Word to the Wise
Friday, November 23, 2012 - Friday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rev 10:8-11 and Luke 19:45-48]Then the voice spoke to me and said: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, "Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey." [Rev.] The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words. [Luke]
I once gave my father a wall plaque with these words: "Lord, help my words today to be gracious and tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them." The expression, "to eat one's words," usually means that something one says later turns out to be erroneous or mistaken. However, in the passage from the Book of Revelation today it means to make the word of God a part of one's person so that when one speaks, it is with the words of God. In Jeremiah 15:16 and Ezekiel 3:1-3, the same idea is expressed - that of eating the words of God so that they become part of the prophet. The impact can be both positive and negative! In the passage from the Gospel of Luke, the "people were handing on [Jesus']words!" The chief priests, scribes and leaders of the people were scheming to get Jesus killed!
The image of eating a scroll with God's words on it may not seem very appetizing, but it is not much different than our eucharistic faith in consuming the Body and Blood of Christ! St. Augustine reminds us that in receiving the eucharist, we become what we eat. I would suggest that all of us can become part of God's word if we give ourselves to learning it well. I especially challenge anyone who has the opportunity to preach - whether he or she be an ordained minister or not - that "devouring" the word of God in the scriptures is the first and most important preparation. I mean more than the passage for the particular day or occasion. I mean a complete familiarity with the word of God. This is not so that quotes can spring to mind for "apologetic" purposes, but rather so that the word of God can become "incarnate" as it were in the person of the preacher. The Letter to the Hebrews 4:12 says, "The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword..." I pray that all of us, but especially those of us who are preachers, may become that living word which can be gracious and tender as well as sharp and penetrating. AMEN