2015/07/05 — 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This week it's about prophets.


First we hear the beginning of theLord's call of the prophet Ezekiel. Ezek 2:2-5. In the first chapter, Ezekiel, one of the exiles from Jerusalem in the Babylonian Captivity, has a vision of the Lord's glory. Now the Lord speaks to him in a way similar to the calls of Isaiah and Jeremiah which we heard on the solemnity of John the Baptist. Even in their exile, the Israelites are rebellious against the Lord, but he wants to call them back to him. Because they are likely to resist the word of God which the prophet will deliver, he must be firm and deliver the message regardless of their resistance, because it is the Lord's word, not his own, which he is proclaiming. The remainder of this chapter and the beginning of the next spell this out.

God knows that people will not always listen to him, but he does not give up trying to reach them/us.


The responsorial psalm — Ps 123:1-4 — invites us to have the mind of those who realize our need of God.


St. Paul fits the definition of prophet: one whom the Lord sends to deliver his message to the people. Our reading — 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 — tells toward the end of the "insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints" which he had to endure. Like Ezekiel, he encountered people who did not want to hear the message he proclaimed, in this case the gospel of Jesus as savior. Beyond that external resistance, he also had "a thorn in the flesh" which impeded him. People have been guessing ever since he wrote this just what that thorn in the flesh was, but nobody knows. We know what we need to know: it somehow restrained Paul's impulse to think too highly of himself; that it weakened him in some way; and that God's power can work and achieve his purposes even through human weakness. Certainly we know that God used Paul to achieve a wonderful spread of the faith.


In this Sunday's gospel — Mark 6:1-6 — we hear of the hostile reception Jesus received in his home town. He is, as he says, a prophet, but when he proclaims God's word, the reaction is along the lines of, "Who does he think he is?" And where did he get his knowledge, his ability to teach? At the Jordan River, when John baptized him and the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove and anointed him for his public mission.

As with Paul — even more so — God's power was made perfect in Jesus' weakness. It was when Jesus was at his weakest, on the cross and in the grave that he conquered sin and death for us, to rise triumphant over both.


Catholics believe that God's revelation to the world was completed with the completion of the Scriptures. So we no longer have prophets who are telling us something new about God and our relations with him. But every generation, every individual, has to hear God's message, and needs to apply that message to contemporary circumstances. Baptism gives us an anointing of the Holy Spirit to carry on the mission of Jeasus of proclaiming God's word in our own time. There is still a tendency for people to rebel, as the ancient Israelites did. But God wants to call them back.

Today's "prophets" are all who announce God's word, such as missionaries and catechists and preachers. Prophets may confirm for us what we have already heard and accepted. But unless we are perfect — which we aren't — God may also send people to correct us. In that case they will be giving us a message we don't want to hear. This does not mean that every unwelcome message comes from God. It means that we have to be willing to be corrected, and we need to pray for the grace to discern what correction comes from God, and what does not. Sometimes we will know in the depth of our heart that what we are hearing is true, but we will be tempted to make rationalizations to try to convince ourselves that we are right and the messenger is wrong. Docility, teachability, is necessary, along with a clear understanding of the faith so we won't be led astray.

Among those who are called by God to be "prophets" by announcing his word are all of us who are baptized. We must be faithful to God's word, like Ezekiel — not changing the message to gain greater acceptance. We mustn't let opposition or rejection deter us, any more than Paul or Jesus did. But we must remain humble, as they did. For most of us, preaching the word is not a full time occupation. But if we are at all aware, we will notice occasions when we can, in small ways or large, tell people something they need to hear — a word confessing our own faith, a word of encouragement, a word of gentle rebuke. The world always needs to hear again of God's love and how we can best live in that love and in love for the world. God calls us to bring that message, at the very least by our lives.