"You will be my people, and I shall be your God."
Healing Our Wounds
August 4th, 2020
Let's talk about probably the worst word we could possibly say in this moment: "incurable". To even say (or read!) that word right now is to give up an alarming amount of control and to admit a humbling level of vulnerability. But don't worry — this Touchstone isn't about the pandemic or vaccines or schools opening or closing or whatever else might be rattling around the news today.
No, today we're looking at Jeremiah, and the Word spoken to the Israelites at the time of the Babylonian exile: "Incurable is your wound." What could this possibly mean? Is it God just giving up on His people? Is it God taunting them and refusing to help? Is it God revealing a divine obstinance, like some omnipotent "Soup Nazi" who shouts from heaven: "No healing for you!"?
Please join us for today's Touchstone on the readings from the Tuesday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time. And let's explore together these incurable wounds we might have and, more importantly, how God promises healing.
Love,
John Livingston
Director of Youth Ministry
Love,
John Livingston
Director of Youth Ministry
Tuesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel | Jeremiah 30:1–2, 12–15, 18–22
The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel:
Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book.
For thus says the LORD:
Incurable is your wound,
grievous your bruise;
There is none to plead your cause,
no remedy for your running sore,
no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you,
they do not seek you.
I struck you as an enemy would strike,
punished you cruelly;
Why cry out over your wound?
your pain is without relief.
Because of your great guilt,
your numerous sins,
I have done this to you.
Thus says the LORD:
See! I will restore the tents of Jacob,
his dwellings I will pity;
City shall be rebuilt upon hill,
and palace restored as it was.
From them will resound songs of praise,
the laughter of happy men.
I will make them not few, but many;
they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.
His sons shall be as of old,
his assembly before me shall stand firm;
I will punish all his oppressors.
His leader shall be one of his own,
and his rulers shall come from his kin.
When I summon him, he shall approach me;
how else should one take the deadly risk
of approaching me? says the LORD.
You shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book.
For thus says the LORD:
Incurable is your wound,
grievous your bruise;
There is none to plead your cause,
no remedy for your running sore,
no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you,
they do not seek you.
I struck you as an enemy would strike,
punished you cruelly;
Why cry out over your wound?
your pain is without relief.
Because of your great guilt,
your numerous sins,
I have done this to you.
Thus says the LORD:
See! I will restore the tents of Jacob,
his dwellings I will pity;
City shall be rebuilt upon hill,
and palace restored as it was.
From them will resound songs of praise,
the laughter of happy men.
I will make them not few, but many;
they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.
His sons shall be as of old,
his assembly before me shall stand firm;
I will punish all his oppressors.
His leader shall be one of his own,
and his rulers shall come from his kin.
When I summon him, he shall approach me;
how else should one take the deadly risk
of approaching me? says the LORD.
You shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
"Come As You Are" by Crowder
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