Prophets In Our Lives

Fourteenth Sunday in Course 2024

“Heed or resist, you rebels, you will know a prophet has been among you!” Today’s words from Ezekiel were not just for the Jewish leaders who had abandoned true worship of the One God, the Lord, for the obscene worship ceremonies centered around Baal and Astarte. The words are for all times and all cultures who have turned up their noses at the Ten Commandments and true worship. We need to focus on that this year because one of our major political parties has abandoned the founding principles of our nation, shunned commandments their constituents find offensive, and totally lost coherence with our Judaeo-Christian heritage. And the other major party is sometimes flirting with that same defection from God’s law.

Let’s all think briefly of a time when we have as individuals wandered from the Law of the Lord, because we are attracted toward something fun or pleasurable or beautiful and find that more attractive than our commitment to God. We are tempted to follow our unruly passions. Isn’t it true that you have to lie about what you are doing? And the longer you do it, the more you lie? In time, you are spending a lot of time and energy lying to yourself. You are calling evil good, and then you are calling good evil. It’s harder and harder to get away from the evil, and you are enjoying it less and less.

That’s why I believe deathbed conversions, though encouraging and possible, are not the norm. Evil actions become habits, and habits become addictions. In those cases, a true friend might try to tell me the truth, but I reject his words or her suggestions. Our friend is acting prophetically toward us. That is an act of love, real love.

Thus it was that Jesus, coming home to Nazareth, where He had grown up, preached His common message of repentance, and the townsfolk started saying, “ Who does this guy think he is? He was no big deal growing up. Who can listen to this preachy nonsense? Throw him out.” Their lack of faith froze Christ’s power.

Recently Carol Roth wrote a book, You will Own Nothing, and Be Happy About it. It takes a phrase from the World Economic Forum to show that debts are so high that, in many or most countries, home ownership is an unattainable dream, and that for the rest of our lives, most people will rent everything and have big trouble in retirement. That’s an oversimplification, but is kind of a prophetic look at a possible future. I think one of St. Paul’s more difficult “sells” to his congregations can be found in today’s Epistle, Christ’s words about trouble: “My grace is sufficient for you; in weakness, power reaches perfection.”

The plain fact is that a couple, once they have raised a three to five child household, can have more “stuff” than is needed for a happy life. That’s particularly true if you are “prepped” for more than a typical “power’s out for a day” emergency. So I’d suggest finding places like soup kitchens that can use today those food items you have stored away, you know the ones that have twenty-year shelf lives. If you can’t find a use for something, the poor–and those who serve them-- will always help you find a way to put it to better use than just lying around, gathering dust. It’s never a mistake to do good for others.