[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Thursday, 05 July, 2012, 13th Week, Ordinary Time
A PROPHET OF GOD IN BOTH WORD AND DEED
SCRIPTURE READINGS: AMOS 7:10-17; MT 9:1-8

Prophecy is a gift to every Christian community. God always sends prophets to speak His word to every community. A prophet is chosen by God to speak on His behalf and on behalf of the people. He is the mediator between God and man. Amos was chosen from the southernkingdom ofJudah. He was a shepherd but called upon by God to be a prophet toIsrael. He was a reluctant prophet. When questioned about his credentials to be a prophet, he replied to Amaziah, “I was a shepherd, and looked after sycamores: but it was the Lord who took me from herding the flock, and the Lord who said, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ So listen to the word of the Lord.”

This means that we do not choose to be a prophet in life. It is a gift or charism given by the Lord. It is a calling and a vocation. Otherwise, we end up like the false prophets of Israel. For this reason, when we are called, we are under obligation to carry out the command of God. Not to do so would be to betray our conscience. We are called to be courageous like Amos who, although would had been much happier to stay where he was as a shepherd, felt the call to speak the Word of God.

Indeed, Amos was rejected because he did not appear to Amaziah that he had the caliber to be a prophet. After all, he himself admitted that he was unlike them, not a professional prophet. In the gospel too, the religious leaders could not accept Jesus acting in the place of God. Hence, they were scandalized that someone among them who was hardly a rabbi or a prophet could forgive the sins of the paralyzed man. Like Amos, Jesus too was rejected and seen as an enemy of God and the people.

Furthermore, he was perceived as an enemy when he was sent by God to save the people from further destruction. In their defensiveness and their blindness to their sins, they accused Amos of plotting to bring down the nation. Of course this was far from the truth. A prophet is always for the people and not against the people. Prophet Amos would have gladly kept quiet instead of uttering news that his people did not want to hear; and as a result got himself persecuted and hated.

The stark truth is that it is difficult to be a prophet. People do not want to hear bad news from us, especially when it is the truth about themselves. People only want to hear good things and good news. This was the case with Prophet Amos. He was not welcomed in Israel because he spoke out against Jeroboam and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Jesus too unsettled the religious leaders by forgiving the man’s sins. He knew that the cause of the man’s paralysis was his sins rather than his physical illness.

The only way for a prophet to vindicate himself is to witness to the word of God not only by word, but also by action. Indeed, in the Old Testament, most of the prophets carried out the prophetic word or action in their lives to dramatize the word of God.

Jesus in today’s gospel showed Himself to be a true prophet by confirming that He was the spokesman of God in person through His actions. The scribes felt that Jesus was bordering on blasphemy in forgiving the sins of the paralytic man. For by so doing, Jesus was acting in place of God, since He was exercising that power on God’s behalf. Thus to allay the doubts of the people, Jesus said to the man, “Get up, and pick up your bed and go off home.” So, the words of Jesus were certainly matched by His actions.

Hence, for a true prophet, we need to justify our claims by more than what we say. Rather, it is verified only by what we do. All that we say would serve no real purpose unless we ourselves live by our proclamation. Only then would people react to us as they did to Jesus, praising “God for giving such power to men.” Yes, when we become real prophets, our very prophetic role would give a feeling of awe to people around us.

The question we have to ask ourselves today is whether we are responding to the call to be prophets in the circumstances of our lives; and whether we act like true or false prophets. Let us not think that only professional theologians and scholars are worthy to be prophets. As the scripture readings have shown us, God calls the most unlikely people to be His prophets. God of course speaks through His Church, especially the Bishops, but He also calls even ordinary people like us to act as His spokesman to our family members, colleagues and friends. Prophets need not only speak negative words but rather, we can be positive in our message like Jesus who called the man, “my child.” We need not always speak in such harsh words like Amos. In fact, we should be encouraging, compassionate and inspiring. Our task is to bring people to awareness and conversion.

At the end of the day, what we say is less important than how we live by our convictions. That is why we can only be true prophets, if we are intimate with God and know Him just as Jesus knew His Father; and acted on His behalf to forgive sins. If Jesus could heal, it was because He knew His Father so intimately that He was confident His Father would act through Him. We too can speak with conviction and truth only when we know what the Father wants us to speak to those under our charge. Without a prayerful discernment of His voice, we would only mislead people and quite often allow our fears and insecurities, like the false prophets, to confuse His word with ours.

On our part, let us be receptive and discerning to the prophets God sends into our lives. Let us not judge a person or a prophet by its cover, that is, his external credentials and status in society. Rather, judge him on the basis of whether he knows God deeply and is speaking without vested interests but solely for the good of humanity and the Church. Let us welcome the prophets that God sends to us so that we might avert disasters in our lives.