In our readings today, we hear three prophetic voices: Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus. Prophets have an enormous responsibility. It is their job to proclaim God’s message and to bring people who have strayed back to God. Prophets are God’s PR people. Unfortunately, for most of the prophets, the people who were on the receiving end of God’s messages did not appreciate what God had to say. Of course, God did not make it easy for the prophets; he sent them to people who were “hard of face and obstinate of heart” (Ezekiel 2:4).
Not only were the people obstinate, they were the family, neighbors, friends and community members of the prophets. They knew the prophets as ordinary people who did ordinary things. Therefore, the people were not inclined to take Ezekiel, Paul or Jesus very seriously. Publilius Syrus, a writer in the 1st century BC coined the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt.” And contempt is exactly what the prophets experienced among their own people. In today’s gospel from Mark 6:1-6, Jesus observed, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” Worse than contempt, prophets often were subjected to ridicule, rejection, abuse and death at the hands of the very people they were trying to save.
By our baptism, each one of us shares “in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1268). We are called to be prophets. We are commissioned to proclaim God’s message to our families, neighbors, and friends and in our communities. We also run the risk of humiliation, ridicule, rejection and abuse. Being a prophetic voice in today’s culture takes courage. The good news is that we are not alone. In our second reading today, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Jesus tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."
God, our Father, your Son, your Word,
came among us as one of our own flesh and blood.
Help us to welcome him always and to listen to what he tells us,
even when his Word upsets and disturbs us, for it is a Word of life and grace.
Give us the courage to pass on his Word to one another,
that it may liberate us all and lead us to you as your one people.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
