Seeing believing and being a prophet

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge our response to our Baptismal role of prophet.

Looking at political motives

In the Book of the Prophet Amos, the authority of Amos to prophesy is attacked by Amaziah.

* [7:14] I am not a prophet: Amos reacts strongly to Amaziah’s attempt to classify him as a “prophet-for-hire” who “earns [his] bread” by giving oracles in exchange for payment (cf. 1 Sm 9:3–10; Mi 3:5). To disassociate himself from this kind of “professional” prophet, Amos rejects outright the title of nabi’ (“prophet”). By profession he is a herdsman/sheepbreeder and a dresser of sycamore trees, but God’s call has commissioned him to prophesy to Israel.

In the Gospel from Matthew, the authority of Jesus to forgive sins is questioned by the Scribes as they witness Jesus heal a paralytic.

* [9:8] Who had given such authority to human beings: a significant difference from Mk 2:12 (“They…glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this’”). Matthew’s extension to human beings of the authority to forgive sins points to the belief that such authority was being claimed by Matthew’s church.

Cindy Costanzo shares she would need someone to console her and try to decipher what had just happened if she was a witness to Jesus action in the Gospel.

I would like to think that the one person I reached out to would challenge my doubts, fears, and resistance. That one person would have more faith and courage than I.  S/he would trust and believe the truth of Jesus performing this miracle. That one person would make a difference in my life, change my disbelief into belief. In that moment of change perhaps redirect my purpose in life?
The power of that one moment and how one person can make a difference.  I pray to be that person when someone reaches out to me. A person of faith, strength, and courage who believes.

Don Schwager reflects on how Jesus' treatment of sinners upset the religious teachers of the day.

When a cripple was brought to Jesus because of the faith of his friends, Jesus did the unthinkable. He first forgave the man his sins. The scribes regarded this as blasphemy because they understood that only God had authority to forgive sins and to unbind a man or woman from their burden of guilt. Jesus claimed an authority which only God could rightfully give. Jesus not only proved that his authority came from God, he showed the great power of God's redeeming love and mercy by healing the cripple of his physical ailment. This man had been crippled not only physically, but spiritually as well. Jesus freed him from his burden of guilt and restored his body as well.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Amos 7:10-17 asserts that we don’t have an international platform like Pope Francis, but we can still be a prophet right where we are.

So many people lack hope today. So many people feel trapped in sin. So many are bound in selfishness. And you have an important message to share with them. You can remind them that God has plans to give them a future full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11). You can proclaim it every time you go out of your way to care for someone who is hurting. You can announce it every time you gently but firmly stand up for your faith or for the needs of the poor, the unborn, and the marginalized. Your words and actions can make a difference. You can be a prophet.

Friar Jude Winkler provides background on the political situation in the banana republic of the northern kingdom in which Amos was a prophet. When God speaks we must act, as Amos declares. Jesus shows it is easier to heal a broken body than a broken heart as His actions anger the Scribes, Friar Jude observes.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that America’s unhealthy economics and politics persist because we largely operate out of a worldview of scarcity, which leads to actual scarcity: there is not enough land, healthcare, water, money, and housing for all of us, and there are never enough guns to keep us safe. He cites work by Charles Eisenstein on the role of money.

The money system is a game of musical chairs, a mad scramble in which some are necessarily left out. . . . It is an outgrowth of our attitude of scarcity.




As many have said, there is more than enough for our need but never enough for our greed. In the midst of the structural stinginess and over-consumption of our present world, how do we change consciousness and operate from mercy and graciousness? The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the mind is apparently unable to imagine anything infinite or eternal. So it cannot conceive an infinite love, or a God whose “mercy is everlasting” (Psalm 136) as the psalmist continually shouts, or grace which builds upon grace (see John 1:16).

The maintenance of the status quo by ecstatic prophets for hire, or religious and political leaders who profit materially by promoting myths needs challenge by disciples of Christ who exercise their Baptismal gift of being a prophet.

References

(n.d.). Amos, chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 5, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/amos/7

(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 9 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 5, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/matthew/9:1

(n.d.). Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved July 5, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 5, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). Independence Day (USA) - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved July 5, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/

(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 5, 2018, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/