22 Sunday in

nd

Ordinary Time
Jer. 20: 7-9
Cycle A Rom. 12: 1-2 3 September 2017
Mt. 16: 21-27
 Let us focus our INTRODUCTION:
reflection for today on
the Prophet Jeremiah
before we listen to what
he says in the first
reading.
1
Jeremiah is a very
interesting figure not
only as a literary man but
also as a person. Of all
the prophets, he comes
vividly alive as a complex
person, sometimes sure
of himself, at times
anxious.
1
A very moving incident of
his life is his prophetic call.
Right away he resists:

"Oh Lord, not me!

I'm too young."
1
Scholars say he was
only 17 when he was
first called. Like
Jonas, he tried to run
away from his
prophetic call.
1
God gave him a terrible
message to convey to his
people. Because of their
infidelity, God will
punish them through
Babylon.
1

When the invading Babylon

was near, he told the people
just to surrender rather than
fight. Not a bit of his
audience received his
message because it was
negative, defeatist, a downer.
1 and his nickname
He was known as "Terror in
a "weeping every side"
because that is what
Prophet"
he talks every time.
1 To this day a man like him is
called a Jeremiah.

He was mocked and exiled and most likely murdered

while in exile. In the meantime, all his predictions
came true.
2 Against this background, let us listen to him:

"You duped me, O Lord,

and I let myself be duped;"
I have been tricked into
this! "You were too strong
for me, and you
triumphed."
2
Jeremiah sounds
like a frustrated
spouse. I had the
sense to resist you
but you were too
strong for me.
2 Result? "All day long I am an
object of laughter; everyone
mocks me. Whenever I speak,
I must cry out violence and
outrage is my message. The
word of the Lord has brought
me derision and reproach all
the day." (v. 7-8)
2
I want everyone listening now to
move to this Jeremiah space.

Anyone who authentically

speaks the word of God in our
culture today and even the
behavioral implications of
God's word is to expect pretty
much what Jeremiah got.
2
(The preacher gives his own
experience at this point when
he speaks about human dignity
of a child of God or about
abortion or about gays, etc.)
This is the lot of preachers
and prophets! Do we give
up? No! Listen to
Jeremiah's ending words!
3
"I say to myself I will not
mention him. I will speak in
his name no more. But then it
becomes like fire burning in
my heart, imprisoned in my
bones. I grow weary holding it
in. I cannot endure it." (v. 9)
3 Once we have heard God's word,
we can't un-hear it; we can't stop
ringing the bell; we can't pretend not to
know, even when it makes us
unpopular, even when it comes as a
burden in our lives, even when it
makes us lose our friends.
3
There is nothing more
exciting and more
fulfilling than preaching
God's Word in our
world!
 CONCLUSION:

Jeremiah's message is
the same as what Paul
said: "Woe to me if I do
not evangelize."
(I Cor. 9:16)

+ART
 CONCLUSION:
The vocation of a prophet is never
and will never be an easy one but it
will be there inside. That is the
exultant call of being a
prophet.

+ART