6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
JEREMIAH 17:5-18
Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who seeks strength in the flesh,
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He will be like a bush in the desert,
not seeing when good comes;
he will dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in a salt land and uninhabited.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He will be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves remain green.
In the year of drought it is not anxious,
nor does it cease to bear fruit.
This passage is taken from a section of the book that collects several “scattered oracles,” within the overall mindset of the Prophet. Jeremiah spends his entire life proclaiming to all the people that only trust in God will save them from their enemies.
Beyond this direct meaning, the text presents in beautiful imagery the faith of Israel in God as the guide of life. The text is profound because it includes the sense of “trusting in God.” Living life according to God, trusting in Him, who will not disappoint us.
Israel had the temptation to think that this would be visible, that the righteous would live a long and satisfying life, that the sinner would fare badly… And one of the themes present throughout the Old Testament is the crisis of faith caused by the evidence that this is not the case. It is a frequent theme in the Psalms.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:12-20
If we proclaim that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
We continue with the continuous reading of this letter, so the theme of this second reading is not connected with the other two. It presents the core of the Christian faith in the resurrected Jesus. In any case, it fits into the same line of interpretation: “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Our way of living derives from our trust in Jesus. It is also about trusting in Him.
Paul expresses it very well in that expression: “I know whom I have trusted” (2 Tim.1:12). Our way of living is based on our faith in Jesus Christ. If it were not for this faith, our way of living would be absurd, it would seem to contradict the “common sense” of many people.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.