Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake (Reflection: 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time)

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The Book of Jeremiah contains several denunciations of the godlessness and lawlessness of the Kingdom of Judah as it existed in Jeremiah’s time. Almost every facet of society had strayed from the law of the Lord. King and priest collaborated in promoting injustice and idolatry. Jeremiah denounced these and warned of the wrath to come, in the form of subjection under the Babylonians.

For this, he was persecuted. The king had his prophecies destroyed to prevent them from spreading. (Jeremiah 36) At one point he was almost starved to death by being tossed down a dry cistern without food and water for several days. (Jeremiah 38)

In this passage of Jeremiah, the prophet laments about the persecution that he faced for standing up for righteousness. Despite this, he never fails in his trust in the Lord. He knows that God will vindicate him and put his persecutors to shame. This is encapsulated in his statement: “But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me.” (v. 11) He ends with an exhortation to praise and sing to the Lord, on account of His mercy and deliverance.

This ties in well with the Gospel reading (Matthew 10:26-33), where Jesus warns His followers to expect persecution for the cause of the Gospel. Elsewhere, He warned that the world would hate Christians, because it does not know Him, and because of this, we should not to love the world and its ways (John 15:18-25, 1 John 2:15-17).

Nevertheless, He will remain with us, which should give us hope when we speak out against the corrupt religious and political leaders of our day. Even if the powers that be malign believers and accuse us of bigotry, hate, or any number of false accusations, we can stand fast to our principles, and trust that God will vindicate us on the last day.

J. Luis Dizon