Homily for the 22nd Sunday
Cycle A – 28
August 2011
Jeremiah 20:7-9
Psalms 63:2-6, 8-9
Romans 12:1-2
Matthew 16:21-27
(The gospel is the same in all lectionaries. There are slight variations in the other readings. For this homily, I am using the Roman Catholic lectionary. )
Think about these readings. Did you hear them? WOW! But, let us concentrate today just on Jeremiah. All three readings – and the psalm – are powerful but there is so much every one of us can relate to in this first reading from Jeremiah that I think we ought to put our concentration there. Jeremiah says, “You duped me, O God, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day 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. I say to myself, I will not mention God. I will speak in God's 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.” Look at that opening line. “You duped me, O God….”
Have you ever felt duped by God? Most of us have. When we are duped by God, we have that overpowering knowledge and desire for what we know we are supposed to do. And, we don’t want to do it. We fight. We scream. We holler. We tell God we are not the right one for the job. We use every excuse imaginable. But, just like Jeremiah, we let ourselves be duped because our God is too strong for us and God wins. Look at what Jeremiah says next. He says is the object of laughter and mockery. We have all experienced this, have we not? Of course! And sometimes what we experience is a figment of our imaginations – but that does not make the laughter and mockery any less real to us, does it?
Part of this, it seems, is that when we are fighting God, we are also fighting ourselves. That is a losing battle! We cannot fight God. And we cannot fight ourselves. Of course, regardless of the battle, we are going to feel pain – real or imagined. We then do exactly what Jeremiah does. We say we will not mention God. We will ignore God. But, it does not work. Our God is a persistent lover. Our God will not be thwarted. Our God is that impervious Hound of Heaven. And God wins whether we like it or not. It seems we have several things to learn from this passage. Of course, the most obvious is that we cannot escape the absolute yearning our God has for us and, flowing from that, that our God will go to any lengths to claim us. We sometimes forget that part, do we not? We think our God does not care – but our God will do anything for us! There is another message here too. Jeremiah’s statements to God are hardly prim and pious. He is talking to God in a very frustrated way and in a way much like he would talk with a close friend with whom we disagree. (Have we not all talked with a close friend this way – or at least thought about it?) Jeremiah is telling us that it is OK – completely acceptable – to be REAL with our God. We have permission to say, “God, what the heck are you doing to me???” Read the Book of Jeremiah. He was a bold and brazen and slightly off the wall sort of man. (His antics regarding clothing leave no doubt about this!) But, he was real. He was real in his work and he was real in his dealings with his God. He did not pretend he was something he was not. He did not have to put on a show for God. And he told God what he thought. And God loved him so much that Jeremiah was able to follow his calling exactly as he was – as a real human being. This is an excellent lesson for us.
How often do we try to hide our fears and our emotions from God? How often do we think we have been duped by God but are afraid to tell God exactly what we think? Why do we not want to spill it all out to our God? Why do we not want to be like Jeremiah? Our God loves us! Our God understands us! Our God knows our frustrations! We need to talk to God as our friend and as our lover. We need to face our frustrations and our anxieties with what we have been called to do. We do not need to feign a pious front if we do not feel pious. We need to feel and be real. Our God knows we are real!!! And, in being real, we will feel the smile of our beloved – our God – and the whole concept of our having been duped will fall away. If we do this, our pattern of life will fall in perfectly with today’s passage from Romans. “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” It is in being ourselves that we are able to face our God as whole and real human beings. We will not be conforming to the age and we will thus be able to discern with a clear mind and an open heart the will of our Supreme Lover.
Roberta M Meehan, ARCWP
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
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