The Fool's Vindication - Homily for the 20th Sunday in OT (B)

 I am struck by Jesus' words this morning. He says, "I come not to bring peace, but division" and then outlines the many ways that families will be divided because of Him. It makes me wonder: should I simply dismiss His words as hyperbole? Or does He really mean it -- that He really comes to bring division? ... And I thought He was the Prince of Peace who, on the night of His Resurrection, breathed on His Apostles and said, "Peace be with you." So, what are we to make of Jesus' striking words this morning?

I will circle back to that in a bit, because, in order to get there, I think it is important to unpack the first reading from Jeremiah the prophet. (At Sunday Mass, the first reading often holds the key to unlocking the Gospel). So, a little context ...

King Zedekiah is the Jewish king of Judah and he has a counselor, Jeremiah the prophet. King Zedekiah is facing a grave decision: his city, Jerusalem, is about to be attacked by another king, a foreigner: King Nebuchednezzer, King of Babylon. King Zedekiah wants to fight and protect his city, but Jeremiah is telling the Jewish King to surrender. In fact, Jeremiah has been telling all of the people and the soldiers of Jerusalem to surrender. This counsel seems like foolishness. And the king's other advisers, the princes, demand that Jeremiah be cancelled.

That's where our first reading begins. The princes have Jeremiah thrown into a cistern, a well. And the well is mostly dry, but for a little mud. This well is in image of the Judah and the King's spiritual state: they are mostly dry. They have abandoned the Covenant and the Commandments of the Lord and have given themselves to false gods. There, in the mud of the well, Jeremiah sinks and becomes stuck. He is an image of Judah's predicament: they are stuck; they are unable to save themselves from the impending doom.

The problem is: the king and the soldiers and the princes and the people all think that they can save themselves. They are foolish.

One of men of King Zedekiah's court advises the king to spare Jeremiah's life, appealing to the fact that it is not a good idea to be the one who kills a prophet. So, taking from the Psalm (40), the Lord "draw [Jeremiah] from the pit, from the miry clay." This is where the first reading today ends. But if we want to know why Jesus talks about division, we must go a little further in the story of Jeremiah.

After Jeremiah is saved from the well, the king meets with him in private. Jeremiah tells the king again to surrender. And he warns the king that if he doesn't listen to him who is speaking for God -- if the king does not listen to God -- then Jerusalem will be burned to the ground, the people there will be slaughtered, and even the king's own family will be slayed in his sight. The king objects saying that if he surrenders, he will be taken captive and "they may mistreat me." Jeremiah promises him that the Lord has promised: you will be taken captive, but you will be spared and your life will be safe; otherwise, you will be tortured.

This warning doesn't convince King Zedekiah. He thinks surrender is pure foolishness. He doesn't see how God could work through that. So he and the people and the soldiers and the princes continue with their own plan (which included a foolish plan to align with another Egyptian Pharaoh (!)) -- and the King of Babylon, King Nebuchednezzer, defeats them all. Jerusalem is burned to the ground, the people there are slaughtered, King Zedekiah's family is slayed before him, and the king is tortured and his eyes plucked out. Everything that God has said through Jeremiah has come to pass.

Jeremiah, the fool, has been vindicated. 

King Zedekiah was the twentieth and last king of Judah. At the end of his reign, he and his people had given themselves over to the foolishness of the world. Jeremiah, who spoke with the wisdom of God, was perceived as a fool. And so they did not listen to him. In fact, they tried to kill him. In short, the division came because they were unwilling to listen to the prophet.

It is here that we can turn to Jesus' words about the family being divided.

Jesus tells His disciples that the wisdom of God which they bring will seem like foolishness in the eyes of the world. Think of this for a moment. How many things does Jesus say that appear to be foolish when compared to the common wisdom of the world?

-- love your enemies and do good to those who hurt you;

-- sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven;

-- lend and do not expect anything back;

-- the last shall be first...

And this is to yet say anything about the foolishness of the Cross -- that Jesus would go to His death not simply for His friends, but also for His enemies, even saying, "Father forgive them...."

This is the baptism (immersion) which He is in "agony until it is accomplished"; this is the fire of the Holy Spirit and His Love with which He brings to "set the world on fire." And it will be totally contrary to the so-called wisdom of the world. As Paul says: "The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom" (1 Cor 1:25).

Consider some of the prophetic teachings of Jesus in the Church given under the power of the Holy Spirit:

-- do not use contraception, but be open to life and generously so;

-- have a great hopefulness even in what seem like hopeless situations; do not kill infants or the elderly; the human person and even suffering have incalcuable worth;

-- marriage is only between one man and one woman; and marriage is forever in good times and in bad;

-- God does mind if you skip Mass and you could lose heaven over it; that little host IS Jesus...

We could go on. And those who hold to these, like Jeremiah, are seen as foolish. And often, their children or their parents or their in-laws -- many who disagree with Jesus and His Church -- look at them as such. But the peace that Jesus brings is peace "not as the world gives." The world would have peace by inventing a "Church without Christ" (cf F. O'Connor), religion without the Cross, wisdom without the holy spirit, life without the agony and immersion into suffering; it would be love without Love.

Peace, however, comes only through union with Jesus Christ; union in His Holy Spirit who teaches through the Church. In the end, we who are foolish in the eyes of the world will be seen as wise in the eyes of God. That is what matters. That's where the true peace is: at peace with the One who is Peace. We will be drawn from the miry pit, the dry cistern of this world. And we who are fools, like Jeremiah, will be vindicated.