Jeremiah
31: 31–34; Psalm 51: 1–13; Hebrews 5: 5–10; John 12: 20–33
This is the homily given
at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, March 18, 2018, by Fr. Gene
Tucker.
“OF IDOLS AND IDOLATRY”
(Homily texts: Jeremiah 31: 31 - 34 & John 12: 20 - 33)
A
stark reality of our walk with God is that there will be the temptation to put
something in between ourselves and God. That thing might be sin (and
particularly, a very serious and besetting sin). That thing might also be an
object that we possess (or which possesses us). That thing might also a
relationship with someone or something.
Defined
another way, what we are talking about in naming those things that we possess
and those things (or persons) that we have relationships with is: Idolatry.
Down
through much of their history, God’s ancient peoples in Old Testament times
wrestled with the temptation to follow idols. Remember the incident at the foot
of Mt. Sinai as Moses is on the mountaintop receiving the tablets of the Ten
Commandments? Down at the base of the mountain, Moses’ brother, Aaron, is
leading the people in the creation of and worship of a golden calf. Idolatry.
As
the people of Israel enter the Promised Land, they fall prey to the temptation
to adopt the worship of the Canaanite gods of the people who had inhabited the
land. The Asherah poles, the Canaanite god Molech, and the god Phoenician Baal,
were all objects of the people’s attention, worship and affection. Sometimes,
such worship even took place in the Temple in Jerusalem, and sometimes, the
worship of these pagan idols was mingled with the worship of the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.[1]
Into
this situation, the prophet Jeremiah comes. God sent this prophet, who is often
known by the title “The Weeping Prophet” to warn God’s people that their
fascination with idols will end calamitously. In our Old Testament reading
appointed for this morning, Jeremiah looks forward through the years which lay
ahead to see a time when God’s people will be cured of their idolatrous ways.
Indeed, the exile of God’s people into Babylon[2]
took care of their problem with idols.
Now,
let’s turn our attention to this morning’s Gospel text. We hear that some
Greeks have come to see Jesus. The request to see the Lord confirms Jesus’
growing popularity among the people. Earlier in John’s Gospel account, we are
told that there was a movement beginning to make Jesus king.(see John 6:15).
Jesus
had been healing people. He had fed the multitudes. His teaching was with an
authority not possessed by the scribes and the Pharisees. Perhaps it would have
been easy for Him to fall in love with all that popularity. Perhaps it might
have been tempting for Him to claim an earthly throne as king over the Jews.
Prior
to the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus had been tempted, tempted with
invitations to claim worldly power. Matthew’s Gospel account records the words
of the devil, who said, “All these (the kingdoms of the world) I will give you,
if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matthew 4: 9.)
Temptations
to put something or someone in between God’s will and our relationship to Him
constitute idolatry.
If
Jesus had succumbed to the temptation to build on His popularity with the
people, rising to be the king of the Jews in an earthly sense, He would have
placed that relationship between Himself and God’s will for His life.
Fortunately
for all Christian believers, the Lord did not allow anything to come between
His will and God the Father’s will.
He
knew the Father’s will was for Him to die, to become that grain of wheat which
falls into the ground, where it will give new growth and new life.
We
live in a world which is filled with temptations to idolatry.
Objects,
many of them very appealing and very attractive, call us to focus our attention
on these things. We are surrounded (immersed) in a world of physical objects. Relationships
with others might also take first place in our lives.
Key
to understanding the true nature of idolatry is to increase our awareness of
idolatry as being – at its root – all about our relationships with the things
that inhabit our lives, and to the relationships that shape our existence.
Having objects and relationships with others in our lives is necessary, even
beneficial, provided we remember that our relationship to God must take first
place.
May
we pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us to see clearly our relationship
to the various objects and relationships which are part of our lives, that we
may discern in that assessment the nature of our relationship to God.
AMEN.
[1] The technical term which is applied to this
mixture of the worship with the one, true God and idols is called syncretism.
[2] The people of God were exiled to Babylon in
586 BC. They began their return to the Promised Land in 538 BC.
