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Make no mistake about the fact that these are the words of a prophet of God who would rather be anything other than God's prophet.  He is only too aware of the fact that the Word of God that he shall proclaim in obedience to God who has called him to be a prophetic voice will be rejected.  Moreover, he knows that it is not simply the message itself that shall be rejected.  There shall be no compartmentalization here.  In rejecting the message, those who hear it will also reject the prophet, and will seek to do him harm.  And yet, in spite of this awareness, the prophet speaks of how he has no choice but to be obedient to the divine calling to speak in the name of God.  It is as if the harder he tries to keep the message shut up within himself, the stronger the message burns to escape from his mouth and to be proclaimed as from God and not from any mere mortal.  But by the end of the reading, the prophet takes comfort in the fact that no matter what response may come his way, God will watch over him and give him the strength that he needs to endure and to be faithful, even if he should loose his very life.  As such, this prophet of God is a model for us on how to live and serve as the people of God, both "in season" when the things of God are accepted, and "out of season," when those who hear the good news of God will reject God and those who speak, act, and live in the name of God.

Father Tim+