Brief synopsis of the readings: The beginning of Jeremiah informs our first reading and it describes God’s call to Jeremiah to be a prophet. Not included in this reading is the line where Jeremiah protests that he cannot be a prophet because he is too young. God responds by telling Jeremiah not to worry because he was chosen even before he was born. Jeremiah recognizes that prophets don’t normally do well because they preach an unpopular message but God assures him not to worry: “They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am the with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Luke’s Gospel describes Jesus speaking in the synagogue, proclaiming much the same message as last week. But here the response is much different: those gathered asked: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” Jesus responds by telling them that “no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” He continued to agitate them until, filled with fury, they drive him out of town.

Thirty six years ago I began discerning whether or not God was calling me to the priesthood. The single question of whether I was called to serve as a priest brought with it other questions, including the question of where I was called to serve. I could have chosen to be a priest who spent his life in a defined geographical area (and become a diocesan priest) or I could have chosen to join an order (like the Jesuits or Franciscans) and served in lands I had never seen before. I chose to join an order and pointed to this passage in Luke. I explained that people who knew me as a child would never accept me as a leader of worship. Full disclosure: my decision had more to do with my desire to see the world. But there was something to my decision and Jesus would have understood this as well as anyone else.

We all read this Gospel with our own eyes and I confess that I read this with great empathy for Jesus. Those of us who feel called respond with great excitement and can’t wait to tell the people closest to us, those who made us who we are. In our enthusiasm we completely misunderstand how we are perceived and are often met with (like Jesus) “who are you to tell us anything?” Let’s be frank: The phrase “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” means, “why should we listen to you when we knew you as a child and taught you what you know? You don’t speak the truth to us, we speak the truth to you.”

At the risk of reading too much into this Gospel I confess to thinking that Jesus felt betrayed by this response. And it spiralled out of control from there. Jesus told them that nobody from his own native place would be accepted. And he went further. He told them that while there were people in the Old Testament who benefitted from their prophets, there were many more people who did not benefit. Clearly Jesus, in his frustration, was telling his older relatives, his older neighbors, his teachers, that they were going to regret not listening to him.

And while I appreciate his frustration and anger I wish Jesus had spent more time reading the first reading from Jeremiah. We know very little of how Jesus came to an understanding of himself as the Messiah, the Redeemer but we can assume it wasn’t as easy and simple as Scripture tells us.

The road for Jeremiah wasn’t easy either. When God chose Jeremiah, God told him this: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” Jeremiah protested that he was too young. God makes it clear that this wasn’t a choice made in haste, and while he may find that some may wish to “crush” him, he (Jeremiah) has been made a “pillar of iron, a wall of brass.”

The rest of Jeremiah’s life shows that God never left Jeremiah and that Jeremiah faced crushing challenges. Likewise, the rest of the New Testament shows that God never left Jesus and that Jesus faced crushing challengers, including his passion, death, and resurrection.

So how do these readings inform us today? I think it informs us two ways.

First, and easiest, it tells us that just as God gave Jeremiah and Jesus a voice, so too have we been given a voice. I have to confess that I’m not a fan of most of the Sunday morning television preachers, but I do respect their message that tough times shouldn’t prevent or stop us from being who we know we are called to be. By our baptism we are all called to discipleship but none of us are guaranteed an easy path. As we live our best selves, as we are called to the better angels of our nature, we live with the reality that we encounter those who find us stupid, silly, or as potential targets for abuse. They tempt us to join them in their greed and selfishness and our determination to continue as disciples requires us to sacrifice power, influence, and popularity. And perhaps more seductive, they call us to ignore our call because the message is outdated or just won’t work. We are tempted to “be realistic” when we are called to be faithful. We are called to ignore injustice because we are not strong enough to be just in an unjust situation.

But these readings also call us to something else: it calls us not to be Jeremiah or Jesus, but to be the listeners of Jeremiah and Jesus and not go with the crowd. In our lives the people who speak the greatest truth to us are not necessarily the wealthiest, the most powerful, or the most popular. Truth comes from the strangest corners, and I appreciate that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit crash into our lives from places I don’t expect.

Perhaps it’s a former student and we are humbled to accept what he or she tells us. Perhaps it’s someone we’ve discounted: a homeless person, someone with less education, or a child. Or maybe it’s someone we’ve always seen with suspicion: an immigrant, someone with a different skin color, or a different sexual orientation. But justice does not respect rank or necessarily find its origin in power.

Whatever the case, I hope we can read these readings with an understanding that the original listeners didn’t. Jeremiah’s listeners didn’t like his message and Jesus’ listeners didn’t like listening to Jesus. But their messages continue to this day because they were both called by God to proclaim.

As disciples we are called to speak our truth, but also listen to to the truth of those who God also calls.