Jeremiah condemned the superstition of the people of his time. Some of them believed that simply because they possessed the temple in Jerusalem, God would favour them. Their triple invocation, "the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord," was the indication of their superstition. It was as if they were saying, "With the temple of the Lord in our midst, what more need be done?" Jeremiah's response was that the more to be done was to live an upright life.

We should never think that the purpose of a good life is to buy or purchase or merit heaven or good things in this life. God grants His grace freely. There is no way in which we can offer anything to God which would be the proper price for His gifts. The reason we should live good lives in accord with God's will is simply that it is the right way for children of a loving Father to act. A deliberately evil life is our way of excluding ourselves from the family. God does not reject us; we reject Him.

In the Gospel Jesus says that at harvest time the weeds will be burned, but the good wheat will be gathered into the barn. We will be gathered into the loving arms of God, not because of some superstitition, but because God loves us and we have chosen not to reject that love.