A prophet tells believers what they do not want to hear. It is not the function of a prophet to foretell the future. However, biblical prophecy does sometimes spell out the natural consequences of the failure to heed the prophetic word. Biblical prophecy is about calling believers back to their covenant with God.
It usually takes the form of stark reminders, like the ones Jesus uses in today's Gospel. In our first reading from Jeremiah, we encounter a passage that is often applied universally:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,Whether or not this passage applies to everyone is not explicitly set out in it and cannot really be implied or extrapolated from it. This is God telling Jeremiah that he- Jeremiah- was born to wear the prophetic mantle. God then spells out to him what a heavy mantle it is.
before you were born I dedicated you,
a prophet to the nations I appointed you
Jesus, the prophet of prophets, in today's Gospel, tells his fellow Nazarenes what they do not want to hear. Jesus will not perform miracles on demand to prove to them that he is more than Joseph's son, the guy who grew up in Nazareth and who, seemingly, wasn't all that special. Rather, Jesus, holding up the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian, both non-Israelites, as examples of God's works, indicates that his mission and God's covenant are universal.
So infuriated were the Nazarenes at his refusal to do trick and what they no doubt perceived to be Jesus taunting them, that they sought to violently kill him. Of course, this is what utimately happened to Jesus when he arrived in Jerusalem proclaiming essentially the same prophetic message. Much of what the prophets castigated Israel for was their lack of love. Israel was often upbraided for their failure to care for widows and orphans, the rich exploiting the poor, as well as their mistreatment of foreigners in their midst.
If we don't let Jesus' teaching challenge us we are just like the Nazarenes. The result of our hardened hearts is that Jesus passes through our midst and goes away. You heed God's Spirit or the Spirit departs.
The Gospel is perennially challenging. Its challenge is the challenge to love. Love isn't necessarily some sappy, syrupy, soggy emotion. Love, agape is a choice, usually the hard choice. "Love," to quote an old Don Francisco song, "is not a feeling/It's an act of your will."
In our reading from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, the apostle makes clear that love is paramount. Considering the three so-called theological virtues, hope is the flower of faith and love is their fruit. So, if you refuse to love, you lack faith. It is as simple as that. Some of the most dangerous statements begin with the words, "I am a Christian but..." Following the disjunction is often a justification for behaving in an un-Christian manner.
It isn't easy to love your enemies. It isn't easy to do good to them, to pray for them, to ask God to bless them and not curse them. It's much easier to love those who love me and hate those who hate me. But the Lord himself says that if I only do that then I am just like everyone else and the cycle of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth goes on, and on, and on. Or, as Paul calls such a one: a banging gong or clashing cymbal.
How much time do you spend brooding over an injury rather than bearing the wrong patiently? How hard is it to trust God? How easy is it to try to play God, exacting vengeance, taking matters into your own hands, muttering threats and recriminations? Jesus' most prophetic act was being crucified.
To be holy is to love perfectly. Yes, there are times we need to speak to the truth in love but those times must be delicately discerned and be Spirit-led, AND happen in the context of a loving relationship.
Bending back Jeremiah 1:5 and connecting it to the other two readings, I think Timothy Radcliffe in his still indispensable book What Is the Point of Being a Christian?, does a good job of bending Jeremiah 1:5 back around, thus connecting it to the Gospel and our reading from First Corinthians, when he insists that we have
nothing to say about morality until our listeners have glimpsed God’s delight in their existence. People often come to us carrying heavy burdens, with lives not in accord with the Church’s teaching, the fruit of complex histories. We have nothing to say at all until people know that God rejoices in their very existence, which is why they exist at allLet's face it, there are few things more unwelcome in life than unsolicited advice or freely offered guidance. Such undertakings are anti-prophetic. Fewer things are more welcome than genuine care and concern, a listening ear and a sympathetic heart.
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