Word to the Wise
Saturday, July 28, 2018 - Saturday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 7:1-11 and Matt 13:24-30]"Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worshi the Lord! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place. Put not your trust in the deceitful words: 'This is the temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord! The temple of the Lord!' Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm, will I remain with you in this place, in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever." [Jeremiah]
Jeremiah's words today are a classic example of the role of the prophet. They would prove to be true, but at the time, the people of Jerusalem rejected them. The temple was their guarantee that Jerusalem and their kingdom would last forever. The temple was the dwelling place of God, after all! Jeremiah warns them (and us) that a temple guarantees nothing. Only justice and care for the most vulnerable of the land will guarantee God's presence. Blind eyes and deaf ears greeted Jeremiah's proclamations. He was later thrown in a cistern and would have been left there had there not been at least one believer with some influence to pull him out. The rulers and the people disregarded him or were too afraid to act as he said and their temple and city were destroyed by the Babylonians.
"Exceptionalism" - the belief that a nation or people are especially chosen by God or by history - is a dangerous thing. It can lead to overconfidence in one's own power and arrogance toward anything that criticizes the injustices that are committed in the name of that exceptionalism. We in America are prone to think this way at times. The lessons of other ancient civilizations: Babylon, Rome, Greece, Egypt, Aztec, Inca, etc. can be lost on us. Prophetic figures are ignored or destroyed and the words of scriptures are dismissed as applying only in their own day and not ours. We Catholics can be prone to think this way as well. Our magnificent traditions and historic buildings can lead to overconfidence. Jesus' own words about caring for the hungry, thirsty, naked, ailing and the stranger are replaced with political slogans! The last three popes in our church have pointed out the importance of Jesus' words and their implications for some of our treasured attitudes of invincibility. They and other prophets are warning us. Will they join Jeremiah in the cistern? We have Jeremiah's words today to remind us of what is important. I hope we are listening. AMEN