Readings (Year B):
Numbers 11:25 – 29
Psalms 19:8, 10, 12 – 13, 14
James 5:1 – 6
Mark 9:38 – 43, 45, 47 – 48
Reflection: We are all called to be prophets
The readings for this Sunday provide us with a remarkable insight on how we champion and continue to work for Jesus as a prophet in our modern context.
We know the story of the stubbornness and double-minded ways of Israel, as conveyed in sacred scripture. Because of the great burden of ministering to a nation so obstinate, God shared the Holy Spirit with seventy elders, so Moses could have assistance with the responsibility to care for Israel’s needs. However, when Joshua observed that two non-anointed members were prophesying, he alerted God’s chosen mediator and prophet out of concern that others were prophesying in a manner that wasn’t consistent with the ordination of the elders.
After hearing this desperate plea, Moses dropped a bombshell on Joshua: “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!” These magnificent words from a central figure in salvation history find us today and provide an eye-opening look into what it means to be a prophet of God.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 1241): “The anointing with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop, signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a Christian, that is, one ‘anointed’ by the Holy Spirit, incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king.”
By being baptized, we share in this amazing role as a prophet and carry the same torch that so many figures in the Bible had the opportunity to carry. With this role comes a huge responsibility to summon nations and people to submit to God. Just as the major and minor prophets in the Hebrew scriptures did, we must echo themes of condemnation of failures to adhere to the precepts of God, and the need for repentance to rectify the severed relationship with God.
Because we live in a social world, the Catholic Church has given us a remarkable social teaching that allows us to live out the prophetic witness. As the second reading from the Book of James demonstrates, it is an abomination for excessive greed and power to be a vessel of exploitation of those powerless. In keeping with the tradition of the Hebrew prophets, to embrace this role means to forcefully proclaim the bold precepts of God’s law that demands human dignity and justice for those that need allies. In addition, in our modern world we embrace the role of being a prophet by demanding companies, governments, leaders, business, employers turn away from their evil practices and rectify their wrongs with reparation and restitution of harm, misuse, or deceit.
No leader exemplified this better than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He spoke the truth about America to combat white racism and champion Black liberation. King continued the prophetic witness of Jesus, hoping to redeem the bankrupt morality of a depraved nation, by demanding measures for justice to redeem a fallen country. “Be true to what you said on paper,” he declared in his last speech, the day before his assassination— holding the nation responsible for the sins of a counterfeit promissory note.
The responsorial Psalm affirms that the law of the Lord is joy to the heart. Because we have this privileged position as prophets on behalf of God, we carry the law of truth, wisdom, justice. No longer are the days when we have to speculate and wonder about the bestowing of the spirit. Through our baptism that ignites our prophetic role, may we proclaim the word of God and strive that God’s precepts be faithfully implemented.
Add comment