Wednesday, September 22, 2004
26 Martyrs of Zographou Monastery on Mount Athos
Kellia: Jeremiah 14:10-21 Epistle: Ephesians 3:8-21 Gospel: St. Mark 11:23-26
Jeremiah 14:10-21, especially vs. 14: "And the
Lord said to me: 'The prophets are prophesying lies in My Name; I did not send them, nor did I
command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless
divination, and the deceit of their own minds.'" On every occasion when a Bishop or Priest of
the Church ventures to preach the word of the Lord and you are present, pray to God for him. Do
not passively wait for the message and assume that he will easily speak the truth of the Gospel.
Pray to God for him, that he may proclaim the truth of the Lord in God's Name, moved by the
Holy Spirit, and without delusion in his own mind and without counting the cost to himself.
Our Bishops are closely examined and chosen for their capacity to proclaim and defend the truth
of the Gospel, but even they are fallible men. Pray to God for them. At ordination, most of our
Priests are vested with the epigonation, the oblong vestment suspended on the right hip,
symbolizing that they bear "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17) and
are trusted with "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). Still, these men have human
limitations and need prayerful support and Divine grace to preach. Pray to God for them!
Today's reading portrays a submitted and proven Prophet, a man who unflinchingly obeyed God
and was proven true, for God "let none of his words fall to the ground" (1 Sam. 3:19). The
portrait of Jeremiah in this passage discloses five difficult aspects of the struggle of godly
preachers to resist wavering in proclaiming the truth. Few in Jeremiah's congregation prayed or
"held him up before the Lord" in the trials of his ministry.
Jeremiah was a man who was required to preach severe judgment on a people who not only
"wandered" into sin, but also loved it (Jer. 14:10). Who finds a "hell and brimstone" preacher
lovable? Especially among people who enjoy their sins, there is little openness to hearing that
God disapproves and will punish them. "Who is he to tell me that?" is the more likely response.
Not only was Jeremiah's message unpopular - true though it was - but God also restrained him
from praying "for the welfare of this people" (vs. 11). Still, his was an active congregation: they
attended services, made offerings, and kept the fasting seasons, but God found their religion
superficial and without moral and spiritual substance. Therefore, Jeremiah was to avoid praying
that God would withhold the consequences of their behavior. A loving pastoral response was
forbidden: what must come was not to be inhibited by a righteous man's prayer (Jas. 5:16).
Here was a Prophet who preached against the prevailing milieu of false teaching by prophets who
were doomed to receive exactly what they said would not happen: "famine and sword, with none
to bury them" and their families (Jer. 14:16). God made him a 'lone wolf.'
In his loneliness, Jeremiah was required to grieve openly before the people, to "let [his] eyes run
down with tears night and day, and let them not cease" (vs. 17), so that people would see him
sorrowing for the wounds that were coming on them. This kind of behavior only served to
alienate him further from those to whom he carried God's message.
Finally, Jeremiah had to live knowing that only terror was coming for his people despite their
fondest hopes and even though they acknowledged their wickedness (vs. 20). Only one bit of
their prayer would be heard. While they would feel the consequences of their sins, God would
not break His covenant with them. They would go into exile, but their descendants would return.
As our clergy share Jeremiah's burdens in their ministry, how much they need our prayers!
O God, uphold our Bishops and Priests that they may stand in innocency before Thy Throne,
proclaim the Gospel of Thy kingdom, and rightly minister the word of Thy truth.
