A homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 26, 2021
Nm 11:25-29, Jas 5:1-6, Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Let’s imagine a 3- or 4-year-old is playing in the yard some morning when firetrucks race by, lights flashing and sirens wailing. The child looks down the street, sees that the house where the emergency crews are headed is on fire, and then rushes inside to tell Mom or Dad what’s happening.
This child has become a prophet.
S/he sees the facts (firetrucks driving to the house that’s aflame), she understands the truth (a burning house is dangerous to life and property), she knows what must be done (douse the blaze) and she anticipates what the best result will be (fire extinguished, no one hurt, little damage).
This is not soothsaying or Nostradamus-like fortunetelling. Prophecy is extensive observation, critical thinking, action-planning and well-formed prediction, and we all can do it.
In fact, we all have been called to do it since our baptisms.
Immediately after we were baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, we were anointed priest, prophet and king just as Jesus was. All of us were.
As priests, we are called to serve all of God’s children as they would prefer to be served. We are called to serve in God’s name as God’s eyes and hands and hearts here on Earth.
As kings, we are called to lead all of God’s children home to their Creator according to their needs by using our God-given talents, skills and experience in whatever way works best for us. We have the light of Christ and the trail-blazing of the Holy Spirit to keep us on the right path, and we always have the love of God to sustain us on this shared journey.
As prophets … well, that’s where we often get tripped up. That’s where things seem a little thorny.
Scripture and secular history alike tell many stories about prophets being ignored, or being ridiculed, or even being tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail.
Can’t we just say best two out of three and stick with king and priest?
No, because the best of the three is prophet.
It starts with Creation Math. God gave most of us two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, 10 fingers, 10 toes, perhaps 25 square feet of skin.
These add up to a huge set of sensory organs, most of them functioning sharply.
We can smell decay and pollution. It’s been said we can smell fear.
We can hear gunfire. We can hear shouts of anger. We can hear cries for help. We can hear the soft sobbing of someone who needs our presence.
We can see the mess we’ve made of our fragile Earth. We can see unhoused people, people branded as “others” who’ve been pushed to the margins of society. We can see the effects of greed and wealth disparity and inequality.
Our senses tell us cold, hard facts.
Our hearts tell us the truth.
Our prophetic minds, inspired by God, lay out our plan of action. As prophets, we figure out how to fix things. How to set the world aright.
We know how to act, because we were called and anointed.
And act we must.
Especially when the actions are in God’s name.
For, as Jesus told Peter,
“There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”
We are called to be prophets, to see the truth that underlies the often cold and brutal facts of the global society we live in, to fashion an action plan and proclaim it boldly. We are called to gather fellow children of God to help us carry it out, and then act without fear or hesitation. Tar and feathers be damned.
All of Creation will profit from our prophecy.
