Word to the Wise
Thursday, July 24, 2008 - Thursday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
[Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 and Matthew 13:10-17]This word of the Lord came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, following me in the desert, in a land unsown.....
The Book of Jeremiah is like a patchwork quilt that sat on the quilting frame for many generations! The top of the quilt is made up of different kinds of pieces, some of which Jermiah himself may have cut out, others cut by people who were creating a portrait of Jeremiah, still others who thought a piece simply reminded them of Jeremiah, and so forth.....Eventually some editor(s) sewed it all together on its foundation and passed it on to history and devotion. But, like all good quilts, it is a personal piece and a good reminder of many things.. Overall, the original intended audience seems to have been the Israelites who were exiled in Babylon. The image in today's patch is about the spousal relationship between Israel and God that was violated by Israel's infidelity and resulted in disaster. Thus the children of the broken relationship are in exile and Jeremiah is sending a message of hopeful repentance. But we don't see that message today. We see the account of the infidelity, a painful reminder. Unlike our own generation, such infidelity is not something that one can say to God, "Hey look, this kind of thing happens! Get over it!" On the contrary, God remains faithful, Israel and our own generation are the ones who have to "get over it." We have to "get over" our shameful treatment of all God's children - from womb to tomb! We have to "get over" our notion that we run the planet. We have to "get over" our notion that money, power, sex and possessions are worthy of our adoration and efforts. As long as we entertain those notions we are in exile and need to be reminded of what might be so that we can "get over" our belief that our infidelity is just "one of those things that happens." We are responsible and Jeremiah is God's way of reminding us! AMEN