RBWords

     Jeremiah made the religious authorities of his time uncomfortable, but the political leaders and ordinary people believed what he said.  He manages to escape the sentence of death that the religious authorities wanted on this occasion.  He will manage to threaten the political authorities later on and they will throw him down a cistern!  As I said before, prophecy is a risky business.  The gospel scripture for today tells the story of the death of John the Baptist who was beheaded because he confronted Herod about Herod's marriage and earned the enmity of Herodias, the lady Herod married.  She had been married to Herod's half-brother.  This makes for great news copy and a gory opera by Strauss (Salome), but the Jewish historian, Josephus, claimed Herod worried that John the Baptist would lead a rebellion.  In any case, prophecy remained a risky business.

     In my pastoral experience on more than one occasion, I have had parishioners come to me about an individual in a parish organization that was causing them some difficulty.  They wanted me to depose someone from office or speak to someone about some behavior.  I would ask them to speak first to the person in question.  They would answer, "Oh no!  He/she would get mad at us!"  This seems hardly comparable to Jeremiah's or John's risk of life and limb, but it is a more mundane example of prophetic opportunity.  In Dominican communities, there can be the attitude, "That's the superior's job!"  No, the prophetic office belongs to all of us and it is meant to be of service not for minor faults and irritations but for the good of the whole community.  Passing the buck will not get the job done.  Yes, the initial reaction may be difficult but ultimately the result can be a matter of life and death.  AMEN