Prophets, in Jeremiah’s time and in ours, who have nothing else to say but “peace my friends, all is well with us” may be doing nothing but reinforcing the desire for the status quo. Because many in the community are enjoying the good things in life, we hear what we want to hear. So, we respond, “Don’t change anything. We’re doing fine just the way it is.” Therein is the danger. Such complacency ignores the obvious ills and sickness of our larger society. The point in Jeremiah is that prophets do bring good news when they proclaim a time for change from that complacency, when they bring the good news of God’s favor to those who are the poor, the downtrodden, those who think all is lost.
But that voice usually turns out to be the minority voice. That whisper of a voice that calls us all to account and judgment. That voice is a counter point against the norms and criteria of the community with a status quo attitude. And it’s calling for justice and righteousness, to do no wrong or violence to the stranger, the orphan or widow, to respect the dignity of every human being; words often not welcome to our ears, much less to our hearts and minds. Yet this is exactly what we commit ourselves to in our Baptismal promises
We hear the psalmist’s cries to God: “Arise O God, and rule the earth. Rescue the weak and the poor; defend the humble and the needy.”
God’s Word illuminates. It also consumes like fire. God’s word can shatter what it addresses.
“Am I a God when near and not a God when far away? Can anyone hide somewhere secret without my seeing him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? Is my word not like fire; is it not like a hammer shattering a rock?
So much so that, prophets who proclaim change for the sake of justice and God’s kingdom, as Jesus reminds us, are killed and their words rejected. The example in our own time is the life and death of that latter day prophet, Martin Luther king. His proclamation for justice and dignity brought division, violence and death in our own lifetime here in our own country.
As Jesus leads his disciples toward Jerusalem, with somber warnings, Jesus tells them, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth. Do you think I came to give peace in the earth? Not that, I tell you, but division.”
In the beginning, Jesus’ disciples were amazed at his teachings, full of joy, celebrating the Good News that the kingdom of God is at hand. But they became fearful because Jesus was overturning all that they had been taught. And, they became transformed into new persons just as we are in our Baptism. For the disciples then, and us as believers now, transformation means change and division: a separation from the old ways, the old attitudes, from injustice. We have the same free gift of faith as they did. We have the same hope of resurrection. We continue the work of Jesus in our own life and times.
And as a resurrection people, the Body of Christ, the gathering of believers, we are called to justice and righteousness. We are called to do no wrong or violence, to respect the dignity of every human being, but even more, to help the stranger, the orphan and the widow, the oppressed, the hungry, and the vulnerable among us.
In other words, to become more and more like Jesus.
But that voice usually turns out to be the minority voice. That whisper of a voice that calls us all to account and judgment. That voice is a counter point against the norms and criteria of the community with a status quo attitude. And it’s calling for justice and righteousness, to do no wrong or violence to the stranger, the orphan or widow, to respect the dignity of every human being; words often not welcome to our ears, much less to our hearts and minds. Yet this is exactly what we commit ourselves to in our Baptismal promises
We hear the psalmist’s cries to God: “Arise O God, and rule the earth. Rescue the weak and the poor; defend the humble and the needy.”
God’s Word illuminates. It also consumes like fire. God’s word can shatter what it addresses.
“Am I a God when near and not a God when far away? Can anyone hide somewhere secret without my seeing him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? Is my word not like fire; is it not like a hammer shattering a rock?
So much so that, prophets who proclaim change for the sake of justice and God’s kingdom, as Jesus reminds us, are killed and their words rejected. The example in our own time is the life and death of that latter day prophet, Martin Luther king. His proclamation for justice and dignity brought division, violence and death in our own lifetime here in our own country.
As Jesus leads his disciples toward Jerusalem, with somber warnings, Jesus tells them, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth. Do you think I came to give peace in the earth? Not that, I tell you, but division.”
In the beginning, Jesus’ disciples were amazed at his teachings, full of joy, celebrating the Good News that the kingdom of God is at hand. But they became fearful because Jesus was overturning all that they had been taught. And, they became transformed into new persons just as we are in our Baptism. For the disciples then, and us as believers now, transformation means change and division: a separation from the old ways, the old attitudes, from injustice. We have the same free gift of faith as they did. We have the same hope of resurrection. We continue the work of Jesus in our own life and times.
And as a resurrection people, the Body of Christ, the gathering of believers, we are called to justice and righteousness. We are called to do no wrong or violence, to respect the dignity of every human being, but even more, to help the stranger, the orphan and the widow, the oppressed, the hungry, and the vulnerable among us.
In other words, to become more and more like Jesus.
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