Homily: 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Friends,
God’s word presents us today with the figure of the prophet. In the first reading, we heard of the call of
Jeremiah, one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. And, in the Gospel reading, we heard Jesus acting
in his role as prophet as we heard him speak prophetically in the synagogue at
Nazareth.
Now,
a prophet is a discomforting figure.
She/he is one who courageously speaks what is true, most often to people
who are comfortable living in a way that distorts the truth. Let’s take our first reading prophet,
Jeremiah: God called him to go before the king of Judah and to tell him that he
was ruling improperly, that he had transgressed against God’s law, and that he
had to repent and amend his ways or Judah would be invaded and overthrown by
foreigners. You can imagine that, for a
king who was comfortable in how he was living and ruling, this would be an
unwelcome message; and indeed, it was.
If you read the book of Jeremiah, you’ll find that the king had Jeremiah
thrown into a dry cistern (a water pit) and was left there to die. (The king repented of that and Jeremiah didn’t
die, but you see how discomforting Jeremiah’s prophecy was to him.)
Of
course, we read of what happened to Jesus when he prophesied in the synagogue
at Nazareth. After he declared himself
to be the Messiah, and after everyone “spoke highly of him”, Jesus detects that
the people of Nazareth are starting to think that, because Jesus is from
Nazareth, they are going to start to garner favors because Jesus was “one of
them”. Jesus’ prophecy is to remind them
of the ways of God: that it is not often those who seem to be closest to him who
receive the most favors. Jesus reminds
them that, in the time of famine, Elijah was sent to a foreign woman; and although
none of the Israelite lepers was healed, a foreigner was. The people in Nazareth are so discomforted by
Jesus’ prophecy that they try to kill him.
We read, of course, that Jesus escaped “from the midst of them” before
they could satisfy their murderous rage.
The
thing about prophets, however, (that is, true prophets of God) is that when
they speak the truth, they are never wielding it as a weapon, with intent to
harm. Rather, they are always sent to
correct. In other words, when a true prophet
of God speaks the truth, she/he does so not to try to discredit someone or take
power over him or her, but rather to highlight where that person is wrong and
to call him or her to put it right.
Jeremiah’s prophecy to the king was not so that he could prove that he
would be a better king. Rather, it was
so that the king might turn away from his wrongdoing before something terrible
happened to him and his kingdom. Jesus’
prophecy wasn’t meant to insult (and, therefore, enrage) the people of Nazareth—his
relatives and neighbors—but rather to remind them that, when the Messiah came,
he would come for the good of all people, not just the good of one nation of
people. ///
Most
times, prophets use words to speak the truth and to call to correction. Many times, however, a prophet will prophesy
purely through actions. One of the lesser-known
prophets of the Old Testament, the prophet Hosea, was often called by God to
perform outlandish acts in order to proclaim a discomforting truth and to demonstrate
its damaging effects. In one example,
Hosea was called to perform acts of penance—tearing his garments and pouring
ashes over his head—and then to crawl in the middle of the night to the city
wall and to dig a hole through it and leave the city. He did this to show that the inhabitants of
Jerusalem would be overcome by invaders and, in penance and shame, strive to
escape the city in the most humiliating way.
In
our own times, Pope Francis has been a prophetic figure like these, both by his
words and by his actions. For example, we
know that he often calls all people to have respect for migrants and to try to
help them. He speaks the Gospel truth to
us when he sees migrants being ignored or maltreated and he calls us to
remember Jesus’ words, “What you did to the least of these, you did it to me.” However, he also speaks this truth to us with
his actions: like when he visited the migrant camps on the Italian island of
Lampedusa. In doing so, he demonstrated
the Gospel truth (about which he spoke) with his actions. ///
Friends,
each of us, because of our baptism, is called to be a prophet. This is because we are baptized into Jesus
Christ, who is priest, prophet, and king.
Perhaps, however, the idea of being a prophet in today’s world is
terrifying. If we are paying attention,
we see that those who speak discomforting truths in today’s world are treated
much like Jeremiah was treated by the king of Judah and like Jesus was treated
by his neighbors in Nazareth: that is, all means are taken to silence their
voices. Nonetheless, I still think that
our time is a time for prophecy; but I think that it is a time for prophecy by
action more than words.
In
our second reading, we heard Saint Paul’s famous passage on love. He describes love in terms of action, not
feeling: “love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous…” etc. You’ll remember that, when we were last
together for Mass, we heard the passage where Saint Paul wrote of the different
spiritual gifts and about how all the gifts—from the greatest to the smallest—were
important to make the Body of Christ complete.
In today’s passage, we hear him say, “Strive eagerly for the greatest
spiritual gifts”, reminding us that he believes that the gifts are good and
should be sought after! But he continues
to say that the gifts are useless if they are not founded in love: love, which
expresses itself in actions.
Friends,
in a culture in which a cacophony of voices is constantly demanding to be heard,
to be a prophet who speaks a discomforting truth into the world would be
difficult, at best. With so many voices
fighting to be heard, most people begin to “tune out” and ignore the
voices. So, how can ours be heard? “Actions speak louder than words”, the proverb
says, thus pointing to our answer. Although
people may be able to “tune out” the cacophony of voices surrounding them, we
all continue to remain sensitive to how actions make us feel. When we witness a police officer, a fire
fighter, a doctor or a nurse perform a courageous act, we instinctively
recognize the truth that we were made to be courageous and so we ask ourselves,
“Could I be that courageous?” The same
is true for actions that demonstrate the truth of love. When we see a true, selfless act of love, we instinctively
recognize the truth that we were made to love in that way and so we are forced
to asked ourselves, “Am I loving in that way?”, which can lead to the
conclusion, “I should love in this way and so will strive to do so.”
My
brothers and sisters, our time calls us to be prophets and to prophesy through
our actions. Saint Paul shows us the “still
more excellent way” through which we can prophesy through our actions. These actions are not complicated, but they
are often not easy. Let me set a couple
of examples on top with which we can begin.
1) Take no offense at people. Today, everyone is offended. If we can take no offense, even if we are
intentionally wronged, it will be a powerful witness to love. 2) Forgive others. I cannot emphasize this enough. Forgiving those who have hurt us—particularly
if they don’t deserve it—is a radical witness to the truth of love. Jesus himself witnessed to these two things in
his own life. If we are to live authentically
Christian lives, then we, too, must do these things. When we live authentically Christian lives,
we will be prophets: discomforting to some, but clarions to others who will
turn back to God and be saved.
My
brothers and sisters, in this Eucharist, let us give thanks to God that he has
called us to be his prophets; and let us ask for the grace to live this
prophetic vocation every day.
Given in Spanish at St. Paul Parish: Marion, IN – January 29th,
2022
Given in Spanish at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish:
Monticello, IN – January 30th, 2022
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