12th Sunday of the Year – A (25 June 2017)

Jeremiah 20:10-13, Psalm 68, Romans 5:12-15, Matthew 10:26-33

Download

Theme: ‘The Lord listens’ … ‘in your great love, answer me, O God.’ (Ps. 68)

In our first reading, Jeremiah is having a hard time. His message, which challenges his listeners to ‘change your lives and stop doing evil’ (25:5-6), doesn’t go down well. Not surprising when others tell a soothing message that all will be well, shades of the struggle between ‘fake news’ and truth that we experience today. One of those voices that Jeremiah rails against is that of the priest, Pashur, to whom Jeremiah said in 20:3, ‘The Lord has named you not Pashur but “Terror-all-around”. In our reading, in 20:10 we have a play on this new name as, despite Pashur’s soothing message, terror is being acted out at many levels. Jerusalem is under threat from outside forces, an undermining threat comes from those who give a ‘false’ message that all will be well (Jer. 20:6), and the people reinforce the intensity of the threat by listening to the false messages even to the point of threatening Jeremiah who is warning them of the dangers involved.

 

Jeremiah knows that, as inadequate as he feels to speak out against all this ‘terror’ that he is noticing and experiencing, his voice is not his own, it comes from God (Jer. 1:4-10). Our reading shows his clarity that in expressing God’s voice, he must also root himself in its source, for it is God who ‘has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers’ (20:13), it is God who sees ‘the heart and the mind’ (20:12).

 

In the Gospel reading the theme of threat continues. Jesus says, ‘do not be afraid’. His attention is on the inner world of the ‘soul’ and he provides ‘a warning to be faithful despite persecution’ (The Jewish Annotated New Testament).

 

‘Terror’ is familiar in our world today too. It can be difficult to hear our own inner voice or God’s. In difficult times, when we experience ‘terror’ at the various levels highlighted above, it can force us to stop and listen in a new way. A difficult task perhaps when the ‘terrors all around’ potentially present us with a mirror in which we might see our own inner world and the terrors which may lurk therein. Terror ‘uncovers’ something ‘hidden’ and ‘proclaims’ something ‘dark’. ‘Do not be afraid’, however, for we are told that there will be movement and what is covered now will be uncovered, what is hidden will become clear, what is whispered in the dark will be proclaimed in the daylight. Jesus’ message, just like Jeremiah’s, contains within itself the movement it anticipates. Where we move to, however, depends on our willingness to be aware of ‘terror’, at all its levels, and whose voice we choose to listen to in response to it.

 

These external and internal ‘terrors’ and the shadows they caste, remind me of Proverbs 20:27, ‘The human soul is the lamp of the Lord, searching every inmost part.’ To ensure the light of this lamp remains kindled, for ourselves and others, requires a capacity to hear and remain faithful to God as Jeremiah did and to believe Jesus’ words, ‘no need to be afraid’. Their words invite us to face the ‘terror all around’ and the terror within ourselves. They support us to ‘uncover’ what is ‘hidden’, to ‘proclaim’ in the ‘light’ rather than ‘whisper’ in the ‘dark.’ They move us from ‘fake news’ to truth and through the darkness that has been uncovered, sometimes by terror, further into our identity as ‘the lamp of the Lord.’

 

For Reflection and Discussion: 1 To whom do I listen and how does this influence my choices? 2 Where is the source of my own voice? 3 What stops me from listening and remaining faithful to the voice of God in my life at all times?

 

Bibliography: The Jewish Annotated NT by Amy-Jill Levine & Marc Zvi Brettler (eds)

 

This week’s Sunday Gospel Commentary was prepared by

Thérèse Fitzgerald nds, Bat Kol Alumni 2015
Email address: theresefitzgerald7@gmail.com

[Copyright © 2017]

…………………………………………………………………

PLEASE NOTE: The weekly Gospel commentaries represent the research and creative thought of their authors, and are meant to stimulate deeper thinking about the meaning of the Sunday Scriptures. While they draw upon the study methods and sources employed by the Bat Kol Institute, the views and conclusions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of their authors, and do not necessarily represent the views of Bat Kol. Questions, comments and feedback are always welcome

……………………………………………………………….

Bat Kol Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

1983-2017

“Christians Studying the Bible within its Jewish milieu, using Jewish Sources.”

gill@batkol.info Website: www.batkol.info