Reading 1 JER 26:1-9
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim,
son of Josiah, king of Judah,
this message came from the LORD:
Thus says the LORD:
Stand in the court of the house of the LORD
and speak to the people of all the cities of Judah
who come to worship in the house of the LORD;
whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.
Perhaps they will listen and turn back,
each from his evil way,
so that I may repent of the evil I have planned to inflict upon them
for their evil deeds.
Say to them: Thus says the LORD:
If you disobey me,
not living according to the law I placed before you
and not listening to the words of my servants the prophets,
whom I send you constantly though you do not obey them,
I will treat this house like Shiloh,
and make this the city to which all the nations of the earth
shall refer when cursing another.Now the priests, the prophets, and all the people
heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.
When Jeremiah finished speaking
all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,
the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,
“You must be put to death!
Why do you prophesy in the name of the LORD:
‘This house shall be like Shiloh,’ and
‘This city shall be desolate and deserted’?”
And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
Gospel MT 13:54-58
Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue.
They were astonished and said,
“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter’s son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Are not his sisters all with us?
Where did this man get all this?”
And they took offence at him.
But Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honour except in his native place
and in his own house.”
And he did not work many mighty deeds there
because of their lack of faith.
There are three categories of people that we should be very careful around them. God is interested in the way we treat them and our treatment of them can either attract blessing or wrath.
- Our parents
- Our priests
- The poor in our midst.
Today, I want to focus on the second category namely the ministers of God in our midst.
A priest is one who represents God to us. He may not be as good, wise, holy and intelligent as we wish but then he carries an identity that is awesome and divine. As such, he must be treated with love, respect, awe and dignity.
Today’s readings present to us the treatment that the prophet of God Jeremiah, received from his people. God sent his prophet to warn his people to repent from their evil ways so as to escape the wrath. God commanded Jeremiah not to omit even a syllable.
Jeremiah delivered God’s message and they seized him, gave him some beating and harassed him badly.
In today’s gospel passage. Jesus came to proclaim God’s message to his people and what happened? The people despised him; they insulted his origin and condemned him based on his background. As a result of this, they lost an opportunity to experience God’s power.
Today, I will quickly mention five things you must never do to a priest no matter what:
- Do not ever insult or disrespect a Priest. Even if he is your younger brother or friend or son. No matter what, respect the person that he represents.
A priest is a representative of Christ. To insult a priest is a very grave evil.
- Do not malign a priest, do not assassinate his character, lie against him or try to dent his image. Do not mock a messenger of God. Aaron and Miriam tried it with Moses and it didn’t go well with them (Numbers 12:1-10).
Korah insulted Moses and the ground opened and swallowed him (Numbers 16: 1-3, 13-14, 21-24, 31-34)
In 2kings 2:23-24 some children mocked Elisha, they were mauled by two boars, forty-two of them.
- Do not come to lie to a priest. This also a sacrilege. You remember Ananias and Sapphira (Act 5:1-11).
- Do not be a temptation to any priest.
A priest belongs to God. Consecrated to Him. Do not begin to drag God’s asset with him. Do not become a temptation of sin to any priest. Do not seduce a priest by word or action. It’s always a grave evil.
There are some ladies now; their mission is to seduce priests. Some do it as business and some it’s out of misdirected love and pure lust.
- Do not ever raise your hand against any messenger of God, the way the people raised hands against Jeremiah in the first reading. I have heard people say things like “we are not afraid of priests oh, we shall beat him.”
My brother and my sister let us warn each other.
Psalm 105:15 says, “Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm. 1Sam 24: Saul hunted for the life of David but David will not hurt Saul even when he had the chance because he (Saul) was the Lord’s anointed.
Dear friends, let us conduct ourselves around God ministers with great respect, love, prayerful support, awe and truth. Let us shun every attitude and disposition to God ministers that can attract God’s wrath.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami on Friday, August 3, 2018