Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Joseph, Bishop of Timisoara, Romania
Kellia: Jeremiah 7:1-15 Epistle: Galatians 6:2-10 Gospel: St. Mark 7:14-24
Jeremiah 7:1-15, especially vss. 3, 4: "Amend your
ways and your doings, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive
words: 'This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.'"
Chapters Seven through Ten often are termed, "Jeremiah's Temple Message" or "Sermon."
Actually, they are a series of addresses given by the Prophet at various times and not on a single
occasion. They are significant because of the location of their delivery. The Temple was the
premier public site in ancient Israel. These Temple messages of Jeremiah, which denounced both
blind reliance on the rituals of the Temple and the people's lax moral life, set off a firestorm of
protest aimed squarely at the Prophet himself. They nearly cost him his life. (The tempest of
reaction is fully described in Jer. 26:7-24.)
Today's passage is the first of Jeremiah's Temple messages. The Prophet declares God's
judgment to "all [the] men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord" (vs. 2). Let us
note well that this message is "the word of the Lord" (vs. 2), a message of eternal, abiding
significance, reinforced by the Lord Jesus Who quoted a key verse from this passage, changing it
to His own personal declaration (compare Jer. 7:11 and Lk. 19:46). This is a word of the living
God. Let this message stand as a judgment on us whenever we trust in our rites and our beautiful
churches while taking lightly the Lord's commandments and His expectations of us.
The Psalmist David declares: "Our God is refuge and strength, a helper in afflictions which
mightily befall us" (Ps. 45:1 LXX). He also declares, moved by the very Spirit Who illumined
Jeremiah, that the ungodly "are like the chaff which the wind doth hurl away from the face of the
earth" (Ps. 1:4 LXX). Therefore, let us never trust merely in attendance at Liturgy and our parish
activities. Rather, let us examine ourselves and seek God's help in purifying our lives, truly
worshiping "the undivided Trinity Who hath saved us."
The Lord warns us: "Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the Lord'"
(Jer. 7:4). Hence, we must never trust solely in attendance at the Liturgy, in tithes and offerings
through the parish, or in having built a noteworthy example of Orthodox architecture. These will
not deliver us "from wrath, famine, earthquake, flood, fire, the sword, foreign invasion, civil
war...sudden death....and all sickness." To rely upon such tangible things - creatures like
ourselves - is to "trust in deceptive words to no avail" (vs. 8). "Our God is refuge" and it is to
Him that we must turn our hearts and answer for our every thought, word, and deed.
Therefore, as the Lord teaches in this "sermon," let us humbly ask Him to reveal what He sees in
"[our] ways and [our] doings" (vs. 5). In His light, let each one see: "if [we] truly execute justice
one with another" (vs.5) in our business or profession, as well as in all our relationships with
others, including non-Orthodox people, street kids, the poor in our cities and towns, the young
women with unplanned pregnancies that are trying to find a solution for their lives and futures.
Should any one find that by word, deed or even by secret thought in the heart, that God has seen
him "steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely [or] go after other gods" (vs. 9) in response to
his dark passions, let him "amend" his ways and his doings.
Beloved of the Lord, Orthodoxy is seeing "the true light," receiving "the heavenly Spirit," finding
"the true Faith," and, yes, worshiping "the undivided Trinity Who hath saved us." Let us, with
God's help, strive to receive His Holy Gifts worthily and to pray aright to our merciful Lord:
Grant that these Mysteries may be unto the healing of my soul and body, the averting of
everything contrary thereto, the enlightenment of the eyes of my heart, and peace in my spirit.