Brief synopsis of the readings: We begin our first reading with the prophet Jeremiah complaining that God “duped” him. Jeremiah found himself the object of laughter and derision and pledged to stop talking about God but just can’t. “But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart.” In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus warns his followers that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of the elders, be put to death, and rise from the dead. Peter pulled Jesus aside and told him he (Peter) would never let that happen. Jesus then rebuked him: “Get out of my sight you satan! You are trying to make me trip and fall. You are not judging by God’s standards but by man’s.”

I’ve said this before but when someone tells me he wants to be a prophet he’s telling me he hasn’t read much about the prophets in the Old Testament. Prophets (then and now) often bring unwelcome news, and no example is better than today’s reading from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah’s career as a prophet spanned several decades and several changes in his society. In this reading he has warned the people to turn away from worship of idols and told them to expect to be destroyed by the kingdom of Babylon. And they were. We can’t be certain of the reaction he expected but he did not appear ready for the level of hostility he received; as a matter of fact, there is a tradition that claims he was murdered in Egypt.

And while there are major differences between the lives of Jeremiah and Jesus we can look to today’s Gospel and see some similarities. It’s not always clear how much Jesus knew about his future but in this reading he gives a pretty accurate prophecy. But instead of opposition from the rulers of the day, here Jesus suffers blowback from the disciple he just named the gatekeeper of Heaven.

Let’s face it: sometimes it just doesn’t pay to tell the truth in a hostile environment. And when it happens our duty is clear.

Obviously we’re not likely to be put in the position of warning against Babylonian exile or being crucified by the Romans. But there are times when we are called to tell truth to power and it’s good to recall these readings. To give some context, let’s use a topical example.

Flint, Michigan is a suburb north of Detroit. It’s a high minority, low income city and the local government has to spend time looking for ways to curb spending. In 2014 they decided to stop buying drinking water from Detroit and instead tap the Flint River. But in the switch they didn’t treat the water to prevent dangerous levels of lead from getting into the water supply; drinking water with elevated lead levels causes irreversible brain damage and is particularly dangerous in children.

At the top there were those who knew the damage they caused and simply didn’t care, or were afraid to admit they couldn’t save as much money as they hoped. I don’t think there’s much chance of us being there. But there were others, many more, who learned of what was going on and chose not to speak up. Those are the ones who worry me. These are the ones who may have had a well founded fear of losing their jobs, or losing status among their coworkers. They denied what they knew to be true, they ignored the clear and present danger. When residents brought in bottles of water that were clearly tainted the insisted that the water was safe to drink. And when it was all over and the truth finally came out they claimed they had no knowledge and were just following the rules.

We all want to be respected and well thought of by those around us. We think of that need for belonging to be an adolescent thing. But the years when I was a youth minister I was struck by the fact that this need doesn’t really go away when we make the gradual progression to adulthood. I was often amused when I’d hear parents complain that their children cared too much about their peer group while they (the parents) ignored terrible actions in their own groups because they didn’t want to make a scene or be seen as a problem. Ask me about the Knights of Columbus someday.

We belong to several communities and that’s good. But there are times when a community may wander from its moral compass and it’s our call to say so. Sometimes that happens with our church. I once knew a priest who discovered instances of sexual abuse; he reported it to his superiors and was told to pipe down. He didn’t and he lost the respect of some of the people he respected. I didn’t meet him until years later but if you asked me to list priests whom I respect he’s at the top of that.

Last week’s Gospel left us with a good feeling not only about Peter but about all the disciples. When Jesus acknowledged Peter as their leader he made a statement that this community would last long enough to need a leader. But this week we see a well meaning Peter choosing the safety of the community over events that needed to happen.

Finally it seems to me that we fall into this not with large decisions but with small one that are too easy to ignore. A friend of mine once told me about being in a long line at the grocery store where the person at the counter was using several coupons and the checker was new. The person behind him wanted to engage him in a conversation about how inconvenienced they were; when my friend suggested that this was probably a woman on a budget trying to feed her family and that we all have experiences of being new on a job. The person then gave him the stink eye and turned away.

I suspect that person would have hated Jeremiah.