Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Venerable Kyriakos the Hermit of Palestine
Kellia: Jeremiah 28:1-2, 10-17 Epistle: Ephesians 5:25-33 Gospel: St. Luke 4:1-15
Jeremiah 28:1-2, 10-17, especially vss. 12,
13: "...the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 'Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the Lord: You
have broken wooden bars, but I will make in their place bars of iron.'" History is a record of the
unexpected: how could Rome, the great center of "The Empire," fall? Yet in 410 AD, the Goths
ravished the eternal city. How could Constantinople fall to the forces of the Ottoman Turks
under Mehmet II, a mere youth of 21 years? Still, on Tuesday, May 29th, 1453, the last heir of
Constantine the Great lay dead and the city came under the power of the infidel. How could it be
that Paris, safely behind the impregnable Maginot Line could fall to the Nazis storming in from
the Siegfried Line? Yet, swiftly, in May of 1940, the German blitzkrieg swept around the Line,
through the Low Countries, and took Paris on June 14th. How could Nebuchadnezzar sustain
another campaign in Syria and reassert his control over the new Pharaoh ruling in Egypt? The
court of the new King of Judah, Zedekiah, pondered this issue.
Into this confused situation, "this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord....Make yourself thongs
and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck" (Jer. 27:2). The Prophet gave the King and his
courtiers and the envoys from the neighboring nations around Judah a solemn charge from the
God of Israel: "It is I Who by My great power and My outstretched arm have made the earth, with
men and animals...and I give it to whomever it seems right to Me. Now I have given all these
lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon" (Jer. 27:5,6). Judah and its allies
were to submit to the yoke of Babylon, and not to rely on any coalition with Egypt.
During "that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah," another prophet challenged
Jeremiah's word to submit to the Babylonians. In the presence of the priests and the people, he
said, "Thus says the Lord...I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon" (Jer. 28:1,2). Did
Jeremiah's dramatized and submissive word from the Lord come from the Prophet's
imagination? Was Jeremiah wrong? Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the
Prophet and broke them, saying, "Thus says the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years" (Jer.
28:10,11). Note: Jeremiah did not counter his word, but simply "went his way" (vs. 11).
How does a man have the boldness to say, "Thus says the Lord" - whether the man was Jeremiah
or Hananiah? The temerity of a puny creature - mortal and finite, a limited human being - to say,
"Thus says the Lord" and to state that his message is "from the Creator of Heaven and earth!" It
is bold in the extreme! Jeremiah was quite aware of his limitations in such a role. He had
questioned the Lord's call to be a Prophet: "I do not know how to speak..." (Jer. 1:6).
Nevertheless, he reveals an extraordinary confidence that words in his mouth were the words of
the Lord "over nations and over kingdoms" (Jer. 1:10). However, had he been wrong all this
time? In the end, it seems not, for sometime after Hananiah broke the yoke-bars from off his
neck, "the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah," and this time it was for Hananiah (Jer. 28:13).
How are we to know confidently when men "speak the word of the Lord?" The reading today
teaches us not to say a word but to wait as Jeremiah did (vs. 11). Scripture shows us that we are
to watch and see if the word was founded on a lie or on authentic revelation from God (vs. 15).
Finally, we are taught to trust God that He will expose every false word and every false prophet -
showing the errors plainly (vss. 16,17).
O Heavenly King, the Comforter, by Whom light riseth up in darkness for the godly, save us from
all false words, that in Thy light we may see light and may not stumble over falsehood.
