12 February 2022
Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
When God teaches us how to worship, it is an awful idea to do the complete opposite of what He teaches. He had taught the children of Israel that the idols of Egypt were not God like Him. And yet, the various tribes (with the exception of the Levites), then work together to form an idol out of gold shortly after being led out of Egypt. In response, the sin of idolatry is punished and the tribe of Levi is set apart for priestly service, and a singular site of worship is established (the Tent in the desert which finds so many likenesses with the Temple built in Jerusalem).
Jeroboam, so early in the establishment of a separate kingdom of Israel does the complete opposite. He divides the site of worship not only away from Jerusalem, but into two different cities. He ignores the designation of the Levites as the priestly tribe and appoints those whose only qualification is mere velleity. Finally, for the form of worship, he renews the slavery of idolatry, explicitly chosing the fashioning of golden calves for his religious sites. The long history of kings after Jeroboam echoes a continuous lesson: don’t be like Jeroboam (and a number of later kings were), it never ends well.
As we consider these lessons from the books of Kings, let us ask the Lord to lead us to worship Him as He choses. Let us not seek to conform our worship of God to political expediencies, passing whims, or (worst of all) a worship of what is not God. Instead, let us follow Christ and remain with Him, even if we hunger for a time, knowing that in the end, He will always satisfy our corporal and spiritual hungers.