INTRODUCTION
The readings today remind us that to be authentic believers, we must be ready to face oppositions. But because we have been set on fire, nothing will quench us since the fire we bear is God himself.
FIRST READING
The prophet Jeremiah also known as the “weeping prophet” (a name biblical scholars gave him as a result of the difficulties he encountered in his ministry as recorded in books of Jeremiah and Lamentation respectively) lived from about 650 B.C. to perhaps 580 or 570 B.C. This was a period when Babylon was becoming a supreme power thereby carrying out several expeditions around the surrounding smaller kingdoms and demanding homage from them, including the kingdom of Judah. Through the prophet Jeremiah, Yahweh warned the king of Judah to surrender to Babylon in order to save his life and that of the people (Jer. 22 & 34). But he obstinately sought for military help from pagan nations against Babylon. This incessant quest to enter into unholy political alliances with neighboring countries with the aim of defending themselves against Babylon, made the king and the leaders of the people to forsake the religion of their fathers. They equally abandoned Yahweh and failed to trust in his power to defend them. Thus the first reading today talks about the prophet’s death sentence which occurred during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians around 587 B.C. His call to surrender to the Babylonians was misinterpreted as unpatriotic and treasonable by the leaders who complained to King Zedekiah. The attitude of the king who at one time turned Jeremiah over to the leaders who threw the prophet into a muddy cistern to die and his harkening to the plea of an Ethiopian courtier named Ebed-melech to save his life reveals how indecisive he was. Meanwhile, the destruction of Jerusalem and the taking away of all the able-bodied citizens to Babylon as prisoners which will occur in the year 587 will serve as a fulfilment of the prophesy of Jeremiah. Hence a consequence of the disobedience to the voice of Yahweh their God.
However, the reading today points at some important elements in the lives of believers:
- The experience of Jeremiah reveals that faithfulness to God must surely bring about opposition from the world. And no one who proclaims the undiluted truth of the Gospel will escape martyrdom (be it white or red martyrdom).
- Even in the midst of fire of opposition, Jeremiah still proclaimed. This shows that if one is seized by the Spirit of God, he can no longer be himself again. That is the meaning of the seduction the prophet spoke of earlier (Jer. 20:7).
- It was not by mere chance that Ebed-melech was placed at the scene of the destruction of Jeremiah. And the harkening of the voice of this Ethiopian courtier by the king was not ordinary. It reveals that when we fight for a just course and yet people plot to destroy us, the God of justice will be our vindicator. It may happen at that moment when it seems that all hope is lost. The intervention of God in the life of Sussana through the young Daniel epitomises this (Dan. 13). Hence an invitation that we should never be afraid of doing the right thing.
Finally, the first reading connects us to the Gospel in the sense that the life of Jeremiah marked by suffering and opposition and the division which the Word he proclaimed caused, is a prefiguration of the fire and the division which Christ said must accompany his mission and the mission of his disciples.
SECOND READING
The author wrote this letter to the Jewish converts to Christianity who were ostracized by their fellow Jews, interdicted from entering the synagogues and cut off from their families and old friends. Being no longer in touch with the rituals and institutions they had known, these fellows needed their faith to be revived. Thus, he reminded them about the faithful Jews from the past, particularly Abraham, and highlighting some of the difficulties they encountered. These heroic figures are the great “cloud of witnesses” which he mentioned in today’s passage. The author wanted his Judeo-Christian brethren to think of themselves as athletes in a race in a stadium (the race of Faith), where their ancestors in the Faith would be spectators, surrounding them and cheering them on, because their descendants were now running the same race they had run in their own days. These ancestors were “witnesses” to the power of Faith to endure against every temptation to apostasy. How does it feel to know that we are no longer accepted in our communities and in our families simply because we no longer share the same view with them. This is the problem of Jeremiah in the first reading, and it is a lived-experience of the Gospel message by the Jewish converts to Christianity.
GOSPEL
The Gospel text consists of two sections: in the first section (vv 49-50), Jesus speaks of suffering as connected with his mission, and in the second section (vv 51-53), he highlights the breakup of families as a consequence of believing in his message.
The use of the allegory of fire by Jesus shows that he was in touch with the philosophy of his days when the truths of realities are explained through natural elements.
“I have come to ‘set the earth on fire” from its literal point of view is scandalizing in that it was coming from someone proclaimed earlier as the Prince of peace. From its biblical point of view, fire is a symbol of purification (Cf Nm 31:23; Ez 22:19-22), and, more often, it is associated with God’s judgment (Cf Jdt 16:17; Is 66:16; Am 7:4; 2 Pt 3:7). The image of fire is also used to symbolize God’s glory (Ez 1:4, 13), His protective presence (2 Kgs 6:17), His holiness (Dt 4:24), His righteous judgment (Zec 13:9), and His wrath against sin (Is 66:15-16). The image of fire is also used of the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11 and Acts 2:3). Fire has many characteristics: it warms, purifies, refines, transforms, and burns. As a purifying force, fire burns up what is useless and refines what is impure besides giving warmth and energy. Elijah brought the fire of judgment on the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18:36-40) and the soldiers of King Ahaziah (2 Kgs 1:10-14). John the Baptist promises that Jesus “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”(Mt 3:11), and that promise was fulfilled at Pentecost. James and John wanted to call down fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans who rejected Jesus, but Jesus would not permit it (Lk 9:54). We are also reminded of the prophet’s words, “For he is like a refiner’s fire…” (Mal 3:2). The fire burns hot, removing impurities and leaving only that which is desirable. These meanings suggest that the fire which Jesus brings will consume or purify the world (P. Tony Kadavil).
The division which Jesus speaks of is a puncture to an important element in the life and history of the Palestinian Jews of his time. In such an environment, a person’s place in the family is what gives him an identity both in the family and the community at large. The family equally served as source of social security and support. Therefore, to separate oneself from the family would mean lost of identity. Thus, the advent of Christian message and the rise of Christianity succeeded in tearing families apart, because faithful followers of Christ must certainly go against certain principles guiding families and communities. This will eventually make them alien to their families and communities. And by consequence, they will lose their identity. Yes,in the philosophy of Christ, this is a necessary end to a true christian life; loosing oneself for Christ.
LIFE MESSAGE
- We should have fire in our hearts:
On the day of our Baptism, we received the light of Christ and were instructed to keep that torch burning brightly until the return of Christ Jesus. Further, the Holy Spirit was sent into our hearts at Confirmation to help set us on fire. The old proverb should be applicable to all baptized and confirmed Christians: “He /She who is on fire cannot sit on a chair.” Our Lord Jesus continues to cast fire on the earth, the fire of the Spirit, through the ministry of Word and Sacraments. As Christians, we should have fire to inflame people to care, to serve, and to bless each other with all the gifts of Faith. We should work with the Holy Spirit to allow that fire to burn off the impurities in us and to bring out the purity of the gold and silver within us. We need Divine fire to inflame our hearts with the love of God and love for His children. We Christians should blaze with the same fire with which Jesus wished his disciples to burn: “I came to cast fire upon earth and would that it were already kindled” (Luke 12:49). - We must be signs of contradiction: Our ideology and our style of life must never agree with that of the world. When we live according to the way of the world, then we cease to be followers of Christ. Our yes to Christ must produce a necessary division. We cannot bend the message of the Gospel because of the personal views of our parents, our brothers and sisters and even friends. Sometimes, in the quest to maintain peace in our families or even to keep our friends close, many of us have chosen the path of compromise. After all God understands. No God does not understand. His way is not the way of the world. Until people see us differently, we cannot claim to be followers of Christ. Let’s keep making the difference by constantly creating ‘divisions’ against the world that wants to subsume us into itself; a world that is struggling to maintain its status quo and principles which are against the Gospel principles. PAX VOBIS
