Sunday of Week 12 of Ordinary Time (Year A)

Commentary on Jeremiah 20:10-13; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:26-33

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the Twelve:

…have no fear…

In times of uncertainty about the future it is not surprising that many show signs of fear and anxiety. The words of Jesus may sound good, but do they give any real reassurance in times of trouble?

Much of the fear and anxiety of people today is about their material security, even when times are good. Perhaps times are good now, but will they last? The Gospel is not terribly concerned with that. In the ideal Christian community, material security will not be a major problem because believers will take care of each other and share their resources with those in need. The fact that such sharing communities are not very common makes one wonder how much real Christianity in practice exists!

Reactions of hatred
The readings today are concerned with a rather different problem, namely, what happens when the living of the gospel is taken seriously. We are being reminded that to become a follower of Christ in the full sense (as opposed to just a churchgoing Catholic) and to spread his message of love, justice and peace in word and practice will be seen by some people as a real threat to be resisted.

It is quite an illusion, which we sometimes live under, to think that the perfect Christian is someone who is loved and admired by all. On the contrary, such a person is likely to be bitterly hated “for my name’s sake”.

To be a fully committed Christian involves loving others with the same love that Christ showed for us, but it is no guarantee whatsoever that we will be loved in return. We are not Christians in order to be loved and looked up to, but to proclaim by word and example the vision of a fully human life that Jesus taught us.

Sign of contradiction
This will mean quite often calling into question the less than human standards that often prevail in our societies. In doing this, the Christian is a ‘sign of contradiction’ to people whose vision of life is very different from the gospel message that we try to live out. Even presenting our case in the most loving and non-violent and non-manipulative way can be seen as a negative judgement by some and invite retaliations of hate, bitterness, violence—and sometimes death.

Examples of this abound in the history of the Church. A prominent example in the 1980s was when Archbishop Oscar Romero was gunned down in the middle of celebrating Mass by the military rulers of El Salvador. This was followed some years later by the brutal and sadistic murder of six priests dragged from their beds in the middle of the night. All that these men did was to draw attention to the many injustices being perpetrated against the poor and powerless in their society. Altogether some 75,000 people fell victims to military oppression in El Salvador alone. Sadly, in that country today, as well as in other places in the world, atrocities are still occuring.

All of these men could easily have avoided their fate if they had simply been ‘good’ churchgoing Catholics, avoided touching on political and social issues and kept their mouths shut. (Which, incidentally, is what some expected Archbishop Romero to be like. He was in fact chosen by his peers as a known conservative who would not ‘rock the boat’.)

But we do not have to go to Central America for examples. They can be found, for instance, in the history of the Church in Africa, China, Japan and Korea where thousands have given (and, in some places, continue to give) their lives for the sake of, and shed their blood in the name of, the gospel. It has been said that there have been more Christian martyrs in the most recent century than in any other since the time of Jesus.

Standing up to be counted
Today’s Gospel reminds us that we do have a responsibility to stand up and be counted. And, thank God, many are still doing so:

Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

At the same time, we are assured of God’s protection and help.

The greatest danger is not the loss of our lives, although some people will be prepared to make any compromise to survive physically. As Jesus says:

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

The greatest fear is not that we may be killed, but that we may be seduced into betraying those values on which our integrity as human persons depends.

To save our ‘bodies’ at the expense of truth, love, justice, freedom or at the expense of human solidarity—this is the real danger. That is the real death.

Prophets
Some in the Christian community are called to greater prominence in proclaiming God’s message. We call these people ‘prophets’. They are not so called because they are fortune tellers who know the future, but it is true that the genuine prophet can read more clearly ‘the signs of the times’ and anticipate trends in society. Politically, Winston Churchill was such a ‘prophet’ when, in the 1930s, he stood relatively alone on the British political scene denouncing any form of appeasement with Hitler. We know now how right he was.

The role of the prophet is well described in today’s First Reading. Jeremiah was initially not a very willing prophet. He did not think he had the qualifications, but God assured him that he was the man God wanted.

He soon found that the role of a prophet in bringing God’s message to his people did not win him many friends. He heard people say:

Denounce him! Let us denounce him!

And he complained:

All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.

People watched out for him to put a foot wrong so that he could be denounced.

This is a common reaction to prophets. It makes it easier for people not to have to listen to their message. In spite of all, however, Jeremiah knew that God and Truth were upholding him:

…the Lord is with me like a terrifying warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.

Institutional and charismatic
We see two kinds of prophets in our Church today. One group could be called ‘institutional’ and they include bishops, priests, theologians and other religious leaders, both women and men. Their main role is to help all of us to be faithful to the true spirit of Jesus’ gospel in the way we live our daily lives both individually and corporately.

The second group we can call ‘charismatic’ prophets and these are prophets in the more real sense of the word. From our own recent past we might cite the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and the already mentioned Archbishop Romero. Both these men gave their lives for what they believed. But one would also say that St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) was a prophet, not so much for what she said, but for what she did, and in particular, by drawing our attention to caring for the ‘poorest of the poor’ and finding Christ in them. Perhaps each one of us can add our own names to the list of Christian (and non-Christian) prophets in the world today and in our own communities. Who are the real prophets in our country, in our society, in our community today?

All called to be prophets
Prophecy is seen in the New Testament as a very special gift of the Spirit and, in its full sense, is a special vocation. However, some form of prophecy is incumbent on all of us. Each baptised person is called on to give witness to Christ in his or her life situation. Each one of us is called on to give witness to the values of the gospel both by word and example and that may mean, at times, being a ‘sign of contradiction’ in our families, in our schools, in our working places and in the wider society.

If we find that we are not known to be Christian, or that being a Christian seems to be no different from anyone else, if we find that our Christian communities and our parishes leave no mark on their surrounding society, then we need to ask ourselves seriously what kind of Christian lives we are leading and what kind of witness to the gospel we are giving.

It is not enough simply to be assembling together once a week. Our lives—individually and together—need to witness visibly to justice, equal dignity of all, honesty, a spirit of service, sharing resources and defending the weak and marginalised.

To be a living witness to Christ may generate some hostility among people we know. For instance, it may happen when we insist on being honest, rather than ‘on the make’, serving rather than manipulating people for our own ends, being friendly and fair to all and not just to ‘one’s own’ and standing up for immigrants and strangers in our community. It is better to be right with Christ than wrong with the crowd. To be a living witness, one needs confidence in Christ and in oneself, and a conviction that the only way that benefits all is the Way of Jesus.

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Friday of Week 5 of Lent – First Reading

Commentary on Jeremiah 20:10-13

Jeremiah the prophet, God’s spokesman, is attacked and denounced on all sides by his own people.

“Terror on every side!” is the mocking call of Jeremiah’s critics, satirising his constantly gloomy predictions. “Let us denounce him!”—in the way that he constantly denounces the behaviour of others.

Even his friends abandon him.

All my close friends
are watching for me to stumble.

They are waiting for him to make some fatal mistake:

Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him
and take our revenge on him.

Jesus was treated in exactly the same way by Pharisees and scribes constantly trying to catch him out in violation of the Law. They ‘plant’ a disabled man in a synagogue on a Sabbath day to see if he will heal him. They ask him if it is right or not to give taxes to Caesar—where either a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer would be equally incriminating.

But Jeremiah has confidence in his God and his attackers will not prevail:

But the Lord is with me…my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.

For his God is a God of justice and truth, a God who is on the side of the needy:

Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hands of evildoers.

The needy one, ebion, or the poor, anaw, is used in a religious sense: ill-treated by people, but confident in God, looking to Yahweh for support. By Jeremiah’s time, the term ‘poor’ and ‘needy’ had become virtually synonymous with ‘righteous’, someone whose total trust and dependence is on God.

Ultimately, Jeremiah knows, truth and justice will prevail no matter what some people try to do. It is a belief that we need to remember ourselves. It is a belief we see realised in Jesus. They could kill his body, but not his Spirit.

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