2025 Aug 17 SUN: TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Jer 38: 4-6. 8-10/ Ps 40: 2. 3. 4. 18 (14b)/ Heb 12: 1-4/ Lk 12: 49-53

We have heard in the book of Jeremiah about the lot of the prophet. People didn't like what Jeremiah was saying, and he was essentially saying, "You had better become more faithful to the Lord, the one God. Otherwise you will be taken captive and carried off to Babylon." People didn't want to hear that -- the princes, it says. So they threw him into a muddy cistern.

Well, it is said that the purpose of a prophet is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And there is a prophetic element in preaching. And we must be clear that primarily a prophet is not someone who foretells future events. The prophet speaking on behalf of God might refer to future developments, but they are rooted in what is going on in the here and now. And it is interesting to hear reactions. I've sometimes heard people say, "I have chosen this parish instead of another parish because over there they're too political." I would propose that it is the listener who is being political. The listener hears basic principles that derive from our Christian faith principles of justice. But the listener is being political because that listener is clinging to his or her own certainties, things that they have decided upon, and that no one -- not even a word from God -- must contradict. People are uncomfortable when we say such obvious things as war is a bad idea, and people should not be deliberately starved to death. People are uncomfortable when they are told that from the time of the Holy Family's flight into Egypt, the Church has had a deep regard for people who have to migrate. And there are those who say, "Oh, you can't talk about racism. That's controversial." Racism is perhaps the most obvious thing in the world.

Jesus refers to splits among family members, but I think we can go deeper even than that to look within our hearts and to discover the contradictions that we hold within our hearts.

We say that we live according to the Word of God. But so often we reject the obvious applications of the Word of God. So we must consider, in accord with the exhortation in the Letter to the Hebrews, that Jesus embraced the cross. He did so out of love for people who are filled with contradictions. We act with love as we receive the Word of God and as we discover how to apply it. We have been given true gifts. The Son of God certainly did not have to become one of us, but he was pleased to do so because he has loved us in our misery and, often, self-imposed misery. So we welcome the love of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and we pray that his example will move us to act in accord with the Word of God and to live lives reflecting justice.