Thursday, September 23, 2004
The Conception of the Forerunner and Baptist John
Kellia: Jeremiah 15:1-9 Epistle: Ephesians 4:14-19 Gospel: St. Mark 11:27-33
Jeremiah 15:1-9, especially vs. 3: "I will
appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to tear,
and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy." In the present
passage, as previously, the Lord announces severe judgment against His ancient People, for, He
says, "I have stretched out My hand against you and destroyed you;--I Am weary of relenting"
(vs. 6). The images of His judgment are horrifying (vs. 4) and certain of coming; for His own
chosen ones "have rejected Me, says the Lord, [and] keep going backward" (vs. 6). The "four
kinds of destroyers" (vs. 3) which God appoints not only will bring death, but also will mutilate
their dead bodies, making them into carrion "for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth"
(vs. 3).
Considering the Lord's words in light of the Mosaic injunction against contact with the dead, one
gains a little taste of the revulsion which this prophecy conveys: "whoever in the open field
touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be
unclean seven days" (Num. 19:16). There is none of the reverence known among Christians for
the bodies of the dead in Christ and for the blessed relics of the Saints. All is loathing and
repugnance. Instead, we are allowed to view human sin from God's perspective: "My heart
would not turn toward this people. Send them out of My sight, and let them go!" (Jer. 15:1).
Still, who does not know the enticement of sin? Who fails to understand all too well how easily
Eve's heart was turned in one moment by the lie, "You will not die" (Gen. 3:4)? Solomon in
great wisdom warns that "the lips of a loose woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than
oil," to which he adds, most significantly, "but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a
two-edged sword" (Prov. 5:3,4). Certainly sin attracts, and it subtly closes off the ears of the
heart from hearing the godly caution, "Keep your way far from her" (Prov. 5:8).
First and foremost, sin is the embracing of death as symbolized by the sword. After the fall of
our first parents, when the Lord God had driven man out from Paradise, "at the east of the garden
of Eden He placed cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to
the tree of life" (Gen. 3:24). There followed from sin the labor, sweat and thorns of existence
outside of Paradise. But as St. Symeon the New Theologian reminds us, "fortunate is he who
endures all these temporal chastisements with gratitude, confessing that he has been justly
condemned in them, for....by reason of these chastisements, the All-good God has given death to
men, so that those who bear them with gratitude might rest from them for a time and then be
resurrected and glorified in the day of judgment through the new Adam...."
In addition, sin tears into our souls like a dog, savaging every scrap of honor and true dignity
from us, leaving the barest traces of the image of God. Beloved of the Lord, recall that when
judgment came to Jezebel, "some of her blood spattered on the wall," yet "they found no more of
her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands" for the dogs had eaten her as the
Prophet foretold (2 Kngs. 9:33,35). However, now there is "no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1). The true reason for
godly and virtuous living is gratitude to Christ for all that He has done for us.
If we persist in sin after so great a gift, what hope will there be for us? What the dogs of sin
leave in us of the Divine image, the carrion birds and beasts will take away; yet remember:
"where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17). We are free to do the will of God.
O Thou Who hast given us grace, fulfill now the desires and petitions of Thy servants, and grant
us in this world the knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting.
