We are in high summer in Europe but the readings pull us back towards Holy Week and Good Friday. Jeremiah anticipates the experience of Jesus in the way he is treated. Prophets and priests are against him: it seems they are more threatened by his preaching. They appeal to the princes and the people for support in condemning him to death. Jeremiah speaks to the princes and the people and says 'do with me what you think is right, but it was the Lord who sent me to call you to repentance and renewal'. Unlike Jesus, however, Jeremiah wins the support of the princes and the people who then tell the prophets and priests not to kill him.
The psalm provides much of the imagery we associate with the passion of Jesus and the gospel reading tells of the beheading of John the Baptist. He was another prophet who anticipated the experience of Jesus, this time even to death.
The disciples of John went and told Jesus about his execution and that marks a turning point in his own ministry. It is as if the final outcome for him also rolls into clear view for the first time. Jesus was also faced with the opposition of priests and prophets, of princes and people, with none of these prepared in the end to intercede for him. Even his own disciples abandoned him as he was handed over to death. He had anticipated it, he knew it was coming.
The role of the people is interesting in these events. With the princes they save Jeremiah. We can take it that the princes are politically savvy and did not wish to alienate the people. The same with the Baptist: at first the weight of public opinion is enough to keep Herod from killing John. Eventually, though, he corners himself with his rash promises to Salome and Herodias, and human pride obliges him to kill John.
These are dramatic events for the middle of summer, the persecution of Jeremiah and the execution of the Baptist. We would have wanted lighter fare, something easier, for our midsummer dreaming. And they are both 'echoes beforehand', premonitions and forebodings, pointing forward to the great drama of Calvary.
We find our place among the people in these dramas and so should not underestimate either our responsibility for how prophets are treated or our capacity to influence the minds of princes, prophets and priests. Often we feel too small and insignificant to have any real impact on what happens but it is not so. The man or woman of integrity saves the world. Even if it means losing their lives in order to remain faithful, their sacrifice will not be without fruit. It shines in the darkness of this world's history and will be influential long after the power of evil and its perpetrators has faded.
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