Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
As you may know from one or more of my previous reflections, I did not grow up going to church. But, for whatever reason, I was very interested in Christianity and I loved the red-letter Bible that my grandmother gave me. I read it often and, as you would expect given my upbringing, I didn’t understand a lot of what I read.
What was the Bible saying about who God is? What was I to make of Jesus? How could he be both divine and human? As for the Holy Spirit, I didn’t even know enough to have questions. What I did know, or thought I knew, was that there were a lot of people in the Bible who did know the answers to my questions. And I was very envious of them.
I remember sitting on the floor of my very pink bedroom reading the gospels and wishing so badly that I had been a disciple. Had I been one, surely I would have understood exactly who Jesus was, what he was about, why he was called the Son of God, why he willingly died on a cross, and so forth. I also thought that if I had been a disciple I would have had certainty about Jesus as God.
I also remember reading Paul’s letters and wishing I could be like him. If only I could have a conversion experience like he had. I would go from ignorance to wisdom in the flash of an instant. Everything would be made clear. I would know God and Jesus. I would have certainty not only about God and Jesus, but also why I exist and what my purpose is.
The book of the Bible that I read more often than any other was Genesis. And that’s because I wanted (over and over) to read the whole Bible from start to finish. And so, I began, over and over at the beginning. In Genesis, I encountered Moses. What an incredibly lucky guy, I thought! He beat out both the disciples and Paul. He actually got to hear from God directly! God just showed told him what the truth was and what he should do. If only God would do that with me!
In the text from the Book of Jeremiah that is before us today, Jeremiah (like Moses before him) gets a word from God. And it is quite the word.
If I were to read this text as I read the Bible In my younger years, I would think that Jeremiah hit the lottery! He didn’t get just any word from God. God told him that God knew him before he was even conceived. More than that, God told him that his purpose was determined before he was born! He was to be a prophet. The word of God was in his mouth! What could be better than that? Talk about clarity, certainty, and purpose!
But that youthful reading is, of course, woefully ignorant. Jeremiah didn’t hit the lottery. He didn’t have clarity or certainty when God spoke to him. What he had was a boatload of anxiety. And for good reason.
The text suggests some concerns that Jeremiah had. We can imagine others. Will I be able to understand the word that God puts in my mouth? Will I be able to convey it to others? Will anyone listen to me given my youth? If they do, how might that go? If they liked the word from God, maybe they would be grateful to me, the messenger. But what if they didn’t like it? What if they found it threatening? Would they also find me threatening?
What we can learn from Jeremiah today is that encountering God whether directly, as he did, or through prayer, meditation, a good homily, or the Eucharist is always something of a mystery. Because God is God, we will always come up short in our understanding of God’s word. We will never know God’s mind.
Importantly, Jeremiah knows this very well. That is why Jeremiah responds to God with humility. Even for a prophet, there will always be something beyond what they think God’s word is saying. Even a prophet can get God’s word wrong.
The desire to have certainty and clarity about matters of faith makes sense, especially for a child. But, of course, faith isn’t about either certainty or clarity. And that is why Jeremiah’s response to God in today’s reading is so important. If a prophet like Jeremiah knows he must be humble before God and God’s word, surely so must we.
Think of the suffering that the human family could have avoided had more “prophets” heeded Jeremiah’s wisdom.
Lord, may I always read, seek to understand, and speak your word with humility. Amen.
Sue Trollinger