Reflection for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)
Today’s readings are meant to present to us a deeper perspective into what constitutes the prophetic diakonia of a servant of the kingdom of God. What is a prophet, and what do these Scriptures tell us about this special ministry?
Literally, a prophet is a person who can speak about or explain future events, and it appears to have been typically used in the religious context of a supernatural ability to be in contact with, to convey messages from, and to represent a divine being to a multitude of people.
Pertaining to my previous essay, both apostles and prophets proclaim messages, but the main difference between them seems to lie in the apostle “being sent off,” or in this ministry’s ad extra missionary activity.
The word is derived from the Greek word “prophétés” [προφήτης], which means “to tell (phesein) in advance (pro)”. This same word was used to translate the Hebrew word “nāvî” [נָבִיא ] which simply means “spokesperson”. Hence, its use in Scriptures may have been originally intended to refer to any person who speaks in behalf of God – “I shall raise up a prophet from their midst, one of their brothers, who will be like you. I will put my words into his mouth and he will tell them all that I command.” (Dt 18: 18).
In relation again to the Pauline image of a living and dynamic Church founded on the common ethos of mutual responsibility, wherein each and every person is obliged to serve the other according to his or her gifts, a prophet was then understood to have been given the particular gift of listening to and acting as the voice of God. A prophet is thus, both a helpful guide for those who have “hardened hearts” and are straying from the way of the Spirit, as well as a lingering and disturbing conscience over established communities who are tempted to disobey or rebel against the Abba who provides for and blesses us all.
Like all the other Church roles mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, the “title” signifies only the tasks the person must accomplish given one’s gifts, not a declaration of a social position one has attained or “has been given by God” over another. Indeed, because the prophesying agent is fully accountable for anything and everything he or she utters in the Father’s name, this specific function is far from self-serving: it cannot and should not be dragged into the support of or subjection under strange human ideologies.
In Mark’s visualization of the example of Christ as “prophet”, because of their unique ability to serve as the most direct link from God to his people, prophets speak with an authority that emanates from within. They do not just talk about what God had told them; they pronounce messages that always leaves us with the deep and mysterious impression that the Father has personally exhorted or admonished us for our behavior. Not only can prophets speak with authority, they can also act with power. Through them, they enforce God’s decisions to heal or destroy, as well as channel his power to create and re-create. Truly, in every aspect of their transcendent character, they have become the embodiments of God himself.
But Mark reminds us that prophets have not come to amaze us with “their working with miracles”, or to attract us to them that they can intercede for us to God “to fulfill our desires and wishes”: they have primarily come to disturb and annoy us with the folly of our sins against God and against others.
Therefore, a bitter consequence of such a perilous mission “condemns” prophets to commit to a life of loneliness – loving everybody yet unloved by anybody – in order for them to fully devote themselves to the affairs of our Lord. In the process of compelling our much-needed social reformation for the sake of an everlasting peace, prophets must uncompromisingly be willing to be rejected and to suffer for the good of all.
Brother Jess Matias is a professed brother of the Secular Franciscan Order. He serves as minister of the St. Pio of Pietrelcina Fraternity at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Mandaluyong City, coordinator of the Padre Pio Prayer Groups of the Capuchins in the Philippines and prison counselor and catechist for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
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