The Presentation of the Lord
My dear parishioners,
God is Good!!! All the time!!! And all the time!!! God is Good!!!
Jeremiah was privileged to receive a call from God decades before the fall of Jerusalem. Had king and people heeded the prophet’s message, they would have known blessings rather than the collapse of the kingdom and the exile to Babylon.
God knew Jeremiah even before he was formed in the womb. This opening statement from God anticipates a major theme within the book. Like a potter working with clay, God knew the prophet before the divine hands fashioned him in the world. In a similar way, God already knows the people of Israel and seeks to shape them into the beautiful nation they are supposed to be. Of course, if the clay does not respond to the hands of the potter, the potter must tear down the clay and begin all over again. In a similar way, if the people refuse to be shaped by the words of the prophet, God will tear them down and reshape them. Unfortunately, this is precisely what will happen soon.
God is clear about the challenges Jeremiah will have to face in God’s service. God encourages the prophet to stand up to them and not be dispirited by them. With divine protection, the prophet will be able to withstand any attack, like a wall of the strongest metal. It comes as some surprise that the attack comes, not from an outside enemy, but from Jeremiah’s own people. So confident are they in their own schemes for security that they ignore the words of the prophet. Yet, Jeremiah offers them the only lasting and true security. As God’s people, they must place themselves in God’s hands to be truly safe from harm.
Jesus has proclaimed to the people of his hometown of Nazareth that he is the fulfillment of the messianic passage from Is 61. At first, the implication of what Jesus said does not register with the people. When it finally dawns on them what he has proclaimed, they are shocked. How can he be the Messiah? He is a local boy, the son of Joseph.
Jesus is prepared for a negative reaction from his hometown. He knows that they are upset that he has been preaching and healing in Capernaum and has not done such in Nazareth, his hometown. How can he spend all his time healing gentiles while there are many Jews of his own home town in need of healing? Jesus quotes an ancient proverb that says no prophet is accepted in his own native place. No doubt, this only served to increase the peoples’ anger directed at him.
Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Aloysius