THE CALL

Reading: Jeremiah 1: 4-10; 17-19

Even though we may not be very familiar with much of the book that bears his name, most of us will have some recollection of Jeremiah’s call by God to be a prophet. And we empathize with him for he was very reluctant and felt very inadequate. He had no desire whatsoever to put himself in the place of danger or unpopularity and so he tried to resist the call when it came. God said to him, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.” Jeremiah’s immediate response is not, “Oh, great, Lord, that’s wonderful. Let’s get started!” Rather he says, “O Sovereign Lord, I can’t speak for you! I’m too young.” But God says, “Don’t say that, for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you.” Then God touched his mouth and said, “See, I have put my words in your mouth! Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms.” Jeremiah then begins to receive visions, and God affirms him in his vocation and says, “Get up and get dressed. Go out and tell them whatever I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them.”

‘Go – and I will be with you’ is the call that came to all of our great ancestors in the faith, people like Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Isaiah. Like Jeremiah they were at times surprised, shocked, reluctant, but also obedient. Like him, they were affirmed in their vocation, not so much by other human beings, but by God himself. All of them were preparers of the way, heralds of what was to come.

Do we as the Church of Jesus Christ have a calling, or have we lost it? Do we still have that sense of vocation that from the moment the church came into existence we were set apart to be God’s spokespeople to the world? More specifically, as his people here in Ireland, are we aware of the fact that he is choosing us now, in this moment, to go where he sends us and say what he tells us? Maybe because of our overwhelming feelings of inadequacy, which actually would better be described as a lack of trust, we feel we can’t speak for him, can’t stand for him. So often we are afraid of being different, of being singled out, of appearing foolish, of not being equipped enough. While we assent with our minds to the statement that God will make us immune to attacks, that we will be like a fortified city that cannot be captured, we don’t believe it in our hearts, or, deeper than that, in our gut where fear dwells and can have a field day. Jesus, whose name we bear, only said and did what the Father directed, only went where God told him to go, culminating at Calvary. It was he who said to his frightened followers just before his greatest trial, not to be worried about what they were going to say when they faced hardships because he would give them the right words and such wisdom that none of their opponents would be able to reply. They couldn’t take that on board at the time but they did afterwards and trusted it to powerful effect. We live in the afterwards but somehow it doesn’t always seem like it, does it – so consumed are we by our own weaknesses and frailties and the underlying heresy that it all depends on us! Could it be that God is saying to us in these days, “Church of Jesus Christ, my Son, get up and get dressed. Go out and speak whatever I tell you and do not be afraid.”?

 

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