Twelfth Sunday Ordinary

Twelfth Sunday Ordinary
June 19, 2005

"O LORD of hosts, you who test the just, who probe mind and heart,let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause." (Jeremiah 20:10-13) "And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna". (Matthew 10:26-33)

The prophet cries out in anger and terror about what his enemies are plotting against him. This may seem like unfounded fear of persecution until we remember that Jeremiah was actually treated very badly. His prayer that his enemies be crushed and humiliated, and his delight that God has vindicated him by doing so, though not difficult to understand, are foreign to our way of thinking. This is precisely the kind of belief that fuels terrorism and warfare from many quarters. Yahweh does not necessarily have to punish our enemies to prove that our faith is authentic.

Jesus, instructing his new disciples, tells them not to be afraid of what people might say or do against them. His words strike a different chord than Jeremiah's. Gehenna, a mostly uninhabited wilderness, represents an alien and a lifeless place. If we get too literal about it we may miss the point. What we are truly to fear is anything which has the power to annihilate and exile the whole person, body and soul.

Jesus says that we should not be afraid and then almost immediately tells us what we should be afraid of. No one lives entirely free of fear. But we often fear the wrong things: not having enough wealth, beauty, youth, health or whatever else we think we must have to survive. Nevertheless it has often been pointed out that only fools are fearless. The courageous are able to move ahead in spite of their fears. There are some things we would do well to be afraid of. These include people who, in spite of our best efforts, wear away our ability to respect and cherish ourselves, and thus undermine our ability to trust God. It is easy to give them too much power out of a misguided loyalty. Some people we can only love from a distance.

God rescues even the embittered Jeremiah from his anger and paranoia. The Most High pays attention to even the fate of a dying bird, how much more to each one of us. I am reminded of this each time I wonder if this will be the last week that I will be able to write these reflections, and then given a way to do it one more time. Here is an idea of enormous importance, that the creator and sustainer of an enormous universe can be paying attention to the smallest detail of our ultimate well-being.