Where were you the last time you hid your faith?
Was it at the restaurant the other day when you skipped the prayer because you were afraid how others would react? Or maybe that time when you let your passions and anger get the best of you … and you posted that ugly and hateful comment on social media?
Perhaps you have hidden the gift of faith so much, that it’s hardly recognizable to anyone who meets you and sees you in action.
To them … you are merely human.
What do you think God sees when he looks at us in the mirror?
Today’s first reading is a truly stunning parable of what can happen – and did happen – to a nation of people who tucked away the gift that had been bestowed from above, in order to pursue the passions of the day and the false gods created by our animalistic lust for pleasure.
I found it very interesting that the object chosen by God to teach Jeremiah this important lesson (to pass on to others) was a loincloth. In the story, God tells Jeremiah to purchase a new loincloth, wear it but don’t wash it. Eventually, he is told to bury it in rock.
When the time was right, Jeremiah goes to retrieve the loincloth, but it had fallen into decay. Rotted. Wasted away … not good to wear any more.
What does a loincloth have to do with the gift of faith?
Quite a bit, when you think about what a loincloth was used for – to protect the loins (the “private parts” of a man or a woman).
You know … the parts of our bodies that, when used correctly, can cooperate with God in the creation of life. What is more important than the gift of life that God has given us … not just life here and now, but the promise of life forever? And how great was He to give us the gift of being able to create life, ourselves. Life in both our image and His image.
Jeremiah’s lesson, I believe, is directly related to the sinful idolatry – specifically the fertility rites of Baal and the child sacrificing that was taking place at the time he lived. Jeremiah was a key prophet trying to change the hearts of a society that had become obsessed with sexuality – to the point of building their own idols of fertility.
And let’s be blunt: One of those idols was shaped like a giant male sex organ. The people had turned to “gods of fertility” rather than keep the faith of the one true God who had already given them the gift to create new life.
So we have this new loincloth – this new gift from God, designed to protect and preserve the awesome gift of creation.
Jeremiah is told to wear it, but not wash it.
Let the gift get dirty.
Have a little fun … don’t worry about purity and proper handling of the cloth.
Finally, he is told to bury it in the rocks … the way they had been burying their morals in order to pursue their every wont and desire. They had separated themselves from God by burying their gifts, rather than using them properly and sharing them with the rest of the world.
The lack of fertility must have become quite an issue for them to feel the need to create false gods and goddesses to worship.
As I read the headlines today, this has become a problem once again in modern society. The headlines were in every major newspaper in America.
According to one article from a Catholic news source, fewer babies were born in the United States last year than in any other year in the past 30. The birth and the fertility rates in the U.S. continue to plunge, and the decline isn’t expected to slow down for more than a decade. Read the whole story here:
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=11919
The story ends with Jeremiah going back to retrieve the loincloth … but he was too late. The gift had dried up and wasted away.
Dried up.
Wasted away.
No more chances at life.
Jeremiah tried to warn God’s chosen people that this would bring upon them a future of death and destruction. The warning went unheeded and the people of Judah did indeed suffer the consequences.
We all have gifts from God that were given to us to share, not hide. Not just the gift of sexuality, but other gifts that can be used to breathe “new life” into those who need to hear the good news of the Gospel.
It’s like that little mustard seed in today’s Gospel reading. The gift may seem to be tiny and inconsequential. But if it’s shared properly, it can really grow and blossom into a powerful force in society.
One man … one woman … one gift … can indeed change the world. Don’t ever let anyone tell you different.
And stop hiding your gifts. Let them out for all to see.
