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The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

In the first reading, we listen to the Prophet Jeremiah, who was given the task by God to bring about moral reform among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. At one point, idolatry became widespread among his peers and he strongly denounced this immorality, constantly calling his kinsmen back to worship of the one true God. Arrest, imprisonment, and public disgrace were Jeremiah’s lot as he carried out his prophetic vocation.

However, Jeremiah continued to proclaim the message he was given: that the nation’s lack of conversion would seal its own doom and Jerusalem would ultimately be destroyed by the foreign power of the Babylonians. Ultimately, Jeremiah’s predictions were vindicated as the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) captured Jerusalem and sent its citizens into exile, and even destroyed the entire city along with the Temple!

This background information helps put this seemingly puzzling first reading into context. The theme? God is faithful and will vindicate the righteous. We are called to be patient in God’s promises, expressing and living out the virtue of long-suffering as we follow what we know to be right, even if the world scoffs at us and considers our way of life backward and archaic.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks for his disciples to have great courage in the face of impending persecution. “Therefore, do not be afraid of them” (Mt 10:26) is our Lord’s exhortation. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body … rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (v. 28). Here, our Lord reveals our true enemy: Satan. Do you fear bodily death? Have no fear, for we all will die bodily one day! Rather, fear the eternal pains of hellfire and resist what is even more deadly: mortal sin!

In the second reading, like that of Jeremiah, St. Paul implicitly convicts his Jewish brethren of their own sinfulness. This isn’t evident on the surface, but is discernible if one analyzes what Paul says carefully.

Paul writes: “Sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of Adam’s sin” (Romans 5:13-14). The pattern of Adam’s sin is that Adam sinned once God’s law was revealed to Adam. Israel had sinned in the same way as Adam. God delivered his law to Israel – as was the case with Adam – and then Israel sinned in knowledge of the law.

Much of Romans consists of Paul convincing his Jewish brethren of their own transgression of God’s law and need of salvation, of repentance. Paul’s words mirror the Book of Jeremiah. Will we repent of our sin, or will we be destroyed by the death of sin? This is the question we must answer with every day of our lives.