Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 5, 2015

            We’re all familiar with the story – the Israelites spent hundreds of years as slaves in Egypt until Moses led them out, across the Red Sea, and into the Promised Land. But things were not as promised – because the Israelites were given strict instructions to follow the Law that Moses received on Mount Siaini – basically the Ten Commandments. They would only live in peace if they obeyed God’s laws.

            But the temptation was too strong to act just like the surrounding pagan nations. So Israel started to worship false gods, and forsake the Law. They intermarried with the pagan kingdoms and basically lost their Jewish heritage.

            So God allowed these pagan peoples to oppress the Jews, so that they would repent and return to the Lord. But instead of repenting, they asked God for a king to save them from their oppressors. God was reluctant to do so, because He was supposed to be their only King. If they had followed His law, they would not need another ruler. But He granted their request, and raised up King Saul, then David, then Solomon.

            Solomon’s two sons both claimed the Kingship, so the kingdom was divided, and subsequent kings were, for the most part, wicked men who continued to wage wars and worship false gods. These men were leading Israel into ruin, as the Jews were acting just like the surrounding culture.

            So God raised up prophets to draw people’s attention back to God. Elijah the prophet was one such man, raised up by the Lord. Of course Elijah was rejected frequently for his message of turning back to the Lord, just as Jesus was in today’s Gospel. Yet he was steadfast in his mission – in today’s first reading, we see Elijah passing on the torch to a younger man, Elisha, who would be the prophet to take over for him once he died.

            The role of prophet was critical in the Old Testament. Prophets were NOT future-tellers; rather, they simply told the Israelites what the consequences would be if they did not turn back to the Lord. So, since no one likes to hear bad news, prophets were often silenced, sometimes violently.

            Jesus also shared this prophetic role. He shook people up by His message, and for this reason was unwelcome in places where people were pretty comfortable with the status quo, like in today’s Gospel. But Jesus nevertheless urged and pleaded for the peoples’ repentance, because He knew that they would only find joy and peace if they turned back to the Lord.

            Ya know, twenty-first century Christians aren’t much different than the ancient Israelites. Just as the Israelites started to act like the surrounding pagan nations, so often we try to blend in to the general culture, trying not to make waves, and we worship the same gods as the surrounding culture does – the gods of consumerism, the god of sports, the Almighty Dollar, the god of public opinion. We’re nicer to our prophets, for sure – people like Pope Francis or maybe people in our life who are trying to lead us into a deeper friendship with Jesus Christ – but on the whole we kind of dismiss their message.

            But we as Christians are supposed to be prophets to the world. When we are baptized, we are baptized priest, PROPHET, and king. This means that Christians can’t blend in to the modern culture – we must, at times, stand out! And to stand out means to take a stand, dare to be different. For example, if all of our friends are watching a certain TV show that’s pretty filthy – something like “Big Brother” or something like that – are we willing to simply not watch it? Perhaps people will think we’re weird, or out-of-touch. So what? If we just simply “blend in,” then we’re not very good Christians. Or what if enough Christians just plain told their child’s sports coach that, no, we will NOT go to practices and games on Sunday mornings because that’s the time for Mass? If enough Christians had the guts to say that, then they would be forced to respect Sunday mornings as a time for worship.

            Our biggest flaw as Christians is simply blending in. Christians are supposed to be prophets to the culture, not so saturated with the culture that we are indistinguishable from it. Prophets think with the mind of Christ, not with the mind of the culture. Prophets follow and point out to others the way to life, while the culture just leads to emptiness, ultimately. Prophets dare to be different, because they aren’t living for this world but for the next. Are you a prophet, or just another copycat of the culture?