Homily for Saturday
5th Week of Ordinary
Time
Feb. 12, 2022
1 Kings 12: 26-32;
13: 33-34
Provincial House, New
Rochelle, N.Y.
“Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways” (1
Kings 13: 33).
They say that the victors get to write the history books and put their own interpretation on events. The sacred scribes we call the Deuteronomist have interpreted Jewish history from the perspective of the tribe of Judah during or after the Exile, from the perspective of the Davidic dynasty, and from the perspective of the tribe of Levi.
Regarding our 1st reading, those perspectives
center on 2 covenants. The 1st is the
Sinai covenant, which established the Levites as the priestly order in Israel,
established a calendar of public festivals and pilgrimages to the holy place
appointed by God, and (implicitly) established Jerusalem as the center of
Israelite worship. The 2d is the
covenant with David, that his house should rule Israel forever.
Jeroboam has upended those covenants by
rebelling against David’s grandson and dividing Israel, and by trying to
consolidate his rebellion by setting up other places of worship—which recall
the Hebrews’ rebellion in the desert when they worshiped the golden calf—by
desecrating priestly worship in his kingdom, and by decreeing a new calendar of
feasts to keep the people of the northern tribes from returning to Jerusalem.
Moreover, Jeroboam subverts the religion of
Israel by using it for his own end, to uphold his rule. As Christians we note that Jesus came to
establish the reign of God. Jeroboam
wants God to establish his reign.
This deviant form of religious practice, based on royal control, has
tempted rulers thruout history: Roman
emperors, medieval kings, Henry VIII, Gallican tendencies in France, the
Communists of China.
Our country once experienced a
secession: not of 10 northern tribes but
of 11 southern tribes. The violation of a
covenant didn’t follow that secession; rather, the violation of a covenant was
the cause. Our Founding Fathers solemnly
declared that all men are created equal, and after outlining other principles
and a list of grievances, solemnly declared our independence and pledged their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in support of their principles
and declaration. Lincoln referenced that
covenant when he counted “four score and seven years ago.” But some of those Fathers and their offspring
derived their fortunes from human bondage and pledged their sacred honor to
uphold the unequal treatment of some men and women—violating not only the
covenant of 1776 but a fundamental covenant between humanity and God.
That secession, like Jeroboam’s, was doomed
to eventual failure, based as it was on gross injustice. Whereas Jeroboam’s secession took 209 years
to collapse, the southern secession collapsed in just 4 years of brutal civil
war. Unhappily, parts of the evil
heritage of that rebellion linger into our own day in an ideology that some
people are more equal than others, as Orwell suggested. Racists have not given up their evil ways,
not in our country nor in many others.
What does all that have to do with us, all
that rebellion and deviant religion?
In the 1st place, we are children of the new
covenant in Christ’s blood. Each day we
renew that covenant, pledge our fidelity, our sacred honor, to it, strive to
live as loyal subjects of the kingdom of God.
Daily, we turn from our evil ways, repenting of our sins, seeking the
Lord’s mercy. Rather than leading others
away from true worship, like Jeroboam, we pledge our lives to bring them closer
to Jesus.
In the 2d place, we can give our religious
loyalty to no earthly regime, no political party, no charismatic star of
politics or even of religion. Remember
Jim Jones, or just Jim and Tammy Faye or a certain former SDB who’s attained
some notoriety. Remember the words of
the Psalmist: put not your trust in
princes. Remember our national
motto: In God we trust.
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