GOD'S SUFFICIENT GRACE FOR THE PROPHET

SUNDAY, FOURTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

Ezek 2:2-5; Ps 123; 2 Cor 12:7-10; Mk 6:1-6

My Grace is Sufficient for You

By our baptism, God called us to share in the three offices or roles of our Lord Jesus Christ: as a priest, a prophet, and a king. The readings we have this Sunday talk about the prophet. Since our Lord Jesus Christ is himself the archetype of prophethood, we draw our consideration of the identity of a prophet and his role in the people's relationship with God from the gospel. The passage tells us that Jesus came to his town with his disciples. The prophet of God is usually not a foreigner to the people, but he is called from the people by God and given a message for them. The prophet is known to the people to whom God sent him to proclaim the message of God. Thus, our role as prophets will be for those in our families, villages, schools, offices, etc. God called us and sent us to proclaim the message of the Gospel to people familiar with our way of life. This is the most difficult part of the job of a prophet. Our Lord faced the same difficulty. “They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’ And they would not accept him.” Their knowledge of him made them refuse to believe in him and his word.

Similar to the difficulty Jesus faced with his people, our hardest task as prophets would be to preach to those of our households and acquaintances. Our preaching to our families and friends need not be in words but mainly in deeds. We must live the gospel before them daily, and they will be convinced of our authenticity by the love of God we have for them. This implies that our testimony to friends and family will bear fruits only when we have truly died to ourselves and live true to the word of God we have heard. “A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his relations, and in his own house.’ Our fallen human nature is generally rebellious to the will of God; we are wont to reject the word of God when proclaimed to us, especially by those we know too well to be not better than us. This knowledge of our past life before the people God sent us to proclaim the word of God makes us develop cold feet for the mission God entrusts to us. Hence, God often coerces us by his Spirit to do what He asked us to do. The prophet Ezekiel was no exception to this challenge. “The spirit came into me and made me stand up, and I heard the Lord speaking to me. He said, ‘Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to the rebels who have turned against me.” The word of God is, therefore, first addressed to the prophet. The first job the word does in us is to break our resistance, for we all share the rebellious nature with the people he sent us to proclaim his will.

The first mission of the word of God is to the prophet, to break him and mould him into a useful tool in the hand of God. To the extent we are successfully broken and moulded into a perfect receptacle for the word of God, we will accomplish our mission as prophets. The breaking and moulding of the prophet are what Paul testifies to in the second reading. “In view of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud! About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me, but he has said, ‘My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.’” The power of the word of God can only shine out in our lives when we are dead to ourselves. The word of God we receive daily has many mysteries embedded in it. As these mysteries of Christ are unveiled for us, God puts a cross on us to hold ourselves in check.

As in the case of Paul, God does not answer our prayer for the cross to be lifted from us, but our loving Father sends his graces and consolations with the crosses. As the prophet carries this cross placed on him to saddle the proud self, he would ordinarily think that what he is suffering hinders the proclamation of the word of God. But this is not the case, for the word of God is proclaimed more by deed than mere words. Our faithful carrying of the cross before the people transmits the redemptive power of the word through the Holy Spirit in union with our spirit to the people for their salvation. The working of these mysteries of Jesus Christ is exemplified in our Lord’s life and passion. “I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.” In our agonies, pain, weaknesses, insults, etc, our prayer becomes that of Jesus Christ soliciting for the salvation of rebellious souls.

Let us pray: O God, who in the abasement of your Son have raised up a fallen world, fill your faithful with holy joy, and grace to know that you have rescued us from slavery to sin and bestowed eternal gladness on us even amidst our present slight sufferings and pains.