Word to the Wise
Monday, March 21, 2022 - 3rd Week of Lent - Mon
[2 Kgs 5:1-15a and Luke 4:24-30]"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the Land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only the Naaman the Syrian." [Luke]
It is the fate of prophetic figures to suffer rejection. Sometimes the rejection can be violent and even lethal. The rejection really stings when it comes from the people who think they know you best. The passage quoted above is from today's gospel scripture in which Jesus returns to his hometown after beginning his public ministry. He is welcomed until he reads a section from Isaiah about the Suffering Servant (The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me......Isaiah 61:1), and then says simply, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!" Uh oh! How dare this guy who grew up here claim to be the messiah!!! They ran him out of town. Jesus would experience rejection even from his own family! They thought he was crazy. [cf. Mark 3:21].
The role of the prophet is to "tell it like it is!" He or she confronts us with the gap between faith and practice and calls us to close it by moving practice back to faith, not the other way around. It is very easy to find ways to rationalize our faith so that it doesn't interfere with secular social, cultural and political practices. "Guilt" is a very uncomfortable (but very necessary) feeling and prophets have a way of making us feel guilty. When a collective sense of guilt develops, an entire society can reject right ways and embrace practices and laws that oppress whatever is making it feel guilty.
A prophet can be a highly public figure like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, or simply a personal friend. Jesus has many ways of confronting us personally or collectively with our lack of faith or our cultural, social or political practices. Lent is a good time to take a look at these and see what needs to be changed! Rejecting the prophet changes nothing. AMEN