SEDUCED BY GOD AND SUBMISSIVE TO HIS WILL

Today's liturgy shows how the prophet Jeremiah was seduced by God into a relationship with Him, and how he submitted himself to God's will. Christ in the Gospel calls us to reflect on the cost of responding to this seductive nature of God as we respond to His will.

In the first reading, Jeremiah seems to be saying that he has understood his relationship with God as related to a marriage bond, but now claims he has been deceived and enticed by God, just as some persons will claim that their spouse enticed them with certain things into marriage.  

Without doubt, at the beginning, Jeremiah never wanted this relationship with God; even when he was called, he resisted the call of God by giving some excuses, saying “…I do not know how to speak, for I am only a little boy, but the Lord commissioned him to speak whatever He commands…” (Jer. 1:4-10). Importantly, Jeremiah submitted himself to the will of God, despite the fact that it did not please him, and that is why, most often, we see Jeremiah as an outspoken prophet. 

Outwardly, he was a firm, unyielding prophet of the Lord, conveying faithfully the divine will to his people. But when alone with God, he expressed his doubts, his pains and fears about whether to give up or not. He had to bear a painful price to remain a faithful messenger of God. Among his pains, we hear him say, “I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me” (Jer. 20:7). Can we relate to the struggle of Jeremiah in staying faithful to our purpose in the face of adversity?

When you go out with your spouse or partner, people admire you and the showcase of your love or public display of affection, but deep within, you and God know the cross you are carrying at home, and the number of times you have thought of giving up, and the battles you are fighting but find it difficult to share. You’ve acted like Jeremiah, saying you are not going to call or have anything to do with him or her anymore, but the thought of your partner has filled your heart like a burning fire you cannot extinguish. This was the experience of Jeremiah’s uncontrollable urge to share God’s word, even when mocked. He can’t hold it; it is a fire in his heart. 

This experience prefigures that of Christ, who will later endure similar pain and humiliation. It is an experience that expresses the cost of being a messenger of God; the cost of discipleship, which Christ expressed in the gospel. Christ had to correct the notion of the Apostles of his mission that, like Jeremiah, “The Messiah has to suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Mt. 16:21). 

Today, Christ wants us to understand the meaning of suffering, and he wants us to understand the meaning of the cross that is why he said to Peter after rebuking him, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (v. 24). The moment we accept our crosses, we accept to be true Christians by carrying them with love, which makes the cross light.

When Jeremiah and Peter thought of avoiding suffering, pains and persecution, Christ on the other hand, encourages us not to run away from it, but rather to unite all these with him in prayer, and we shall have the crown of glory. We are encouraged to let God seduce us and establish a perfect relationship with Him. The best person to fall in love with is God. With Him, there is no disappointment nor betrayal. 

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ