Bible Study: Jeremiah 1, 4
to 5 and 17 to 19. 1st Corinthians 12, 31 to 13, 13. And Luke 4, 21
to 30.
The saying that truth is bitter comes
alive powerfully in our liturgy today. If you recall, last Sunday, we noted
that the word of God is living, alive and active sharper than any two edged
sword able to pierce the division between bones and marrow. The reason why God’s
word is a sharp sword is because it is TRUTH. And there are two ways we humans
react to the truth, we either become weakened by it (moved to tears) or we resist
it and fight against the person who is telling us the truth.
Last Sunday, we read about how the
Prophet Ezra gathered the people of Israel and read the Bible to them from
morning till about noon, and when the people heard it, they were moved to
tears. They cried because they acknowledged their sins upon being confronted
with the Truth of God’s words just like David was reduced to tears when Nathan
confronted him with his wicked act of adultery and murder. Today, we see the
opposite reaction, Jesus comes to his hometown and confronts his own people
with TRUTH and behold they were filled with wrath and wanted to send him to an
early grave.
We have strong feelings when we
discover that someone has lied to us or deceived us. Isn’t it? How do you feel
when you know the truth already and somebody is lying to you vigorously, even
swearing with his head? We want the truth, even the unpleasant and painful
truth. As much as we pride ourselves with love for the truth, most times by our
actions, we are practically not ready for it. This explains why we find it so
difficult to read the Bible on our own. We rather prefer to hear people preach
to us picking out certain juicy verses from the Bible out of context which in
the end only makes us feel good about ourselves and remain stuck in sin.
For instance, looking at our first
reading today, I am pretty sure we may have heard over and over again the verse
which states: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” But in all honesty,
how many of us have also heard the other verse which states “Do not be dismayed
by them, lest I dismay you before them.”? Say the truth, aren’t you seeing for
the first time that in that same chapter of Jeremiah which has been quoted over
and over again, God is saying “They will fight against you; but they shall not
prevail against you…”?
How many of us have taken out time on
our own to read the whole Bible cover to cover? Only very few of us! Why? TRUTH
IS BITTER, and like a bitter herb, we would rather prefer not to take it and
remain in our sickness than to be cured once and for all. We still find it
difficult to read God’s words not because we do not have the time but because
we cannot withstand the truth. We like the easy path, the sweet road, the side
of milk and sugar and even when we know that the Kingdom of God involves carrying
a cross and following the narrow path of difficulty, we like to believe that
somehow somehow, we can make it through the broad street.
What was the truth that made the
people so uncomfortable and wanted to kill Jesus? As Jesus was speaking, they started
wondering how those gracious words managed to come out of his lips. They soon
realised that for him to be talking like this, there was an element of Divinity
in him, the truth that God was in their midst started dawning on them but for
the mere fact that they knew Jesus very well and watched him grow, they couldn’t
swallow this heavy pill of truth. So rather than being moved to tears, they
sharply resisted it, they started murmuring: “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
It is easy to condemn Jesus’ listeners
for not accepting the truth but how about if we turn to ourselves now. “Do I recognise
God in my fellow human being?” “Am I able to see beyond flesh and blood, beyond
tribe and colour, beyond language and ethnicity and see God in the people
around me?” Before you answer “yes”, consider what St. Paul is saying in our
second reading. If we are able to see God in people, then love would be our
ultimate goal and concern. We do not love as we should because we do not see
God in people.
And when we use the word “love,” it
is far from that which St. Paul is describing to us today. We only love when it
suits us, when we stand to gain something or when the going is smooth. The moment
we are offended or hurt, we instantly snap out of love yet St. Paul is saying, “Love
does not rejoice in wrong and Love never ends.” If you have “loved” someone
before and you no longer love that person again, then take it from me that you
never really loved in the first place. You thought you loved, but you were just
into yourself. To love is see God in the person and then, there is no room for
carnal desires and all that sinfulness that masquerade under the name of love.
Jesus, knowing that his listeners couldn’t
withstand the truth that God could take human flesh, he said: “No prophet is acceptable
in his own country.” As if this was not enough, Jesus went ahead to drop
another SOLID TRUTH; that all humans regardless of race, colour, tribe or
nationality are loved equally by God and stand the chance of enjoying his
favour as long as they have FAITH. This was the truth contained indirectly in
the two examples cited by Jesus. Both the widow of Zarephath who fed Elijah
with the last morsel of flour she had and Naaman who agreed to bath in the
river Jordan were not Jews yet because their actions were spurred by faith,
they received miraculous favours. But then, to the audience of Jesus, this was
too much insult! They couldn’t hold take the truth so they rushed him out the
synagogue to the brow of the hill intending to throw him down. Thank God, Jesus
was smart, he slipped through their midst and escaped for his dear life.
If these people could not accept the
truth, how about you and I sitting here today? Have we accepted the truth? Are
we going to be moved with tears for our sins of discrimination, segregation,
ethnic favouritism, son of the soil mentality and hatred over others for not
belonging to our group, or are we going to walk out of this church today further
hardening our hearts to love? Are we going to throw Jesus down the hill by
failing to represent his name by our sinful actions or are we going to allow
our readings today open our heart to true love which does not discriminate?
Finally, my dear brothers and
sisters, like Jeremiah, we all are called today to be prophets. And what makes
us prophets? It is nothing other than our ability to accept the truth by
reading the Bible, to love the truth by putting the Bible into practice and to tell
the truth by the way we live. We are called to be people of truth by word and
by example. True religion is not about coming to church, it is about serving
God in spirit and in truth. And we must remember that truth is bitter. People
do not like the truth. So as prophets that we all are, when we speak the truth by
our words or when our actions proclaim the truth, we must be prepared for war! Yes,
we must be prepared for hatred. We must get ready for a fight.
God assures us through Jeremiah,
people will fight hard to pull us down, they will try all means to shut our
mouth and make us compromise to evil. They will try to blackmail us into falsehood
but we must remember what God says, “Do not be dismayed by them lest I dismay
you before them.” Do not fear those who kill the body but can do nothing more. One
musician sang, “If you stand for the truth, you will always stand alone.” Yes,
truth is bitter but it is the only way out. Keep living in the truth, keep
speaking the truth, let them fight you as hard as they can, don’t worry, they
will never prevail against you for I AM WITH YOU SAYS THE LORD TO DELIVER YOU.
Let us Pray:
Lord Jesus, even though truth is
bitter, may its bitterness cleanse me of my sins and open my heart to love you
above all else and my neighbour as myself. Amen.
God bless you. Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is
well with you. Happy Sunday.
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