With Opened Bible
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
“All those who were my friendsare on the watch for any misstep of mine” (Jeremiah 20, 10)
This Sunday's first reading is unequivocal: the witness to the truth is called to suffer and even to die. The story and ministry of Jeremiah foreshadow those of Jesus Christ, the faithful witness to the truth. When Jesus declared before Pontius Pilate that He was born to proclaim the truth, the Roman prefect asked Him, "What is truth?" (Cf. John 18:37 –38). Yet, it was because of this truth that the Son of Man endured all manner of trials and was ultimately condemned to death.
Jeremiah is, in a sense, a prototype of Jesus (save for histendency to complain at every turn). He was persecuted by the citizens of Jerusalem and the king's inner circle because of his message. They beat him and threw him into a cistern to silence him. (Cf. Jeremiah 20:2; 38:6) By using the word "friends," the prophet was referring to the citizens of his nation—his own kin. It was they who persecuted and beat him, and imprisoned him in a mud-filled cistern.
Jesus faced the same situation. His "friends"—the citizens of His nation and even His inner circle, in the person of Judas—sought to entrap Him. His entire message was dis-torted by the religious leaders and the Jews of the Temple because He challenged their wrongdoing. (Cf. Matthew 22:15–22) Like Jeremiah, He was put on trial, beaten, mis-treated, and put to death. (Cf. Mark 10:33; Luke 9:22) And it was a close friend—a confidant, Judas—who would be-tray Him. (Cf. Mark 14,10-11) The evangelist was right to say: "He came to what was his own, but his own people* did not accept him. (John 1,11)
