My Dear People,

Our First Reading is part of a short subsection of the book of Jeremiah (17:19-20:18) with its own recognizable themes, consisting of four units. The first (17:19-27) and last (20:1-18) are set at the Benjamin Gate, and the two control ones are marked by themes of pottery-making (18:1-23) and pottery-breaking (19:1-15).

The Lord commissions Jeremiah to stand at the Benjamin Gate—the most prominent of the gates of Jerusalem, used by the king himself—and call Judah to repentance concerning the Sabbath observance. If they continue to violate the Sabbath by working and carrying burdens in and out of Jerusalem on holy days, they will be destroyed, but if they repent, royalty and abundant commerce shall flow to the Temple through the Benjamin Gate in perpetuity (17:19-27).

The Lord also commands the prophet to go to the “potter’s house” (18:2) (a potter’s place of business) and observe clay pots being formed on the wheel, spoiled accidentally, then reformed and remade. The Lord claims the prerogative to do the same with His workmanship— the men of Judah and Jerusalem (vv.1-11). Yet, Israel rejects this message from the Lord (vv. 12-17), and they even plot evil against the messenger, Jeremiah (v. 18), provoking the prophet to cry out, for vindication against them, that the Lord will “deal with them in the time of His anger” (v. 23).

Next Jeremiah is instructed to take a clay pot, gather some of the elders and priests, and go to the potsherd Gate near the valley of Hinnom, and there decry sin of the people, particularly their idolatry and detestable worship of Baal (including child sacrifice) and other foreign gods (19:1-9). He shall smash the pot as a sign of the rejection and destruction of Judah and Jerusalem (vv. 10-13).

In response to these experiences, Jeremiah cries out in complaint to the Lord that the prophetic ministry to which he was called has caused nothing but suffering for him. The people laugh, mock, reproach, and deride him whenever he speaks (vv. 7-8), yet if he remains silent, he cannot contain the Word of God, which burns within him like fire. He suffers persecution, like David describes in the psalms (vv. 10-13), leading him to despair of life, and to curse his birth like Job (vv. 14-18; cf. Job 3:1-26).

We see similarities between the ministry of Jeremiah and contemporary voices that call for reform and repentance in the Church and society. The sins of Judah in Jeremiah’s day are similar to the sins of Christians in our own society. Although the command to keep the Sabbath holy is one of the Ten Commandments and applies to the Christian Lord’s Day, we see almost no attempt among most Catholics and Protestants to protect the sanctity of Sunday as a day of rest and worship. Instead, it has become a day for sports and shopping. Infanticide to the pagan gods was common among the Judeans, and infanticide in the form of abortion is common in our own culture, and also among those who identify themselves as Catholics or some other form of Christian. Yet those who raise a voice to oppose these social sins are mocked, marginalized, and derided in civil society and not infrequently within Church institutions as well.

[Source Reflections on Sunday Readings for Year A by Dr. John Bergdsma]

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente