Friday, September 17, 2004
The Martyrs Sophia & Her Daughters Faith, Hope, & Love
Kellia: Jeremiah 8:4-13 Epistle: Ephesians 1:7-17 Gospel: St. Mark 8:1-10
Jeremiah 8:4-13, especially
vs. 9: "The wise men shall be put to shame, they shall be dismayed and taken; lo, they have
rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?" In Jeremiah's Temple Message,
we find the Lord deploring the failure of His own People to return to Him: "When I would gather
them, says the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are
withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them" (vs. 13). Holy Scripture uses a
variety of images to express the morass into which sin plunges us - hardness of heart, failure to
heed, refusal to obey, darkness, confusion, slavery, and more. In Jeremiah 8:5, the Lord puts the
matter as a question:"Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding?" In
answering, God reveals four obstructions that block repentance: 1) rejection of the word of the
Lord, 2) following one's own course, 3) holding fast to deceit, and 4) refusal to return to God.
Observe that the Lord identifies the primary factor which always blocks repentance in mankind in
saying of the people of Judah, "they have rejected the word of the Lord" (vs. 9). Since the word
of the Lord "is a lamp unto [our] feet and a light unto [our] paths" (Ps. 118:105 LXX), therefore
whenever men reject God's word, by their own choice they thrust themselves into darkness.
Without God's word, we are bound to wander far from the truth of our very being. The
ideologies and philosophies which men conceive, promulgate, and even force upon other men,
are simply expressions of humanity's overweening trust in our own capacity to grasp the meaning
of reality. God's Seers and Prophets, like Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah and others, as well as the
Apostles who were taught directly by God Incarnate, received true knowledge of the world by
Divine revelation; truth was disclosed to them by God Himself. He Who created all things and
holds all things in existence, showed, told, and illumined them concerning the true purpose of
life, and He gave commands by which all men should live. Rejecting His revelation has proven
to be the primary, fatal error from the dawn of creation when Adam and Eve believed the
serpent's lie - that knowing good and evil was "to be desired to make one wise" (Gen. 3:6).
Once we refuse God's word, we are cast loose, as the reading states, on our "own course, like a
horse plunging headlong into battle" (vs. 6). The ocean of life is vast, and without the reliable
compass and sextant of God's word to locate ourselves, we are bound to sail endlessly and
aimlessly, and only by accident make any beneficial landfalls.
The nature of sin being what it is - separation from God, darkness, and bondage - it is no wonder
that we men cling to deceits so fiercely. We are like drowning swimmers, ready to grasp at
anything to keep afloat. The Lord describes our state as "perpetual backsliding" and as holding
"fast to deceit" (vs. 5). No wonder, for there is a real element of desperation in the human
condition. No wonder the Christian message is described as "salvation."
We are desperate for salvation, to get an answer, to find a means of coping, to secure a solution to
this life in which we find ourselves. Desperation makes us fierce in holding on to deceit (vs. 5),
driving us to find something tangible. Never mind about unseen spiritual realities in this
existence into which we are cast! Having rejected God and relationship with Him, desperation is
the sure result. The Lord's question, "What wisdom is in them?" (vs. 9) makes the Apostolic
answer electrifying: "We have seen...and declare to you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested to us...is with...His Son, Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 1:2,3).
Lord, strengthen me that I may want that which Thou wantest, because Thou wantest it, and as
much as Thou wantest. As Master of my will, enlighten and sanctify me, body and soul.
