Saints of God…
…the Lord be with you!
If there is a consistent theme in all three of today’s readings, it is the role of a prophet and how a prophet is treated. In today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (38; 4-6, 8-10) we read that Jeremiah is thrown into a muddy cistern because his message is “demoralizing the soldiers…and all the people.”
In the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews (12: 1-4) the author reminds his readers that “Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame…and endured such opposition from sinners.”
Today’s Gospel according to Luke (12: 49-53) has Jesus saying that He has come to set the world on fire and that He has come to create division. This is not an easy Gospel, and the question must be asked, “Where is the Good News in this?”
For me, the good news is found in the implicit idea of choice. We are free to choose to live the false sense of peace and security that the world and its values give, or we can freely choose to live empowered by the Holy Spirit, in imitation of Christ and His values. “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” Love, not judgement; Love, not apathy; Love, not selfishness; Love, not revenge; Love, not cruelty. You get the idea. Yet this choosing to Love above all else will at some point, put us in opposition with others. As the World War II Lutheran martyr Deitrich Bonhoeffer put it, “Grace is free, but is not cheap.” In the end, grace has a price.
Tradition has it that Jeremiah was stoned to death, the prophet Isaiah was sawn in two, Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging, Jesus was crucified. Yet as people of faith we know that death is not the end. The letter to the Hebrews reminds us that “we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses” so we are encouraged to “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfector of faith.” So, no matter what the circumstances, let us all be prophets (as we are by our Baptism) and prophetically live our faith, using words only if we must.
– Fr. Steve
