As I reflected on the readings for this Sunday it occurred to me that Jesus’ words found in Luke 4:24, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place,” are as true today as they were then. In fact, throughout history prophets have been scorned, ridiculed, imprisoned and killed – usually by their own people. Nobody likes prophets.
What is it about the prophetic voice that turns us against it? Prophets do not settle for the status quo. They are not team players. They are politically incorrect and they embarrass us. Prophets are radical. They do not stand silently in the face of prejudice, bigotry, oppression or injustice. Prophets get in our faces and shout the truth no matter what the cost. They call us to be faithful to God and to the Gospel. And they shout because that is the only way they can get our attention. Being a prophet is a high-risk occupation.
In today’s first reading God told Jeremiah that he was going to be “a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes,
against its priests and people.” For his obedience to God Jeremiah suffered arrest, imprisonment, and public disgrace. St. Paul the Apostle, who wrote the beautiful passage about love in our second reading from 1 Corinthians 13, was beaten, imprisoned several times, abandoned by many of his followers and ultimately executed.
Jesus was not just another prophet. He is the Word of God. In Matthew 10:17-18, Jesus told his disciples “Beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans.” Later on, in verse 34 Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” Jesus escaped from the angry people of Nazareth. The escape route he took ultimately led him to Jerusalem and death.
The question for us today is whose voice are you going to listen to?
Lord God, our Father,
You know us and you keep loving us
even when we fail you and one another.
Your love went as deep as giving up your own Son,
that we might live and learn to love.
Fill our hearts with a constant, grateful love
and let it overflow upon our brothers and sisters.
Give us the strength to keep loving people
even when we still bear the scars
of the hurt others have caused us.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Amen.
