Introduction: The readings begin today with the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel was called to prophesy to the defeated and exiled people of Israel. He was called to help the people find meaning in the terrible things that had happened to them. 597 years before the Lord, Jerusalem was attacked by the Babylonians. The terrible exile began. By 587 the center of Jewish faith life, the Temple, was destroyed. The people asked: Why didn’t God protect us? How was it that such disaster could have fallen upon us?
Point 1: Ezekiel was sent by the Spirit of God to explain the grim truth. The words he was given were not pleasant. In fact Ezekiel was told to eat a scroll on which three of God’s words to his people were written. Those words were lamentation, wailing and woe. The people were being punished because they had rebelled against God. The punishment would continue until there was a radical change in their whole religious orientation. Instead of being self absorbed they were directed to serving the Lord. God told Ezekiel that the people are not going to like what he had to say. But he also told him that whether the people agreed with him or not, one thing is for sure, they would know that there was a prophet in their midst.
Point 2: The Gospel presents Jesus teaching in a very hostile environment. Jesus had just given life to Jairus’ dead daughter. He had felt the faith of the woman with the hemorrhage and allowed his healing power to cure her. Although these might seem to be mighty works, they were not as difficult as the challenge that Jesus was presented with in today’s gospel. Jesus had to preach, had to proclaim the truth, to the people in his own part of the country. They didn’t want to hear what he had to say because he was too familiar to them. He was someone they had grown up with. They knew his family. How could he proclaim the truth of God?
Jesus preached. And then he moved on. His words were not received. People had no faith in him. In the Gospel of Mark, their lack of faith prevented Jesus from curing them. But Jesus still preached. A time eventually came when these people would remember that the great prophet of truth who himself was Truth Made Flesh, Truth Incarnate, taught in their towns.
Point 3: We are called to proclaim the truth, often we to people who do not want to hear the truth. Perhaps we have relatives who do not want to hear that their hatred for this or that person is only destroying them. Perhaps we have children or grandchildren who do not want to hear that some of their actions or the actions of their friends are improper, or even immoral. I am sure that there are some of our mothers and fathers who know that they will get into trouble with your teenage children if they say certain things or make certain demands. They know that it is easier to let things slide then to speak their mind and occasion a fight. To make matters worse, their children may get support from the families of their friends who do not share Christian values. But like Ezekiel, whether the people agree with us or not, whether our children agree with us or not, they must always know that we stand for the truth.
Conclusion: We are called to proclaim the truth before a very difficult environment. We are called to proclaim the truth before people who know us intimately. We have an additional burden that the Lord did not have. We are called to proclaim what is right and wrong before people who have seen us not only at our best, but also at our worse. That is why it is so important that our proclamation of the truth is made with our lives, not just with our words.
Still, we are all human. We all have temptations and failings. We have all sinned. It makes it so much harder for people to hear the truth of our words when they are aware of inconsistencies in our actions. But the truth is still the truth, regardless. But even if a person lived a spotless life, even if the person lived every sentence that he or she proclaimed, the people who know this person intimately would question his or her message. It is hard for any of us to recognize the working of God in someone we are very familiar with. It takes an act of humility on our parts to recognize that God is working through this person who is just like us. It took an act of humility for the people of Nazareth to see God’s presence in the carpenter’s son. He was just like them. How could he possibly have the Spirit of God working in him. It takes an act of humility for us to recognize the Spirit of God working though the lady next door, our spouse, our children or our parents. Can God actually speak to me through my child, my husband, my wife, my parents, my community members? He can, and he does.
The Roman Catholic Church knows what it stands for and proclaims it loud and clear. In our history we have never been concerned with whether a particular position is popular or not popular. We are the Catholic Church. We do not take polls to see what the people would like to believe in today. We stand with truth even when we are mocked. Yes, we recognize that we are a church whose leaders from Pope to newly confirmed teenager are human beings continually tempted to sin, but we do not doubt the ability of God to proclaim his truth through any of us.
Popular or not popular, emanating from a familiar source or from a stranger, emanating from a saint or a sinner, we believe that the truth of God must be proclaimed, heard and followed.
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, particularly those of you who are mothers and fathers, don’t doubt yourselves. Stand up for Christian values within your homes. If we stick with the truth, we will adhere to the Lord. He is the basis of all truth. He told us himself. He is the way, the truth and the life. Prophets may not be popular, or accepted in their home towns. But the message they proclaim will never die. “Thus says the Lord God,” Ezekiel was told, “whether they heed or resist, the people will know that a prophet has been among them.” Proclaim the truth, Live the truth. And your children will know that the Lord lives in your home.
REMEMBER this regarding the presence and power of God: Ordinary and human as the prophet usually is, he nevertheless, symbolizes the presence and authority of God for his times. As such he is primarily a representative: what he says, sees and does are all inspired and directed by God. The contemporaries of the prophet often find it difficult or even impossible to accept the role of their fellow citizen or churchman. “Where does he get all this. Aren’t his sisters our neighbors? They found him too much for them” (the Gospel). But if a prophet is dismissed or rejected, then God’s presence is diminished as well as His effectiveness in our lives, as we can see in today’s gospel where Jesus “could work no miracle … so much did their lack of faith distress him.” (Gospel)
By all appearances the prophet seems radical, unnecessary and even mad. But, in fact, he is a manifestation in both word and deed of God Himself. He acts as a corrective balance for the age in which he lives and despite whether we like him personally or his message, he is vital – he is necessary.
QUESTIONS THAT MAY LEAD TO OTHER THOUGHTS, DISCUSSIONS and SHARING
- As a Christian looking at your own nation, what do you consider the virtues and sins of the nation today?
- What are your own personal sins and virtues AS A CITIZEN?
- If you are a bad citizen, are you thereby a bad Catholic?
- Each age requires prophets of their own to assert and defend the divine point of view. In what way(s) recently have you exercised your baptismal prophetic vocation? Describe a couple of ways you have been a prophet to your time.
Reading I: Ezekiel 2:2-5
Responsorial Psalm: 123:1-2, 2, 3-4
Reading II: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Gospel: Mark 6:1-6