Today’s first reading describes the call of the prophet Jeremiah. The Lord God tells Jeremiah that he has been predestined to be his prophet: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” As we see in this passage Jeremiah is predestined not for salvation but for mission. St. Paul alludes to this same text as he describes his own call: “God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles…” (Galatians1:15-16). Like Jeremiah, Paul was predestined or chosen beforehand by God to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, to bring God’s message of love and salvation to all people.
Although predestined Jeremiah was a very reluctant prophet, telling God that he is not fit or ready to be a prophet: “Ah, Lord God!” I said, “I know not how to speak; I am too young.” God refuses to accept Jeremiah’s excuse as he refused previously to accept the same excuse from Moses:
“Moses, however, said to the LORD, “If you please, my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.” The LORD said to him: Who gives one person speech? Who makes another mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Exodus 4:10).
Moses, Jeremiah, and Paul were all called to ministry. Their ministry was to bring the Word of God to the people. Sometimes this message was one of comfort and hope, sometimes of challenge and even condemnation as Jeremiah discovered:
“See, I place my words in your mouth! This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, to root up and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.”
Each one of us has a vocation, a call from God through our baptism. We are predestined and called to be the Body of Christ and bring the message of Jesus to our world. God will not accept the excuse that we are too young or do not know how to speak. We speak and preach more by our actions than by our words. We preach by being the Body of Christ and welcoming outcasts, associating with sinners, showing compassion and mercy to all. Young or old all of us are called to hear the Word of God and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
Image: “Cappella Sistina, Prophet Jeremiah” by f_snarfel is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.