In
order to understand our readings from God’s Holy scripture today, I think we
have to take a step back a second and ask the question – what exactly is a
prophet? Now I used to think a prophet
was somebody who was able to predict the future. Sort of like up on Ridge Road over in Greece,
right by Mt. Read – there’s a house with neon signs advertising “palm readings”
or some such. And I think that’s a
pretty common way of thinking of a prophet, huh? Sort of like a modern-day psychic or
sooth-sayer.
But
I’ve come to realize that while that is one definition of prophecy, and in fact
Amaziah the priest of Bethel does call Amos a “visionary” in our first reading
today, that’s not usually what we mean when we speak of prophets.
What
we usually mean by the word “prophet” is, and this is my own paraphrased definition
now, a prophet is one who interprets the way things are and speaks the truth
about them, speaks of the way they ought to be.
Interprets the way things are and speaks of the way they ought to be. It is said that a prophet is one who afflicts
the comfortable, and comforts the afflicted.
With
that definition, we can think of many prophets in our own day, people who speak
the truth about the way things are and who see a vision of the way they ought
to be.
Martin
Luther King was a prophet, no doubt. He
saw injustice, he was uncomfortable with the status quo, and he had a vision, a
dream, of a different world, one in which people would be judged not by the
color of their skin but by the content of their character. Rosa Parks was a prophet – she got on that
bus that day and when the bus driver told her to surrender her seat to a white
person she said “no.” Enough.” “This is not right.” And she refused.
Barbara
and Jack Willke were prophets. Shortly
after the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v Wade decision in 1973, they
founded the National Right to Life organization, making it their life’s work to
speak out on behalf of the tiniest and most defenseless among us, the
unborn. Protesting the injustice of that
decision, they had a vision of an America in which all might have the
protection of law, the right to life.
And
our Church has had modern-day prophets as well.
Pope Saint John XXIII envisioned a Church that was more outward-focused,
more engaged with the world, and he called for the Second Vatican Council to
“throw open the windows of the Church and let the fresh air of the Spirit blow
through.”
Blessed
Pope Paul VI saw a burgeoning contraceptive culture spreading throughout the
world and proclaimed that the Church is to be a “sign of contradiction” against
this sexual revolution. Go online and
read his powerful encyclical Humanae Vitae, so much ignored and even ridiculed
over these fifty years, and judge for yourself if his voice wasn’t prophetic.
In
his Theology of the Body teachings, Pope Saint John Paul II teaches of the
dignity of the human person, and proclaimed a prophetic “yes” to the beauty and
goodness of authentic human sexuality, a vision so lost on much of our 21st
century secular culture.
And
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Pope Francis. In all kinds of ways, in many different
areas, the Holy Father is calling for us to re-examine our beliefs and ways of
living that may conflict with the message of the Lord and the rich teaching of
the Church, calling us out of our comfort zones to be sure.
Francis
preaches of our need to better care for our common home, the earth. On the need to strengthen the family. He has spoken against abortion and same-sex
marriage. Just this week of the evils of
unfettered capitalism. And most
frequently about our need to care for the poor, for least and most forgotten
among us, and to envision a more just world for our one human family.
And
almost 3000 years ago, Amos was a prophet as well A reluctant prophet to be sure. “Me, a prophet? I had no desire to be a
prophet. I was a shepherd and a dresser
of sycamores,” he says, “but the Lord commanded me to speak.” Amos answered that call, prophesying to the
kingdom of Israel of many evils, chief among them a growing disparity between
rich and poor.
Sisters
and brothers, here’s the point - you and I might not think of ourselves as
prophets. But God’s commanding the same thing of you and of me. He is calling each of us to prophecy. In fact, at our baptism, as our heads were
smeared with holy oil Chrism, you and I were anointed “priest, prophet and
king” in the image of Christ Himself, who was anointed “priest prophet and
king.” You and I, by our baptism, are
called to prophecy.
You
and I are called to interpret the way things are, envision the way they ought
to be and speak the truth, not remain silent.
It’s, no doubt, a calling out of our comfort zones. First of all to
examine our own lives and repent and conform ourselves to Christ. And to no longer remain silent in the face of
the growing evils in our world.
Often it’s a very uncomfortable calling, just
as it was for Amos, just as it probably was for the disciples whom Jesus sent
out two by two. And what is it that they
were sent forth to do? They were called
to be prophets too.
They
were given authority to drive out unclean spirits, and they were sent forth to preach
of repentance. To anoint with oil, heal
the sick. Whether it was unclean
spirits, sinfulness or illness, theirs was a mission of healing.
To go out into a world
desperately in need of the love and mercy of Jesus Christ and confront whatever
is evil, whatever is opposed to Him, and by word and loving service proclaim
repentance, mercy and healing.
Their mission is ours too,
brothers and sisters. As Father Warren
just prayed in our opening prayer, the collect, it is a mission “to show the light of truth to those
who go astray, so that all may return to the right path. So that all Christians may have the grace to
reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that
does it honor.”
The perfect model of this kind of prophecy is the
Lord Himself. Think of the scene - Jesus,
confronted with the men about to stone the woman caught in an act of
adultery. Confronted with sin – hers,
and theirs - their hypocrisy. Our Lord’s was a prophetic and loving encounter with
each – “let the one among you without sin cast the first stone,” He said, and
each went away. He then turned to the
woman, told her if no one condemns you, then neither do I, and commanded her
“go and sin no more.”
Sisters and brothers, nourished here in this place
by His word and His sacred Body and Blood, you and I are called to go out from
here to be this same presence, His presence, this same prophetic call to
repentance, this same face of encounter, love, mercy and tenderness, in this broken
world of ours today. Let us pray for the
grace, courage and great love to live this calling as He did.
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