Embedded Files
Jeremiah 10:1-16 Jeremiah described and emphasized that pagan idols were the work of human hands and therefore they remain mute and inanimate, powerless to do anything. Any kind of idolatry is a violation of the belief in one true, all-powerful God. The prose here bears resemblance to parts of the “Letter of Jeremiah'' (cf. Bar 6). (CCC 2112)
Ch 10:17-25 When the people rejected his invitation to conversion, Jeremiah reminded them that the chastisement would begin at any moment. Since invasion was a foregone conclusion, Jeremiah begged for God’s mercy and asked for the destruction of the foreign invaders.
Ch 11:1-23 The next ten chapters present a mix of prophecies containing wise counsels, biographical details about the prophet’s ministry, and personal disclosures, called “confessions,” addressed to God. The prophecy of the first half of this chapter took place in the late seventh century, around 622 BC, when King Josiah issued his reforms of worship and religious practices in Judah. Priests had recently discovered a long-lost copy of the Law of Moses and brought it to the king, who was greatly disturbed over their transgression of the Law. In response, he bound all the people of Judah to make an oath to repent of their sins and keep the Law, especially in regard to the worship of the one true God. This commitment to reform was broken in short time, and the people returned to their sinful ways of idolatry and other immoral acts.
Ch 11:4 So shall you be...your God: This is the fundamental truth of the covenants between God and his Chosen People. As the Second Vatican Council taught, in the Church “the plan of God is fulfilled...that the whole human race might form one people of God and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit” (Ad Gentes 7). (CCC 758-759)
Ch 11:18-23 In this first of Jeremiah’s confessions, the prophet called upon God to wreak vengeance upon those who rejected his call for conversion, particularly on the priests of Anathoth, who vehemently opposed Jeremiah.
Ch 11:19 A gentle lamb led to the slaughter: This image of the future Messiah has parallels to the Song of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah (cf. 53:7, 12). Christ himself was called the “Lamb of God” (Jn 1:29) since in his Passion and Death he became the perfect Passover Sacrifice that atones for the sins of the world. The Book of Revelation allegorically depicts the heavenly liturgy as the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, which signifies Christ’s union with his Church achieved through his redemptive Sacrifice. (CCC 608)
Ezekiel 40:1-49 The restoration of the people of Israel necessarily involved the restoration of the Temple to its original glory and worship. In a vision Ezekiel measured painstakingly every dimension of the new Temple. The measurements are more symbolic of the presence of God than architectural since it is a building of perfect symmetry.
(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)
GOSH!
We have Jeremiah
In Jeremiah there is this recognition I just…
You know, Jeremiah 10 and Jeremiah 11 are very different
So we talk about Jeremiah 10
If you can remember this
Sometimes after reading that long section of Ezekiel you might be thinking of CUBITS
So what was Jeremiah Ch 10 about?
Well, it was about IDOLATRY and how Idolatry Has Brought Ruin on Israel
It talks about, yeah there are artisans
There are people who are skillful in fashioning wood and fashioning gold and fashioning these other things
But what they are making is they are making FALSE GODS
They were making IDOLS
THESE IDOLS ARE POWERLESS
THESE IDOLS ARE NOT ONLY USELESS
THESE IDOLS MAKE US STUPID
Jeremiah 10:14-15, “Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion…”
What happens is when we give ourselves to idols, WE BECOME LIKE THEM
WE BECOME FOOLISH
WE BECOME STUPID
You don’t often see the word STUPID in the Bible
So when we see it, we want to CAPITALIZE IT
When we give our hearts and minds over to ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE LORD
THERE IS A FOOLISHNESS
Not to say if we have INTERESTS other than God
BUT…
WHEN WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO SOMETHING
WHEN WE GIVE OUR MINDS OVER
WHEN WE LET OUR NORTH STAR BE ANYTHING OTHER THAN GOD
What happens is that we have now traded THE TRUE GOD for whatever FALSE GOD we have
We’ve talked about IDOLATRY for the last couple of days (hmmmm sure seems like idolatry has been talked about for way more days than that, or is it just me? 🤔)
Jeremiah 10:23, “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.”
We talked about the twofold movement of REPENTANCE
I DISTRUST MYSELF
I TRUST IN THE LORD
That’s what Jeremiah is saying here, “The way of man is not in himself. If I just trust in myself, it’s not in me to direct my steps.”
Jeremiah 10:24, “Correct me, O Lord, but in just measure; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing”
Sometimes that can be OUR PRAYER
“Ok God, please direct me. Please correct me. But be nice about it. Be gentle about it. I want to be as attentive to your voice and as attentive to your movements as I possibly can be. But I do also know that, Lord, you might have to raise your voice. You might have to call out to me in some ways.”
One of the things we see in Jeremiah Ch 11 is that not only is he preaching against Israel and Judah
They had broken the Covenant
BUT…
He recognizes that there are people in Jerusalem PLOTTING AGAINST HIM
Those Jews in Jerusalem, where he is preaching, who do not like the preaching of Jeremiah
IN FACT…
They are going to try to KILL HIM
They are going to throw him into a cistern
Jeremiah is not going to have a good time
Jeremiah 11:18, “The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their evil deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.’”
Yeah here is Jeremiah who is having a rough life
He will never get reprieve
When the people of Jerusalem are carted off to Egypt, he will go with them and he will die in EXILE
He dies in what looks like complete and utter failure
Because he preached for 40-50 years and NO ONE will have listened
IN FACT…
They will be conspiring to KILL HIM, the people that he loves
REMEMBER…
Jeremiah is the WEEPING PROPHET
He doesn’t just weep for the Lord and His name and His Glory
He weeps FOR THE PEOPLE
WHO HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THIS JUSTICE
WHO HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THIS CORRECTION
WHO HAVE TO EXPERIENCE THIS PUNISHMENT
AND HE DOES NOT WANT THAT
AND YET…
The same people who he WEEPS FOR are going to be the ones that TRY TO KILL HIM
They don’t trust him
It’s not an easy road for Jeremiah
We are going to walk with him for a while because we have to
We have to stay close to Jeremiah
Jeremiah is SUCH AN IMAGE OF JESUS CHRIST
Jeremiah is SUCH AN IMAGE OF THE ONE WHO IS SPEAKING THE TRUTH AND IS HATED FOR IT
WHO LOVES AND IS HATED FOR IT
Being able to see TYPES/FORESHADOWINGS in the OLD TESTAMENT of what will be fulfilled in the NEW TESTAMENT is an ANCIENT CHRISTIAN WAY OF READING THE BIBLE
We read the Old Testament IN LIGHT of the New
St. Augustine said, “The Old Testament is REVEALED in the New. And the New Testament is HIDDEN in the Old.”
Ezekiel Ch 40 is fun isn’t it?
We’ll get through it, you guys
The description of the Temple and the CUBITS
In the history of the Church there have been many Saints of the Church
Many Doctors of the Church
Many people explaining the Scriptures who have DIVED DEEPLY into these things
Who have a NEW TESTAMENT LENS on this OLD TESTAMENT VISION OF EZEKIEL IN THE TEMPLE
EXAMINE IF YOU WILL…
Ezekiel 40:23, “And opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court; and he measured from gate to gate, a hundred cubits.”
There are FOUR ENTRANCES
NORTH
EAST
WEST
SOUTH
We need to get a sense of how the EARLY CHURCH read the Old Testament
They ALWAYS read the Old Testament IN LIGHT of the New Testament
Even though here is Ezekiel having a vision about the NEWLY CONSTRUCTED TEMPLE
Here is St. Gregory the Great
He gave numerous homilies on Ezekiel
Here’s what he said about those gates to the inner court, “We must observe that in the spiritual building, one entrance lies open to the East, another to the North, and another to the South. Just as the cold of the north denotes sinners, so the southern way stands for the fervent in spirit who, kindled by the heat of the Holy Spirit, grow up in virtues as in the noonday light. Then let the gate lie open to the East so that those who, after the beginning of heat and light, have relapsed in the coldness and darkness of their sins may through the work of penitence return to pardon and recognize what is the true rejoicing on inward recompense. Let the gate lie open to the South so that those who burn in virtues with holy desires may daily penetrate the mysteries of inward joy with spiritual understanding.”
WOW! (Huh?? 🤔🤔)
I DID NOT CATCH THAT! (Catch what? 🤔🤔)
I DID NOT THINK OF THAT! (This went way over my head I have to admit 😬😬😬 Perhaps Brother Dustin will have some insight into this insight 😉)
When I was reading about the gates lying open to the North, South, East, and West
I just thought of the three directions here (ultimately four total)
St. Gregory the Great is saying, “From the North, you come from the place of coldness. From the South, this place of desire. From the East, this place of where the sun rises.”
I just think that’s remarkable
BUT…
What we have is these early Christians who ALWAYS read the Old Testament IN LIGHT of the New Testament
So in the next few days as we go through Ezekiel 40-48 we will realize that there is ALWAYS a SPIRITUAL INTERPRETATION of what might seem like an OBSCURE VISION that Ezekiel had about the BUILDING OF THE NEW TEMPLE
It might not make a lot of sense (GEE!! YA THINK??? 🤪)
BUT…
ALWAYS IN LIGHT OF JESUS IT ULTIMATELY MAKES SENSE
GOSH!
HERE WE ARE!
MAN (OH MAN)!
DAY 233
WE CONTINUE TO JOURNEY AS A COMMUNITY ASKING THE LORD TO NOT ONLY BRING US CLOSE TO HIM
BUT ALSO…
IN SOME SPIRITUAL AND SOME REAL WAY TO BRING US CLOSER TO EACH OTHER
EVERY TIME WE PRAY FOR EACH OTHER WE ARE MORE AND MORE UNITED
EVERY TIME WE PRESS PLAY AND LISTEN WE ARE MORE AND MORE UNITED
SO THANK YOU!!
THANK YOU FOR PRESSING PLAY!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PRAYING!!
PRAY FOR FR. MIKE
FR. MIKE IS PRAYING FOR YOU
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. Thank you once again for bringing us back to this day, this new day that you’ve given to us, a day where we can receive your Word, a day that we get to, even if we struggled through, gosh, Lord, thank you so much. You continue to speak to us. You continue to call us to yourself. And you continue to call us to repentance. Even in the midst of confusion. Even in the midst of your Word that we don’t necessarily understand and especially in the midst of your Word that we don’t respond to with genuine hearts, with authentic hearts, and with truly repentant hearts. Help us to repent. Help us to turn back to you more and more every single day so that you may be glorified and your people may be sanctified. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.”
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