Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'B'

Sunday July 12, 2009

The ‘Art’ of Prophecy

The story is told about an eloquent preacher who was asked by a member of his congregation to recite Psalm 22, also known as “The Shepherd’s Psalm.” The preacher was gifted in oratory and had put to memory many biblical texts that he was able to recite with dramatic flair at will with little or no notice.

But there was in the congregation an elderly ‘pilgrim’ of deep faith and piety, a humble man whose life epitomized the life of the good shepherd. The preacher turned to the one making the request and then pointing to the elderly man in the pew replied, “Invite him. Indeed, I know the shepherd psalm by heart but this man knows the Shepherd.”

Amos was such a man who lived eight centuries before Christ and although he obviously didn’t know him, he knew the Lord well and is considered by biblical scholars, a prototype of Jesus. He was a poor layman of humble stock about whom little is known except that he was a country boy, a shepherd and a migrant worker from a small Judean town named Tekoa not far from the northern board of Israel. He received a call from God to go up to the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II to preach reform to people whose wealth and power had corrupted them. You can read a description of the state of affairs in any standard commentary on the text. Although at its peak of power and prosperity, it was in large measure a decadent society socially, politically and spiritually. It would not be an overstatement to suggest that Amos was less than diplomatic and politically correct when he addressed the men as “fat cats” and the women as “fat cows.” I’m not sure whether it was gall or courage that drove him to speak so directly and so boldly but his words were compelling.

Amaziah, the official priest of Jeroboam’s regime was an insider charged with the responsibilities connected with religious protocol and official worship – a sort of ‘Monsignor’ I suppose. He was a politically correct professional religious cleric and he served at the pleasure of the king. Amos threatened not only the religious but also the political and social status quo. In fact it was his God-fearing moral tone that permeated his criticism of the decline in the social and political mores of Israel and alienated him from the entire population except perhaps for the poorest members who were the primary victims of the corrupt society. In his mind there was no such thing as political and social life distinct from the laws of justice or devoid of religious meaning and of course, he was correct.

Amaziah wanted Amos expelled, deported back to where he belonged. Amos remained steadfast and would not be deterred from what he truly believed was God’s call. In a terse reply to Amaziah, he reiterated in simple language that because God sent him, he had no choice but to acquiesce to God’s call. That’s it in a nutshell whether or not the king liked it.

Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was composed as a prayer of praise and blessing to accompany the celebration of Christian baptism that is the initial call to enter the full life of Christ as a member of his body. Paul, also a layman, was very conscious of this call and took very seriously, his partnership with God in Christ. He was a missionary and a prophet. Like Amos, his words were more compelling than entertaining. Last week we heard his confession of humanity that he insisted did not stand in the way of his call because he was empowered by Christ to speak for Christ. It took a long time for Paul to recognize his call but once he was convinced of its genuiness, he could not be deterred from preaching Christ crucified and risen from the death until his own death but he fulfilled his call with true humility and joy knowing that his strength came from God.

Though Son of God, Jesus was an itinerant lay preacher whose mission and ministry was uncomplicated. Unlike Amos or even Paul, he was what we might call a ‘gentle reformer’ not in the sense that he was soft or wimpy but like that described in the prophecy of Isaiah, “a bruised reed he would not break nor flickering flame will he snuff out.” His used parables and stories that contained lessons from nature and ordinary human experiences. He was meek and innocent but he was not naïve. He knew how the human mind and heart could be deceived but he never gave up on humanity even to the extent that he absorbed the effects of sin individual and communal, personal and institutional.

So the description of his commission to the disciples should not surprise us and it is from this commission that we are invited to take our own cue.

Though not completely aware of the implications of our call at Baptism, we grew to understand that call with the help of all the priests, preachers and prophets in our lives, most of whom are lay persons—parents, teachers and mentors and a host of people who challenge us to be our best selves without hassling us. Challenges stretch us and help us to grow; hassles stifle growth and limit access to truth.

So who are the prophets that have kept us honest in our pursuit of holiness, who got us to think through the issues of the day that we respond and act with integrity?

Sometimes prophets come from within the ranks of church leadership. Where would we be as Church were it not for Pope John XXIII when he convened the Second Vatican Council? He was a prophet whose time had come to challenge the Church not to condemn the world, but to engage the world in a dialogue that would allow us to discover new truths that would free us from the things that oppress humanity and prevent us from becoming all that God has destined us to be.

Prior to Vatican II, popes tended to oppose the world, issuing condemnatory statements against what they perceived to be a threat to the very existence of the Church, arbitrarily naming scientific theories and social-political movements as anti-Catholic “modernism” and even as it pertains to the American principle of the separation of church and state.
Vatican II was not just about liturgical changes but about a change in the mind and heart of the Church itself transforming it from an institution at odds with the world to a movement that acknowledged human progress while at the same time remaining faithful to the basic truths of Christianity. Pope John sought to ‘engage’ the world in a dialogue that would lead to a new truth that would enable all humanity to progress toward its destiny intended by God. This was also the underlying principle of ecumenism and dialogue with other religious traditions and even those of no specific religious tradition.

Pope John XXIII cautioned us to be aware of false prophets whom he referred to as “prophets of doom” who insisted on the rigid status quo, virtually isolating the Church from the world. These prophets of doom are still around and can be found among church leadership of every rank, clerical and non-clerical. They live in fear of truth and they deny the reality of the living Christ living within the Church in various cultures throughout the world and even in the hearts of those who do not know Christ.

That stated, it is still true that the Church has been prophetic in its teachings about the seamless garment of life and about the evil of war and poverty rooted in injustice. And yet, this does not preclude an honest and intelligent and authentic dialogue with those who view the nuances of right-to-life cases and causes as not as clean and clear as we.

We do not check our intelligence at the door of the church when we enter.

Where would the Church be without St. Joan of Arc and Catherine of Siena and a host of other individuals from the faithful at large who have challenged the Church to be true to its mission throughout the centuries? Joan of Arc was condemned by the Church and burned at the stake. Catherine was responsible for the return of the papacy from its estranged and confused locations in Avignon to Rome.

Thomas Merton is a marvelous example of the prophet whose prophecy was rooted in the contemplative life behind the cloister but whose words still impact on the lives of people in the streets around the globe, many of them Catholic, many of them of other religious traditions and of no specific religious tradition.

There are prophets among theologians and human rights activists to whom we must be attentive.

Some prophets come from ‘outside the walls’ as it were. Where would the Church be without the prophecy of Martin Luther King? The Church was as guilty of racism as the nation at large. Human rights activists have a prophetic role in the world and in the Church.

Women have a particular prophetic role in the world and in the Church today. The issues that face women in the world and in the Church are not going away and they will not be dismissed easily by the men in black or purple or white.

Even priests can be prophets. I recall on one occasion many years ago, I was waxing eloquent about an issue I felt impelled to explore prphetically with the congregation at Christmas. Two women left in the middle of my homily. I thought to myself, “uh oh, I have ruffled their feathers. I’m in trouble.” I caught up with them after Mass to inquire if my prophetic remarks had been too strong? They responded, “Oh, no. Neither one of us knew what you were talking about. It was just getting too hot in there!” I’m not sure whether they were referring to the heat in the church or what they considered ‘hot air’ from the pulpit!

I suppose in some sense, they had become a bit prophetic to me as their pastor, i.e., “Keep the message, prophetic or otherwise, clear and simple!” Thank you!

Is there a prophet in your life? I hope so. Is it possible that you may be a prophet to someone or to the Church itself?

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