12th Sunday 2023
Jeremiah 20:10-12; Psalm 68 (69); Romans 5: 12-15; Matt 10:26-33
I have two homilies to write in preparation for this Sunday. As well as words for the regular Sunday congregation, I have been asked to preach at a Silver Jubilee of priestly ordination.
If I were to be asked about that second homily, I suspect that I would reply in the words of the Irishman who was asked for directions to Dublin: “Well, I wouldn’t start from here”. Today’s readings, as you may have discerned, are not calculated to have us leaping for joy: they are not, at first sight, what you might call celebratory.
“I hear so many disparaging me, ‘Terror from every side’”, exclaims Jeremiah. “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”, not words designed to instil confidence in the priest, especially as he has been only a few months in his present parishes. As the reading continues, Jeremiah informs us that even his friends are seeking to entrap him.
The Psalmist too is shouting “Woe!”. The entire first stanza of the psalm is a single cry of lamentation:
“It is for you that I suffer taunts, that shame covers my face,
That I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house, and taunts against you fall on me.”
St Paul reminds us that “death has spread through the whole human race, since everyone has sinned”. Even Our Lord feels impelled to tell us three times not to be afraid. At first hearing, there is very little in today’s Liturgy of the Word to encourage us to be positive, to put us in celebratory mood.
And yet….if we ponder the readings more closely, we can detect green shoots, rays of light amid the gloom, notes of positivity which we can take to ourselves as we seek to live the Christian life in what can seem a hostile world.
Turning again to Jeremiah, we can see that his early depression is overwhelmed by confidence in God, to the extent that he ends by inviting us to sing. Having pondered the hostility, Jeremiah dismisses it, regarding it as small potatoes in comparison with the support and the power of God.
“But the Lord is at my side, a mighty hero” he declares, and his expression of trust in God goes on to be longer and more definite than his description of his woes. You and I live in a society which is sometimes hostile to Christian faith and values, but more often indifferent to them—and indifference can be more difficult to combat than hostility; it is like trying to cut fog. “Never mind” says Jeremiah, in effect. “The Lord is at YOUR side, a mighty hero. Trust in Him and He will fettle things: indeed, He has already done so. Therefore, don’t let ‘em grind you down. You are fully entitled to sing and praise the Lord.”
Likewise the psalm, which begins as a lament, becomes by stages a confident prayer, and then a hymn of praise. It puts me in mind of Jesus’ words quoted in St. John’s Gospel: “In the world you will have trouble, but be brave—I have conquered the world”.
Even St. Paul, having commented on the ubiquity of sin and death, proceeds to assert that this is outweighed by the grace brought by and through Jesus Christ, while Our Lord Himself encourages us with the information that every hair on our head has been counted. For gentlemen of a certain age, this may be less consoling than it used to be, as hair grows less abundantly, but Jesus’ call to confidence in God is plain. There is challenge, certainly, but every assurance that this challenge has already been met, and overcome, by Jesus Himself, who will bring us through the challenges that we meet.
Are these readings positive enough for a Silver Jubilee? Perhaps I wouldn’t have started from here, but there is a fair chance of getting to Dublin.
