Jeremiah 11, 12 and 13: The Infinity of True Happiness
Saturday, May 11, 2019
These three chapters are filled with sad yet beautiful images, and they follow closely on the heels of a conversation which I have just had with a close friend. The wicked appear to prosper – they have the immediate joys of this world – the faithful gain, through their suffering, the joy that is abiding and eternal. True happiness comes from knowing that the correct thing has been done, that justice has been enacted, the broken-hearted have been tended to, the weary have been comforted, the exiled welcomed home. True, deep and abiding happiness permeates the body, the soul, the mind and the heart when God is allowed to dwell within, when a welcome hearth and table have been laid for the guests, when the Spirit finds a resting place within us. True, deep and abiding happiness blooms when the soul finds its homing path to the Creator. True, deep and abiding happiness engenders serenity – even during conflict – when the ego is emptied of self and Christ steps in. Today, on this Feast of The Sacred Heart, we celebrate the groom who takes us to himself.
The verses from Jeremiah speak of complaint, corruption, a broken wine flask, disgrace, skirts stripped away, violation, sacrifices to no avail . . . yet this prophet asks, as we ought, in chapter 12: You would be in the right, O Lord, if I should dispute with you; even so, I must discuss this case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper, why live all the wicked in contentment?
He challenges further: How long must the earth mourn, the green of the whole countryside wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell in it, beasts and birds disappear because they say, “God does not see our ways.” If running against men has wearied you, how will you race against horses? And if in a land of peace you fall headlong, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
He speaks of innocence defiled: Yet I, like a lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living so that his name will be spoken no more.”
Then the answer to this plaint finally arrives: Give ear, listen humbly, for the Lord speaks. Give glory to the Lord, your God, before it grows dark; before your feet stumble on darkening mountains; before the light you look for turns to darkness, changes into black clouds. If you do not listen to this in your pride, I will weep in secret many tears; my eyes will run with tears for the Lord’s flock, led away to exile.
Tears shed in mourning and petition rise to the Lord in a cloud of incense. Suffering offered as an act of redemption in unity with the Christ ends the wickedness. Our mourning becomes dancing with the indwelling of the Spirit. The economy of God’s plan must and will be fulfilled – in a kaleidoscope array of acts of kindness that counteracts acts of scandal. Division is transformed into union in a symphony of promise and fidelity as the Lord turns all hate to good.
There is no place, no thing, no person who heals as does the touch of Christ. There is no achievement, no award, no comfort as lasting as is the true knowledge of Christ. There is no separation, no sin, no evil that cannot be bridged by the covenant with Christ or undone by the strength of Christ. There is no miracle, no impossibility, no marvel that cannot be achieved by the courage of Christ. There is no harm, no sinner, no lost sheep that cannot be converted by the love of Christ.
Christ is the transforming bridegroom which Jeremiah promises in later chapters. This groom will write his vow of fidelity on our hearts. Let us open ourselves to this Lord. Let us open ourselves to this pledge. Let us open ourselves to this miracle of love . . . in this place where the wicked no longer prosper.
A re-post from April 26, 2012.
A Favorite, written on May 30, 2008 and posted today. The Feast of the Sacred Heart is celebrated 19 days after Pentecost and in 2012 it falls on June 15.
For more information on the touch of grace in Haiti through Samaritan’s Purse International Relief in Haiti, click on the image above or go to: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/encounters_with_grace/
The Noontimes 