CT - Catholic Telegraph

The inherent dangers of being a prophet

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Ezechiel 2:2-5.

Ezekiel was carried off to Babylon in the deportation that took place in 597 B.C. The destruction of Jerusalem and the definitive deportation of the Jews would occur in 587 B.C. In between these two dates, about 593 B.C., Ezekiel received his call to be a prophet.

This call came in the context of a vision of God's majesty that is recounted in the first chapter of Ezekiel's book. In the second chapter (from which this Sunday's reading is taken), God's attention is focused on Ezekiel. God's words and actions spell out various elements that are involved in the prophetic vocation. God also tells the prophet to what kind of people he is being sent.

The reading begins with Ezekiel receiving God's spirit, i.e., power that would enable the prophet to hear God's word. Next God sets him on his feet, i.e., puts him in a posture of leadership. God informs Ezekiel that he is being sent to the Israelites to speak God's word to them. To be imbued with God's spirit, to have a certain prominence, to be sent, to speak God's word: all that is involved in being a spokesman for God, in being a prophet among God's people.
But our reading also describes the public to which the prophet is being sent. They are rebellious even as their ancestors were. They are hard-hearted and obstinate. They may or may not heed what God says to them through His prophet. God does not send prophets because the people are submissive and obedient. God sends prophets to rescue His people from their self-destructive sinfulness.

This Old Testament reading is linked to the Sunday Gospel (Mark. 6:1-6) by two themes. The first is the theme of prophecy. The second is the theme of disbelief and rejection.

Like Ezekiel, Jesus was a prophet and was fully aware of His prophetic calling. In the Gospel reading, it is Jesus who applies the term "prophet" to himself. This meant that Jesus was in touch with the Spirit of the Father. He had been given a position of prominence in the religious life of His time. He had been sent to God's people, sent to speak to them in God's own name. All the qualities that defined Ezekiel's vocation were also part of Jesus' mission. Jesus was a prophet like Ezekiel. His mission of prophecy was one that fit in clearly with the whole prophetic tradition of the Israelites, beginning with Moses. Jesus was sent to speak to the people with the voice of God. He was a prophet.

But, like the other prophets, Jesus was not received with openness and joy. God had warned Ezekiel that he was being sent to a people that had rejected God, a rejection that had brought them into exile in Babylon. The people to whom Jesus was sent were not particularly receptive of Him. In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus' own relatives and neighbors sneer at His prophetic claims. "He can't be special," they said, "He's just like us." "And they took offense at Him." This offense that we see at work in Jesus' home-town would eventually constitute the general response to His whole mission. By the end of Jesus' life, His prophetic mission - His proclamation of God's word - would win Him a level of hostility that would lead Him to the death of a criminal.

Being a prophet can be dangerous. The prophet finds himself in the middle between the demands of God and the reactions of the people to whom he is sent to speak. Almost by definition a prophet is unpopular. After all, if everybody were already in agreement with what the prophet was sent to proclaim, there would be no need of the prophet. The fact that a prophet is in their midst is a sign that the people are in need of teaching and exhortation that may not necessarily be comforting or welcome to them.

In our time, the church carries forward the prophetic mission of Ezekiel and Jesus. The church has been constituted, called and sent by God to speak God's word to the world. And God's word is not always easily understood. God's word is not always easily accepted.

We shouldn't be surprised if not everybody accepts the dogmas of the church. We shouldn't be surprised if we ourselves find certain aspects of church teaching to be difficult to receive. God's word is always demanding, challenging, even threatening. And the human creatures to whom that teaching is addressed have always been selfish, defensive, sinful.

Prophets and prophetic proclamation are generally not popular. But they are very important if we are to remain in touch with God, and God with us.

For reflection and discussion

Is being a prophet something to be desired? Why or why not?

To what extent is God's people of today obedient? Rebellious?