Perverting the Good

“‘Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests, nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets. And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word.’”

Jer. 18:18

When the Prophet Jeremiah preached repentance and invited the people to return to God, they disregarded him. In fact, they wanted to get rid of him, and to do so without getting their own hands dirty. Isn’t this what happened to Jesus? The Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy but asked the Romans to execute Him and schemed to have Jesus’ own friend and follower to hand Him over. 

Jesus did not sugarcoat the conditions of discipleship. He told the people that it would not be easy and in fact they would even suffer and be hated for following Him. Yet they followed. Jesus also mentioned time and again of His own passion and death. Why would they still want to follow Him? Would we want to keep listening to and following someone who always talk about how much he will suffer? Talking about death and asking people to change their ways all the time. In today’s world, we might be accused of being all doom and gloom and not living life and telling us that no one would want to be around us. What is good and true, the world has perverted. Jeremiah only wanted the people to know the truth and for them to be with God, yet their pride closed their hearts from the saving message. Jesus wanted to lead the people to His Father and give them the gift of salvation, yet they seemed self-sufficient in their self-righteousness. What are some ways we have perverted a good, taking something good and twisting its goodness? Are our hearts closed? Am I blinded by my pride and the lie of my self-sufficiency? May we today ask the Lord for the grace to look within our hearts and to invite Him inside.