Day 189: Follow the Lord

2 Kings 23; 2 Chronicles 34; Proverbs 8:1-21

2 Kings 23:1-30 Josiah assembled all the elders, read the book of the covenant to them, and vowed his support of that covenant. He embarked upon a campaign to destroy every pagan artifact, abolish every idolatrous practice in the kingdom, and kill every pagan priest, reversing what his father had done. He restored the Passover feast, which had ceased being celebrated. Later, Josiah was slain by the Pharaoh of Egypt.

2 Chronicles 34:1-18 Josiah was a good and devout king who set out to destroy the pagan idols and places of worship. During his reign, the Book of the Law, which evidently had been lost for some time, was found, which subsequently led to another great reform in the worship of the one true God.

2 Chronicles 34:19-33 Upon having the Book of the Law read to him, Josiah realized how far Israel had fallen from the true worship of the Lord and the observance of his Law. The book probably included Deuteronomy and some or all of the rest of the Pentateuch. Consulting with a prophetess, Josiah called together the people and read the Law to them. He then made an oath of obedience to the Lord and all his Commandments. The people did the same, renewing the covenant once again.

Proverbs 8:1-36 Christian tradition has connected this passage to Mary, the Mother of God. God the Father transmitted the greatest Revelation of his wisdom through the Incarnation of his Son-the “Word made flesh”-in the womb of Mary, his Mother. God planned that Mary, the Mother of Christ, be conceived without any stain of sin so she could become his worthy dwelling place before his Birth. Since Mary is Mother of the Incarnate Word, she is aptly called Seat of Wisdom, which title is included in the Litany of Loreto. (CCC 721-725)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

We met Josiah yesterday
He was a REALLY GOOD KING
AND YET…
Every good thing comes to an end
Every good king comes to an end
Every good kingdom comes to an end
We are getting closer and closer to the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles
Which means that we are getting closer and closer to the end of this time of the end of the Kingdom of Israel
The Kingdom of Judah is about to be put into EXILE
Stay tuned….

Gosh!
We have Josiah and his story of this COMPLETE CONVERSION of the People of Israel
All the way back in Judges and through 1 and 2 Samuel and now through 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles
ALL THESE BOOKS are stories about LEADERS
We have the story of people who are in the King’s house
The people who are the “important people”
AND YET…
It is so easy for us to be DISTRACTED by the important people
It is so easy for us to be DISTRACTED away from the fact that here is a whole line of kings, the kings of Israel (NORTHERN KINGDOM), the kings of Judah (SOUTHERN KINGDOM), the kings of Assyria, the kings of Babylon
But realizing that there were people who LIVED IN THOSE TIMES
They were all called to be FAITHFUL, REGARDLESS of what the kings did
That is the REMARKABLE thing FOR ALL OF US
REGARDLESS of where we are living
REGARDLESS of when we are living
EVERY ONE OF US is responsible for OUR OWN HOUSE
Remember Joshua 24:15, “...choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
“You all out there, you decide who you want to serve. But me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
This is SO INCREDIBLY CRITICAL
We have been following the way the kings go is the way the nations go
BUT…
This was not just a nation of drones
This was not just a nation of mindless people
These were all people who had the ABILITY and the POTENTIAL to say, “No matter what kind of king I have; if I have Ahaz or if I have Hezekiah; if I have Manasseh or if I have Josiah, it doesn’t matter to me because I am going to follow the Lord.”
This is something that we need to be reminded of
It is so easy to be preoccupied with the people who are famous in our world
It is so easy to be preoccupied with the people who are powerful in our world
It is so easy to be preoccupied with the people who are leaders in our world
AND BE CRITICAL
AND BE FULL OF PRAISE FOR THEM
This person is now in charge, this is the WORST
This person is now in charge, this is the BEST
As opposed to saying, “Ok we have to be responsible. DUH. But also, I have to be responsible for ME AND MY HOUSE.”
We are so grateful for someone like Josiah, a leader who does bring about the conversion of the people
WHY?
Josiah allows himself to be converted
Scripture says multiple times, “He followed the Lord with all of his heart and with all of his soul.”
This is SO SO INCREDIBLY GOOD
This is what WE are called to do
REGARDLESS of what our neighbors are doing
REGARDLESS of what the rest of our family is doing
REGARDLESS of what the rest of the world is doing
To say, “Ok but for me, I know I am called to follow the Lord and love him with all of my heart and with all my soul.”
Here is Josiah who is in repentance mode and conversion mode
The people follow after him, which is a good thing
AND YET…
In 2 Kings 23:26 (Fr. Mike said Ch 24 but clearly he meant Ch 23 since that is the chapter we are reading today. Don’t worry I triple checked and J.J. triple checked my triple check 😉) “Still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said, ‘I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.’”
That is what is going to happen
There is going to be EXILE
There is going to be DESTRUCTION
Tomorrow we will read about Nebuchadnezzar who will come into the Promised Land, into the Holy City of Jerusalem and there will be destruction
We must realize...
EVEN THOUGH WE CAN REPENT THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR ACTIONS
EVEN THOUGH WE SIN AND ARE FORGIVEN FULLY THERE ARE STILL CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR ACTIONS
And we have to be WILLING TO RECEIVE THOSE CONSEQUENCES
Even Josiah, this holy and good king, dies in battle
The Pharaoh of Egypt and the King of Assyria are teaming up because Babylon is RISING UP and becoming MORE AND MORE POWERFUL
Pharaoh Neco and the King of Assyria team up and Josiah goes out to fight against them and gets killed
This is one of the REALITIES
We can be REALLY GOOD
We can REFORM THE ENTIRE NATION
AND STILL DIE IN BATTLE
AND STILL GET KNOCKED DOWN
AND STILL FALL
AND STILL FAIL
That is what is going to happen
That is why we DO NOT TRUST IN PRINCES
That is why we DO NOT TRUST IN KINGS
That is why we DO NOT TRUST IN LEADERS
WE TRUST IN THE LORD
That is the ULTIMATE KEY
So that we are not beholden to anyone BESIDES THE LORD
Does that make sense?
As we move forward with this time coming to a close and move into the era of the PROPHETS
We have been living in the era of the prophets here
But now we are going to HEAR from those prophets in a couple of days
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father, we thank you. Thank you for your gift. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for also continually revealing your heart to us, revealing your wisdom. Lord, as we journey through Proverbs, we ask that you please increase our wisdom. Increase our ability to see what is right and what is true and not only to see it, not only to hear it, as we prayed yesterday, but to truly understand, to truly listen, to be able to truly hear in the depths of our mind and in our hearts that we can be wise, not just know a lot of stuff, but that we can be wise people in this world. Help us to be wise, so that we can wisely follow after you and wisely live and wisely lead the people who are under us, people that we are responsible for, our families, and our friends, and the people in our world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”

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