20th Sunday 2025
Jeremiah 38:4-6,8-10; Psalm 39(40); Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53
“Well, here’s a how-de-do” as Gilbert and Sullivan have Yum Yum sing in the Mikado. I am constantly encouraging people to be positive—to avoid negativity—yet here we have a set of readings which verge on the gloomy. Is positivity then mistaken?
“Certainly not!” I would reply. We are called to be positive, but we are also called to be realistic. The Christian life, whilst rooted in the positive, entails a sharing in the Cross. The Cross leads to resurrection, but it is still painful as we carry it, and as we share in the Lord’s death. Life in Christ is not all beer and skittles.
As Christians, we are not called to be Pollyanna, to fix our faces in a relentless grin. I have no patience with the “Smile, Jesus loves you” brigade. As I have mentioned before, I am sorely tempted to bop them on the nose and to say “Try smiling now, Sunshine”. Our call is to trust in God always to lead us through the Dark Night, to keep us positive in faith, hope, and love.
It is against this background that we contemplate today’s readings. First, we meet Jeremiah, who has a reputation as a prophet of doom. Indeed, his name has become part of the language, somewhat unfairly: someone who always looks on the dark side may be called a Jeremiah.
Yet Jeremiah’s prophecies were based on an accurate assessment of the state of things. The people of Judah and Jerusalem had turned away from God, and Jeremiah was merely warning them of the consequences, in terms of destruction and exile. Events proved him correct.
Secretly, the king knew that Jeremiah was right, and he took little persuasion to rescue and restore him. Had he and his successors had the courage of their convictions and followed Jeremiah’s instructions, the Babylonian Exile might have been averted.
Jeremiah’s plight is echoed by the psalm. “He drew me from the deadly pit, from the miry clay,” which is exactly what happened to the prophet. A seemingly gloomy psalm ends on a note of trust and hope: “Wretched and poor though I am, the Lord is mindful of me. You are my rescuer, my help: O God, do not delay.”
Likewise, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, whilst recognising the difficulties which we will face, is positive in his outlook. He urges us to look to Jesus, to contemplate His sufferings and the opposition He endured, but to recognise that He was ultimately triumphant.
Opposition is also a hallmark of Our Lord’s remarks in the Gospel. He draws attention to the sufferings which He Himself faces, and point out that He will be the object and cause of division and strife. Thus will be fulfilled Simeon’s prophecy at the Presentation of the forty day old Jesus in the Temple, which, like this passage, is found in St. Luke’s Gospel. Simeon, as you recall, declared that “this child will be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel” and that “He will be a sign that is rejected” (or “a sign that is spoken against” or “a sign of contradiction”).
So events have proved. Throughout the ages, presumably because of the existence of evil, wars have been fought and families divided over the name and person of Jesus. I have mentioned before the elderly lady in my home parish who described how, as a young woman, she was put out of the house when she declared her intention of becoming a Catholic. Many years later, her only son became a priest. I have also referred to the young man who, over forty years ago, told me that his atheist parents had declared that, if he became a Christian, they would no longer regard him as their son.
The following of Christ will always bring the Cross into our lives in one way or another. Far from this being a reason for negativity, it should be a cause for rejoicing as it will bring us closer to Him, and to the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in the Letter to the Hebrews, and will lead us to the Resurrection.
