What Do We Take for Granted?
by Fr. David M. Knight
August 2, 2024
Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop; Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Priest
Lectionary 405
Jer 26:1-9/Mt 13:54-58 (405)
We have a saying, “No news is good news.” But for believers, any news coming from God should be seen as good news, even if it is something we don’t want to hear. First, God always tells us the truth. And beginning with any truth, God can show us a way that leads to life. But in both readings we find people rejecting truth and the prophet who speaks it. They even reject Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. This is commonplace today.
Jeremiah 26:1-9 is a call to repentance; that is, to live by God’s truth in a way that leads to life. The alternative is life distorted, diminished, destructive and eventually disastrous. The offer of an option that avoids this is good news. God says, “It may be that they will listen, and will turn from their evil way.” Then they will avert the disasters they are bringing on themselves.
But (verse 10) the very ones who should have been ministers of life led the people in a ministry of death:
The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people, “This man deserves death; he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.
It is commonplace today—perhaps in every day—for “the priests, the prophets, and all the people” to want to silence anyone who calls the Church, and especially her authorities, to reform. They accuse them of speaking “against the Church,” as they accused Jeremiah of prophesying “against this city.”
There is something in us that wants to believe we are secure within the established structures we are used to. That those who govern us are well-informed, well-balanced, well-intentioned, and sincerely concerned about our well-being. But they weren’t in Jeremiah’s time. Or in Jesus’ time, when the “chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people,” with the Pharisees, incited the crowd to clamor for Jesus’ death.
In Jeremiah’s case, the “laity” saved him:
The princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve death; it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.”
Every voice in the Church will answer either for speaking or for silence.
Matthew 13:54-58: In his home town Jesus was so well-known he was unknown. People so took him for granted as “the carpenter’s son,” that they never tried to know who he really was, and were “astounded” by his “wisdom and miraculous powers.”
We who “grew up” taking Jesus for granted as Christians might be just as astounded if we really explored his wisdom and let ourselves experience the power of his grace to transform us.
Initiative: Look twice at what you take for granted—as good or bad.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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