In the Christian life there are two classes of people: the wimps and the warriors.

The wimps are the spiritual descendents of Old Testament figures like King Zedekiah, who didn’t have the courage to follow Jeremiah’s advice, even though he knew deep down inside that the man was a true prophet. Instead, he listened to Hananiah and other false prophets of the time, who were telling him that if he formed an alliance with Egypt he could overcome the powerful Babylonians. They were wrong!

Nor did Zedekiah have the guts to stand up to the princes of his kingdom, when they cried out for Jeremiah’s blood! Instead of defending the prophet, the pitiful leader said to his princes, "He is in your power," because—as the sacred author tells us—"[he] could do nothing with them."

Zedekiah could have used his kingly authority to force these men to leave Jeremiah alone, but he chose instead to "wimp-out," allowing them to throw the prophet into a muddy cistern where they hoped he would die.

But the "warrior" Jeremiah did not die! Thanks to the intercession of a court official, he was eventually rescued. But it’s clear from Scripture that Jeremiah would not have changed his message even if he had never been pulled out of that mud. He wouldn’t have changed his message—or modified it in the least—because it contained the sacred truth which Almighty God had revealed to him.

Jeremiah’s ministry was filled with frustration, anxiety, disappointment and bitter discouragement; but, to his great credit, he never allowed those negative forces to completely overcome him. He may have "bent" several times, but he never, ever "broke." Thus he is the spiritual ancestor of all those who are "warriors for the kingdom of God:" warriors, not of hate and violence, but of truth and love; warriors who keep their eyes fixed on Jesus Christ (to coin a phrase in today’s second reading from Hebrews 12), and who endure opposition as Jesus did—for the sake of the crown of glory that awaits them in heaven.

Over the years I’ve heard the Catholic Church sometimes referred to as "the sleeping Giant." Those who make this assertion understand that there are too many Zedekiahs and not enough Jeremiahs in the Church today! The Zedekiahs are those who say, "I am a Catholic, but . . . "; they’re afraid of standing out in a crowd; they’re afraid of "offending others" who do not share their faith. And, meanwhile, the people they’re so concerned not to offend—these people go on offending them and all those who believe in God and in traditional moral principles. These "Zedekiahs" won’t offend the ungodly by their purity and holiness, but the ungodly will happily offend them and all of us by their pornography, and blasphemy, and by their crimes against innocent human life!

Jesus said, "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!"

That fire—which is the fire of truth, righteousness, justice and love—will not be lit by the wimps of this world, but only by those who are truly warriors for God’s kingdom. Thankfully, I see many young people these days taking on "warrior status." They’re responding favorably to the challenge of the Gospel, because they sense that the philosophy of the world will ultimately leave them totally empty.