20th Sunday C

20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C

Readings: Jeremiah 38:4‑6,8‑10  Hebrews 12:1‑4  Luke 12:49‑53

            Every four years the Olympic Games captivate us with stories of athletes who have disciplined and trained themselves for years in order to win medals in competition with the best in the world.   In today's readings Jeremiah and Jesus give us inspiring examples of unwavering and passionate commitment to God's word, even to the point of death.  Only those who trust God in faith will be able to follow their heroic example.  Let each of us pray in the words of this Sunday's psalm: “Lord, come to my aid!/ Though I am afflicted and poor,/ yet the Lord thinks of me. You are my help and my deliverer;/ O my God, hold not back!”  Ps 40:18

            In his call to be a prophet (Jeremiah 1), Jeremiah learned that he would have to stand like "a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land."  His beloved land of Judah would have to die before it could live again.  Therefore, Jeremiah was summoned to speak God's word which would first "root up and tear down . . . destroy and demolish" and only then "build and plant" a purified nation.  

            In today's reading we hear an example of how Jeremiah lived out his call even to the point of death, only to be rescued by the courageous action of Ebed‑melech, a Cushite courtier in the king's palace.  Jerusalem is under siege from the Babylonian armies, and Jeremiah is imprisoned in quarters of the guard for his preaching.  While there, he has counseled the Judean soldiers to cease defending the doomed city and to desert to Babylonians in order to save their lives (Jer 34:2‑3).  Understandably, the princes view Jeremiah's words as treason and report to king Zedekiah, “Jeremiah ought to be put to death; he demoralizes the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people by speaking such things to them; he is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin.”   Ironically, the prophet is deeply concerned with the spiritual welfare of the nation, and his advice to desert will guarantee that some will survive the destruction of the city.  Jeremiah's seemingly unpatriotic advice earns him what amounts to a death sentence.  Zedekiah allows the princes to throw him in a muddy cistern where he would surely die of starvation.  But God's plans for Jeremiah are not finished. He is rescued by Ebed‑melech and will go on to survive the destruction of the city and preach of the Lord's restoration of Judah and Jerusalem after a long exile (see Jeremiah 30‑33). 

            The Hebrews reading continues the theme of suffering for the sake of God's word by using the metaphor of an athletic contest, like the ancient Olympics, to exhort us to follow Jesus "who inspires and perfects our faith."  Last week's reading from Hebrews 11 presented "a cloud of witnesses" from the Old Testament who lived lives of faith in patient endurance.  Now they stand on the sidelines cheering us on as we "lay aside every encumbrance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race which lies ahead."  To succeed in this race, we must "keep our eyes fixed on Jesus," who "for the sake of the joy which lay before him . . . endured the cross, heedless of its shame."   The fact that he, like Jeremiah, "endured the opposition of sinners" and still triumphed at "the throne of God" should encourage us not to "grow despondent or abandon the struggle."

The passionate intensity of Jesus' words to his disciples in the Gospel makes sense only when we realize the he is on his way to Jerusalem where he is destined to "suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised" (Lk 9:22; see also 9:44; 13:31‑33).  In the context of warning the  disciples about their need to be vigilant and faithful servants once he has departed (recall last week's gospel), Jesus speaks in anguish about his own approaching fate as a "baptism" of  fire which he wishes were already set ablaze.   When Jesus was first presented in the Temple as a child, Simeon had prophesied about him to his mother Mary: "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted . . . so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk 2:33‑34).  Now Jesus himself tells the disciples that his mission is not one of peace based on complacency but division which will sort out those who are willing to accept God's will from those who would compromise it.  "Do you think I have come to establish peace   on the earth?  I assure you the contrary is true; I have come for division!"  (Lk 12:51).  May we too have a uncompromising commitment to the will of the Father.