For the glory of your name, O Lord, remember us. Sometimes I feel that we put God in a tight spot, between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. God’s nature is sometimes used against God! The people, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah in today’s First Reading, tell God they have learnt their lesson. They have realized their iniquity and are repenting. They want God to forgive them and to restore them to their former status as God’s partner to the covenant. They tell God: “ Don’t do it for us, but rather for the sake of your holy name. You have been known to be merciful and forgiving, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. If you let your anger overcome your mercy, we will be annihilated, and justly so. But think of what will become of your holy name. Think of what the nations will say about Israel’s God. We know of your merciful dealings with our ancestors-they told us. Deal with us in like manner.”
The Lord never deals with us according to the way we deserve. Those who were crying to God through the prophet Jeremiah were right. God’s action would have impact, not on the people, but on God’s holy name. But we tend to forget that our actions as well have no impact on God. When we turn away from God, it is us and not God, who feels the effects of our waywardness. When we continue living in sin by turning against and devouring one another, it is us who lose, not God. And so as we beseech God to act mercifully towards us for the sake of God’s holy name, we should also remember to act in a holy manner for our own sakes.