Signs of the Times: A Call for Discernment
August 5, 2024 - Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Jer 28:1-17
In today's reading, we witness a showdown between two prophets—Jeremiah and Hananiah—each delivering a different message. Jeremiah, wearing a wooden yoke on his neck, says that the Lord has delivered all nations to His servant, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and urges the king of Judah to do the same willingly: "Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live" (Jer. 27:12). Hananiah, on the other hand, breaks the wooden yoke of Jeremiah as a symbolic act and declares that the Babylonian empire will collapse within two years. Both claim to speak in the name of the Lord, but only one can be right.
We know the outcome of that encounter and who was correct, but we also know that the people clung to Hananiah's false assurances despite his sudden death two months later. Just as in the days of Jeremiah and Hananiah, today we face similar challenges with contemporary "prophets"—intellectuals, think tanks, and experts in politics and economics. We often prefer to hear assurances that technology and AI will solve all our problems despite global threats. However, there are also voices we would rather not hear.
In 2015, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical letter, "Laudato Si'," addressing our ecological crisis. Then, in 2023, he issued a follow-up document, "Laudate Deum," warning that we have no time to spare in addressing this crisis. But what is the world's response? While ordinary citizens are urged to recycle and save energy, powerful energy corporations and militaries continue to pollute the earth, drilling, conducting military exercises, and waging wars. Politicians grant permissions to explore areas for more fossil fuels. We are assured that things are not as bad as environmentalists claim.
The hardest thing about repentance is not the sacrifice it demands but the change of mind. It begins with the acknowledgment that we were wrong and that others were right. King Zedekiah, the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people were unwilling to do this. Hananiah's words and actions were music to their ears. In such a situation, Jeremiah was powerless and left (see Jer. 28:11). The story ends with Jeremiah being assured of the truthfulness of God's word and the news of Hananiah's death as punishment for lying in the name of the Lord. However, this was not enough to persuade the people to obey God's word.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus criticized his generation for not being able to discern "the signs of the times" (see Matt. 16:3). The nation during Jeremiah's time failed to do this as well. But have we learned this art? Vatican II declared that "the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel" (Gaudium et Spes, 4). Today, through the voice of Pope Francis, the Church reminds us that we are all brothers and sisters, created by God, and that the earth is our common home which we should value and protect for future generations.