20260731 REJECTING GOD’S PROPHET AT OUR OWN PERIL
31 July 2026, Friday, 17th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | Jeremiah 26:1-9 |
Jeremiah preaches in the Temple of the Lord and is threatened with death
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word was addressed to Jeremiah by the Lord, ‘The Lord says this: Stand in the court of the Temple of the Lord. To all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the Temple of the Lord you must speak all the words I have commanded you to tell them; do not omit one syllable. Perhaps they will listen and each turn from his evil way: if so, I shall relent and not bring the disaster on them which I intended for their misdeeds. Say to them, “The Lord says this: If you will not listen to me by following my Law which I put before you, by paying attention to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send so persistently to you, without your ever listening to them, I will treat this Temple as I treated Shiloh, and make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.”’
The priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah say these words in the Temple of the Lord. When Jeremiah had finished saying everything that the Lord had ordered him to say to all the people, the priests and prophets seized hold of him and said, ‘You shall die! Why have you made this prophecy in the name of the Lord, “This Temple will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate, and uninhabited”?’ And the people were all crowding round Jeremiah in the Temple of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 68(69):5,8-10,14 |
In your great love, answer me, O God.
More numerous than the hairs on my head
are those who hate me without cause.
Those who attack me with lies
are too much for my strength.
How can I restore
what I have never stolen?
In your great love, answer me, O God.
It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.
In your great love, answer me, O God.
This is my prayer to you,
my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God,
with your help that never fails.
In your great love, answer me, O God.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.1Th2:13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 13:54-58 |
A prophet is only despised in his own country
Coming to his home town, Jesus taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’, and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
REJECTING GOD’S PROPHET AT OUR OWN PERIL
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Jer 26:1-9; Mt 13:54-58]
It is always a sad situation when people do not listen to the prophet of God. Of course, some are not entirely to be blamed because they are ignorant of who the prophet of God is. God will forgive those who are not culpable for rejecting His prophet. But all the same, those of us who reject the prophet of God will have to pay a price for not recognising His messenger when he speaks. We will have to suffer the consequences of our folly and deprive ourselves of the grace and mercy of God. We see this tragedy in the lives of the people of Judah and the townsfolk of our Lord. It is God’s desire to save us from the consequences of our sins. This was what He told Jeremiah: “Perhaps they will listen and each turn from his evil way: if so, I shall relent and not bring the disaster on them which I intended for their misdeeds.”
In the first reading, Jeremiah was asked to warn the leaders, the priests, and the people to heed the word of God; otherwise, they would suffer disaster because of their sins. The Lord says, “Stand in the court of the Temple of the Lord. To all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the Temple of the Lord, you must speak all the words I have commanded you to tell them; do not omit one syllable.” On his part, Jeremiah, as the prophet of God, was to speak as commanded by the Lord without diluting the truth of the message. This is what a true prophet must always do, for a prophet is called to proclaim the truth and message of God, not his own. He is merely the spokesman of God and has no authority to change or compromise the message.
On the part of the people, they are called to heed the words of the prophet, failing which — as happened to the people of Judah — they would face the consequences. “The Lord says this: If you will not listen to me by following my Law which I put before you, by paying attention to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send so persistently to you, without your ever listening to them, I will treat this Temple as I treated Shiloh, and make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.” This prophecy was perceived as an unthinkable attack on the Temple itself, because Shiloh had long been the first sanctuary of the Lord, presided over by the prophet Eli and Samuel, his successor. It was seen as the dwelling place of the Lord until the Ark itself was captured by the Philistines due to the infidelity of the priests and leaders. It was then destroyed completely, foreshadowing what would eventually happen to the Temple of Jerusalem. By threatening a curse on the Temple, Jeremiah should have expected a violent reaction from the people. His words were blasphemous to them; an attack on the Temple was an attack on their entire religious system.
Hence, angered at Jeremiah’s prophecy instead of receiving it as a warning from God, “the priests and prophets seized hold of him and said, ‘You shall die! Why have you made this prophecy in the name of the Lord, “This Temple will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate and uninhabited”?'” Threatening the Temple of God and Jerusalem, His holy city, was considered treason and blasphemy. The word of the prophet was not pleasing to their ears because the leaders were afraid that the people would become anxious and lose confidence in them. So, they seized the moment to have Jeremiah done away with. But his prophecy was true, as events unfolded during the time of the Babylonians when Jerusalem was sacked in 587 B.C. It was left totally in ruins and the Temple was destroyed. Following this major catastrophe, the people were exiled from their homeland and had to suffer the painful aftermath and consequences. The irony is that in silencing Jeremiah, they were in truth silencing the voice of God in the Temple.
Yet, this reality is repeated again and again. There has been no change of heart throughout the ages — whether in the time of Jeremiah, during the time of Jesus, or in our own time. When Jesus went back to His hometown, He too was rejected, not because He did not preach well or could not perform miracles. “Jesus taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him.”
Jesus faced even greater rejection than the prophets before Him. Like Jeremiah, He faced the rejection of those closest to Him — His own family and relatives. The truth is that God often comes to us in obscure ways, like a mustard seed. By His incarnation, God is at work in our daily lives, blending into our human situation. The Kingdom of God is always proclaimed in lowliness and humility. Jesus always avoided the spectacular, for He was not called to impress people, but to call them to repentance and faith in God. Like the crowd in Capernaum who rejected His true identity and messianic mission (Mt 13:10-17), the people of His own hometown could not rise above their prejudices. Jesus responded: “A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house.” They did not allow Jesus’ wisdom and miracles to testify to His divine origin.
This is the real obstacle to faith: people long for the spectacular. They cannot see how God is at work in their ordinary lives. How could anyone believe that God entered into human history in the person of Jesus — that village boy from Nazareth? People are always looking for signs and wonders. They chase after apparitions and charismatic speakers; they will not believe unless they see. The Kingdom always comes in a hidden way, so much so that the people closest to it do not recognise it, and it passes them by.
Today, we face that exact same challenge of familiarity — especially those of us who have become too comfortable with the Church. We have taken the rituals and our faith for granted. In some parts of the world, owning a Bible is difficult and attending Mass is a rare occasion. But in our archdiocese, access to the knowledge of our faith is readily available on the internet, social media, and in print. The Sacraments are easily accessible, with the Eucharist celebrated twice daily in most churches. Yet, despite this convenience, we take our faith for granted. We do not value Jesus in our lives. We go through our faith routinely — attending Mass on Sunday and fulfilling our obligations — but our relationship with the Lord is not only stagnant; we have become cold and indifferent toward Him.
Indeed, a superficial knowledge of Jesus without knowing Him personally will not bring about real discipleship. Familiarity breeds contempt; we take Him for granted. Then, when we suffer tragedy, we accuse Him of not caring for us, when most of our suffering is simply the consequence of our own disobedience to His commandments. Because of our unbelief, we limit the grace of God from working in and through us. The Gospel tells us, “He did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” They wanted Jesus to perform spectacular signs like a mere magician for them to see, without any need for personal faith. But Jesus refused to act for the sake of entertainment. This was the same response Jesus gave during His trial before Herod: “When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer.” (Lk 23:8-9) Jesus does not come to amuse us! He acts only to strengthen faith, not to coerce us into belief.
Indeed, the lesson we can learn today is simply this: we are free to accept or reject God’s words, but we will suffer the consequences of our choice. To those who are obedient and responsive, God rewards them with greater things. But for those who are disobedient and proud, they bring harm upon themselves. So the choice is ours: to change or not to change. The onus lies on us. God’s grace is always available to the disobedient so that they may become obedient, but the persistent rejection of His grace will cause even the obedient to stumble. Let us, therefore, be ready and willing to listen to His prophets!
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
