Good Repaid with Evil: From Jeremiah’s Pit to Christ’s Cross

Must good be repaid with evil? The persecuted prophets of Lent show us the cost—and the victory—of truth.

First Reading

Jeremiah 18:18-20

The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem said, “Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah. It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests, nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets. And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word.”

Heed me, O LORD, and listen to what my adversaries say. Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them.

Gospel

Matthew 20:17-19

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

The Persecuted Prophet and the Suffering Servant

Sweet lies repel the bitterness of truth. Entrenched in idolatry, murder, theft, and slander, the wayward Judeans resented Jeremiah’s prophetic utterances of divine judgment against them. Instead of reforming their ways, they preferred to shut the mouth of the prophet by plotting his death. In Jeremiah’s prayer, he laments that good is repaid with evil, reminding the Lord that he interceded on behalf of his adversaries to avert divine wrath.

At the climax of salvation history, the full weight of human fury was flung against the truth bearer at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Both Jews and Gentiles—the whole human race—mocked, scourged, and condemned him to an ignominious death on the Cross. Fulfilling God’s plan from eternity, Christ rose from the dead, body and soul, on the third day, inaugurating a new genesis of humanity and the earth destined for resurrection life.