1st Reading – Jeremiah 31:7-9

Thus says the LORD:
Shout with joy for Jacob,
exult at the head of the nations;
proclaim your praise and say:
The LORD has delivered his people,
the remnant of Israel.
Behold, I will bring them back
from the land of the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the world,
with the blind and the lame in their midst,
the mothers and those with child;
they shall return as an immense throng.
They departed in tears,
but I will console them and guide them;
I will lead them to brooks of water,
on a level road, so that none shall stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
Ephraim is my first-born.

The prophet Jeremiah lived during one of the most tumultuous periods of ancient Near Eastern history, witnessing the fall of the Assyrian Empire and the rise of Babylon. His prophetic ministry, lasting about forty years (627-587 BC), spanned the reign of King Josiah, whose reforms sought to bring Judah back to God, and extended through the reigns of Josiah’s successors up until the sack of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah’s message was one of both warning and hope: calling the people to repent from idolatry and injustice, while also foretelling the coming of a new covenant between God and His people (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Despite facing severe opposition and personal hardship, Jeremiah’s faithfulness to God’s mission has made his writings central to both Jewish and Christian theology.

In today’s reading, Jeremiah offers words of hope to his fellow Israelites during their exile in Babylon.

Because God had promised King David that his kingdom would be secure forever, the Israelites thought it would be impossible for them to be conquered. However, they were conquered by the Babylonians, and many of their upper-class citizens were taken into exile to Babylon. In addition, their temple was destroyed and their land ravaged.

Not only had the Israelites lost their homes, their country, and their temple, they’d lost their certainty that they were God’s chosen people.

Continue reading “Oct 27, 2024: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)” →