Linen Loincloth

"Go and buy a linen loincloth."

These are the words of the Lord to Prophet Jeremiah, part of the first reading given to us today (Jeremiah 13:1-11). The Lord, very strangely, instructs Jeremiah to buy and use a loincloth (an underwear), and eventually He draws some hard lessons for his people, especially against the arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah obediently follows all the instructions with regard to the loincloth: Do not dip it in water, Wear it, Bury it, Retrieve it. It's anyone guess now: the loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing. (The unwashed loincloth was to represent the guilt of the people unpurified by any real contact with the "clean water" of repentance.) Then the Lord says, "I had intended the whole House of Judah to cling to me like the loincloth, but they didn't; they haven't listened. This evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the dictates of their own hearts, who have followed alien gods, and served them and worshipped them, let them become like this loincloth, good for nothing."

It was usual with the prophets to teach by signs, sometimes as in the above passage by some strange signs and gestures. The people of Israel had been to God as this underwear. God's Law to them expected their close connection and relationship with Him, confirmed by the prophets He sent among them, and the favours he showed them. But the people by their idolatries and sins had corrupted themselves, and were so corrupted that they were good for nothing.

This is also to show that the Lord communicates with us each and every moment; he has a message for us from every event that takes place in and around us. At times His messages or His styles of communication are very strange. If we are proud of our wealth or of our learning, of power, popularity, and outward privileges, then there is every possibility all these will become good for nothing. Our talents and good things are useful only insofar as they are connected to the Lord. If we are not in conscious relationship with God, even all the good things are useless. Our minds should be awakened to a sense of their danger. Humility is the only appropriate response to the Mystery of God, and to His gifts to us.