The Sánchez Archives TWELFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME Year A

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

BE NOT AFRAID!

JEREMIAH 20:10-13
ROMANS 5:12-15
MATTHEW 10:26-33

Early in his ministry, Howard S. Bacon, the pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Venice Center, New York, had an experience which he thereafter referred to as “terror in the pulpit”. As he stood before the congregation on Easter Sunday morning, he proclaimed the Matthean gospel of Jesus’ resurrection. When he reached the line which read, “And for fear of him the keepers (guards at the tomb) did shake and became as dead men” (Matthew 28:4), he suddenly heard the following come out of his mouth, “And for fear of him the shakers did quake.” Appalled at his mistake, he quickly proceeded to correct himself and proclaimed with a confidence he did not feel, “For fear of him, the Quakers did shake and became as dead men.”

Although in time, this experience lessened in intensity and was eventually added as an amusing anecdote to the preacher’s repertoire, it nevertheless confirms the often-daunting challenge of preaching the truth to others. Benedict Viviano in his commentary on today’s gospel remarked “The ministry of preaching is intrinsically frightening. Only faith in a revealing and judging God can overcome that fear” (“Matthew”, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs: 1990). Speaking on the same topic, Henri J.M. Nouwen once explained that the minister is called to speak to the fears of people and to “the intimate concerns of life: birth and death, union and separation, love and hate. . . No minister can save anyone. He can only offer himself (herself) as a guide to fearful people. Yet, paradoxically, it is precisely in this guidance that the first signs of hope become visible. This is because shared pain (or fear) is no longer paralyzing but mobilizing, when understood as a way to liberation” (The Wounded Healer, Doubleday and Co, Inc., New York: 1972).

In today’s reading, the issue of fear, and specifically the fear of those called by God to preach his word is put before us as both our consolation and our challenge. Jeremiah’s complaint that those to whom he preached and ministered had turned against him was a valid one. Yet for all his grousing, the prophet believed in God’s abiding presence (“But the Lord is with me”). Therefore he willingly embraced his ministry, offering himself, albeit grudgingly at times, as a guide to fearful people and mobilizing them toward liberation from their sin. He trusted that he would continue to be sustained, and in the end, rescued by God.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is shown as counseling his apostles against exercising their ministry in fear by assuring them of the Father’s constant and careful attention to their well-being.

Paul, in the second reading, celebrates the fact of salvation as a gift which forever liberates humankind from the only things deserving of fear, viz. sin, death and separation from God.

JEREMIAH 20:10-13

Jeremiah lived in desperate times. Born in the aftermath of the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, he lived to see the downfall of the conquering Assyrian Empire. Soon, however, the threat from the north was replaced by another; the neo-Babylonian empire under a Chaldean dynasty rose to power and quickly set its sites on Judah. A contemporary and supporter of the religious reformer, King Josiah (640-609 B.C.E.), Jeremiah’s prophetic career spanned the reigns of three more of Judah’s kings (Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah).

As Yahweh’s spokesperson, Jeremiah incurred great personal suffering for the sake of the message he felt impelled to deliver. Condemning his contemporaries’ sins against the covenant, the prophet unrelentingly called for repentance, warning that Judah would experience a similar fate as Israel if they did not return to the path God had intended for them. Despite his vigorous and often unwelcome preaching, Jeremiah lived to see the fall and razing of Jerusalem and what appeared to be the final demise of his nation.

In addition to his message of repentance and his call for an authentic, lived faith, Jeremiah’s own personality constitutes what may be perhaps one of his most important contributions to the corpus of prophetic literature. The fact that he, more than any other prophet shared his inner fears, and the great personal sacrifice which his ministry entailed, enables his readers to find in him a kindred spirit when the task of faithful commitment seems overwhelming. Paul, who in his New Testament letters gave voice to the exacting cost of discipleship, affords believers similar fellowship.

Jeremiah’s personal struggles with himself, his ministry and with those to whom he was sent to minister are preserved in a collection of passages usually known as his “confessions” (10:23-24; 11:18-12:6; 15:10-21; 17:9-10, 14-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-12, 14-18). Herein, he recorded the zeniths and nadirs of his personal relationship with God. Vehement at times, calm at others, Jeremiah may have been a reluctant minister but never a half-hearted one. Most scholars believe that the “confessions” were probably personal notes (a diary?, a spiritual journal?) written on various occasions during the prophet’s ministry and later inserted into the book of Jeremiah by Baruch or some other editor.

The thoughts which comprise today’s first reading are excerpted from a longer “confession” (20:7-12, 14-18), occasioned by a confrontation with Pashur. A priest and chief of the temple police, Pashur had heard Jeremiah preaching about the sure destruction of Jerusalem. Angered by his message and symbolic actions (see Jeremiah 19:1-15), Pashur beat the prophet and put him in the stocks as punishment (20:1-6). At this point (this is the context of today’s pericope), the prophet cried out his complaint to God. “Terror on every side” was a phrase of warning that Jeremiah had frequently hurled at his people (6:25, 20:3, 46:5, 49:29). In their disgust with him and his message, the people of Judah turned Jeremiah’s warning into an epithet with which they denounced him.

Aware of the personal danger which his ministry had instigated, Jeremiah was nevertheless full of hope and trusting God. His confidence, even in the face of seeming failure should bolster all who, in whatever capacity, serve as ministers of God’s word.

ROMANS 5:12-15

Visitors to some Asian countries for the New year festival may be invited to witness a very interesting custom. In an effort to begin the year with a fresh start, each person determines what sins, failures or bad habits he/she would like to eliminate and what past deeds need forgiveness. Then he/she writes the names of these evils on a kite and launches it high into the sky. When it is almost out of sight, the string tethering the kite to earth is cut and the kite drifts off. As it disappears from view, it is believed that the faults and transgressions of the previous year are forever removed. As fascinating as it is, this symbolic casting off of sin and evil is no substitute for the saving love of God manifested through the liberating death of Jesus.

In order to understand this crucial and controversial excerpt from Paul’s letter to the Romans, two points need clarification. First, when the apostle spoke of sin entering the world through one man, viz. Adam, he referenced the Hebrew notion of corporate personality or solidarity. Rather than think of themselves as a single separate individuals, tribal peoples regarded themselves as having identity and significance only as members of the clan or nation. Therefore if Adam, or the first human persons sinned, the experience and consequences of that action had universal repercussions. Paul Wrightman explains the biblical idea of corporate personality “as somewhat analogous to the modern idea of an ecosystem in which everything in that system is perceived in terms of interdependence. Just as human choices affect our environment, Adam’s choice affected all of us.” (Paul’s Later Letters, Abba House, New York: 1984).

The Council of Trent understood this text as the basis for its teaching of original sin, committed by Adam and inherited by all o f humankind (5th session, canons 2,4). The Greek Fathers however, described the universal repercussions of the first sin more as an environmental influence rather than a genetic marker. Although a chain reaction of evil was set in motion by Adam, producing an environment from which no one is immune, Paul nevertheless made it clear that all people have subsequently sinned, thereby affirming but not genetically inheriting Adam’s sin (vs. 12).

The second point requiring clarification is the belief that death is the direct consequence of sin. Scripture attests to the Hebrew understanding that if there had been no sin, humanity would have enjoyed immortality (Wisdom 2:23-24, Genesis 3:19). Offering Adam as type and Christ as anti-type, Paul therefore attributed sin and death to Adam and the grace of forgiveness and life to Jesus.

Paul digressed from his argument in verses 13-14 to remind his readers that before the giving of the law and its precepts, sinners were not liable to impunity. But death and its finality was never absent. Only with the gift of God in Jesus was the sure sentence of death lifted. Again he reminds us, as he did last week by means of a qal wahomer (how much greater) argument that the gifts of God are immeasurably greater than any human offense.

MATTHEW 10:26-33

When Jesus encouraged his disciples not to be intimidated by the daunting challenge of their ministry, he also used a qal wahomer type argument. Two sparrows sold for next to nothing at the market; next to nothing was an assarius, the equivalent of one sixteenth of a denarius. A denarius was the usual salary paid to a laborer for one day’s work (Mat. 20:2). If a purchaser paid two assarius, he received not four, but five sparrows to sweeten the bargain, so little was their worth. Yet, as Jesus explained, not one sparrow falls (literary, lights upon the ground, as in landing and taking off again) to the ground without the Father’s consent. Assuring the apostles of how much more (qal wahomer) precious they were to their heavenly Father, he exhorted them not to be afraid of anything.

I am reminded of a British account from the turbulent reign of Henry VIII, 1491-1547 C.E. Hugh Latimer (1485-1555 C.E.), a preacher, bishop of Worcester, reformer and eventually a Protestant martyr, was preaching in the presence of King Henry. He knew that he was about to say something that would incur the royal wrath so he began this soliloquy from the pulpit: “Latimer, Latimer, be careful what you say, the king is here!” He paused, and then as if in response to himself, he continued. “Latimer, Latimer, be careful what you say, the King of kings is here.” Eventually Latimer’s fearless preaching cost him his life.

Jesus counseled his apostles not to fear those who could deprive them of physical life (kings, rulers, enemies) but only those who could destroy the soul. Since the sole prerogative of judgment concerning the human soul rested with their loving Father (the King of kings) they should be fearless.

In affirming the constancy the Father’s care for his own, the Matthean Jesus assured his apostles that all the hairs of their head had been counted (vs. 30). Since, as scientists tell us, the average person loses about one hundred hairs each day, keeping count of the rest would require painstakingly careful attentiveness; it was in this realization that Jesus wanted his apostles to rest secure, viz. in the daily continual and personal care of the Father for each of them.

The sayings of Jesus preserved in vss. 26-27 underscore the inevitability of the coming of God’s reign and the fact that Jesus’ proclamation of that reign should be continued by the apostles. Whereas he had earlier charged them to be both salt and light for the world (5:13-16) here he reminds them of their special character as he sends them forth to their ministry in his name.

The ominous pair of sayings (vss. 31-33) with which today’s gospel concludes appeals to the apostles to be faithful in their confession and preaching of Jesus and warns of final judgment. But, there is great encouragement in the promise that Jesus will acknowledge, before his Father, all those who remain fearless and faithful in their service to him.

Contemporary believers and ministers for the Lord should find great cause for rejoicing in this liturgy. Despite what may appear to be overwhelming odds, fear and insecurity are dispelled by the constant care and attention of a benevolent Father and loving elder Brother.

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