On
Letting the Truth Hurt
Introduction
(the prophetic
commission)
When Lord appoints
Jeremiah to be prophet, he commands him saying, “Gird your loins”(Jer
1:17). The idea is: “Grab the length
of your robe and tuck it up under your belt. And get yourself ready for this
job, because it ain’t going to be any fun.”
What’s the job: in five words, it is: “Stand up and tell’em” (Jer 1:17). Who in their right mind would want a job that sends one forth to “Stand up and tell’em”? Who would want a job that commands one to stand up and “lift up one’s voice like a trumpet, and tell the people their sins” (Is 58:1) Jeremiah was in his right mind; he didn’t want the job. Verse six, not included in the reading, has Jeremiah stuttering when he receives the commission: “And I said, ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold I am a child, and cannot speak” (ch 1:6).
What’s the stuttering all about? It’s all about the
way people treat prophets. They always
try to crush them, but the Lord says to Jeremiah, ”Be not crush on
their account… for I will make you a pillar of iron and a wall of brass” (Jer
1:17-18). What’s the stuttering all about: it’s all about the way people treat
prophets: One day as Jesus was looking over
the city of Jerusalem from some lofty height, he began weeping saying,
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone the messengers sent you. How many times I wanted to gather thee
as the hen doth gather her chicks but you would not let me” (Mt 23:37-39).
Jesus had first hand
experience of the treatment people dish out to prophets. One day he was in his
hometown of Nazareth. Being a Sabbath, he went to the local synagogue where all
the hometown folk were gathered. He rose to do one of the readings. He unrolled
the scroll and read from the prophet
Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the imprisoned, and to
restore sight to the blind” (Lk 4:18-19). Finished reading, he rolled up the
scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Luke writes, "All
eyes in the synagogue were fixed upon him....And all spoke well of him and
marveled at the beautiful words that fell from his lips" or “were
astonished at the gracious words that came from his mouth” (Lk 4: 20-22).
"But then some
became puzzled and found themselves asking, ‘Why, isn't this Joseph's son (Lk
4:22)?’" In Mark the puzzlement is
more drawn out: "From where did he get all this wisdom? How in the world
does he work those miracles of his? Don't we know this guy? Isn't he the
carpenter’s son?? The son of Mary?
Don't his brothers and sisters live right here among us?” I guess what they
were saying is this: “Why, he's a local boy, just one of us and no better than
the rest of us?” Scripture says, “They
found him too much for them." Another translation reads: "And so they
rejected him" (Mk 6:2-3).
At this point Jesus
refers to himself as prophet, and this local boy reminds the local folk that a
prophet never gets good reception in
his own hometown. In fact they fare
much better far away from home. He recalls the examples of Elijah and Elisha:
both left Israel and went to far-off
Gentile lands like Sidon and Syria,
where they were given decent welcome, and where they could exercise
their good services.
At this all hell breaks
lose: the whole congregation became infuriated (not just "put out a bit
" or "dismayed a bit" but "infuriated") Other
translations: “The congregation became "enraged," "insanely
angered." They weren’t satisfied with
simply pouting and stomping out of the synagogue, as some do when the
prophetic word insanely angers them. These people sprang to their feet, grabbed
Jesus by the nape of his neck, dragged him out of town to the brow of the hill
on which it was built, and were going to throw him over the cliff. But he slipped through the crowd and
walked away" (Lk 4: 29-30).
Jesus, a
prophet?
Christians all agree that Christians are supposed to follow Christ. But we don’t agree on the picture of the Christ we are supposed to follow. That picture suffers sizeable differences and even contradictions, not just between Catholics and Baptists or Catholics and Lutherans but especially between Catholics and Catholics. Despite the pretense, we are a divided church. That disagreement among ourselves (about the picture of the Christ we follow) at times is so substantial as to make us wonder whether we really belong to one and the same church. What’s the use of us sitting together in the Sunday assembly, talking about the following of Christ if we don’t have at least the basically same picture of Christ in our minds? The question of picture is really important. It really comes first.
Is Jesus a prophet? Is
that the picture? In Scripture and theology a prophet is not one who foretells
the future but rather one who is bidden by God to “Stand up and tell’em.” Tell them what? Tell them what they want to hear? Or tell them
what they don’t want to hear but need to hear.
Do that, and you infuriate, enrage, insanely anger people. Do that and
you disturb the “peace” (but you don’t disturb the “kiss of peace” because
there isn’t any there in the first place).
Stand up and tell’em that at heart Christian morality is not
sexual moralism, is not legalism, is not orthodoxism, but it is “to bring good new to the poor; to console the
broken-hearted; to proclaim freedom for those unjustly imprisoned; to open the
eyes of the blind; to life up the down
downtrodden.” Stand up and tell’em that, and you make some people very very happy, but at the same time you
infuriate, enrage, insanely anger others, because such morality is totally politically
incorrect.
I received this
letter sometime ago: “Many times during
your homilies, I had to squirm a little in my seat. I was raised in a
conservative working class family in Cincinnati, Ohio. Being of German heritage, I was taught from
my earliest memory to challenge nothing Holy Mother Church teaches; to respect
all persons in positions of authority: teachers, parents, aunts, uncles,
police, government officials, etc. I was taught also to work for what I wanted,
and wait until I had cash to buy it. I was taught that the Lord helps those who
help themselves, and that there is no excuse for being dirty because everyone
can afford soap.
“As I grew older, I was
taught by Notre Dame de Namur nuns in grade school and Jesuits in high school
and college. A theology professor challenged me one day by asking if I really believed what I had said, or was I simply giving the expected answer. It was
then that I realized what being “politically correct” was all about….. Christ
made many politically incorrect statements in his lifetime, and they crucified
him for it. That Jesuit told me something I will never forget: to be
politically incorrect requires a strong faith in God and broad shoulders because the world will kick you until
your down and then kick you again (‘Be
not curshed on their account.’) The
truth hurts. Especially if you’re relatively comfortable in Cedarburg and
Grafton…” (5/23/99). What’s so wonderful about this guy is that he
didn’t hurt the truth; he let the truth hurt him!
<<Stand up and tell’em that
it is impossible to be religious without in some way being political.
Tell them that and you enrage people who prefer religion which “sticks
to religion, and keeps its nose out of politics,” and which lulls them into
lethargy at liturgy, and has them watching their watches, and waiting for the Ite
that send them home in time for the game. >>
If the picture isn’t prophet, then what is it? Is Jesus simply a “nice guy” who tells us what we want to hear; who doesn’t rock the boat; who doesn’t disturb the peace? Read the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew. Through 39 verses, hear and see him lighting a fire upon the earth and disturbing the peace, which really wasn’t the Kiss of Peace.
//“Woe to you teachers of the Law and you
Pharisees, hypocrites! You place
heavy burdens on people’s backs and you don’t lift a finger to give them
support. // Woe to you teachers of the Law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You
prance around in the synagogues with your
widened phylacteries and your long flowing tassels, interested only in
show. //Woe to you teachers of the Law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are
like white-washed tombs that look so nice on the outside but inside are filled with dead people’s bones and rotting matter.
//Woe to you teachers of the Law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are
preoccupied with paying tithes on mint, cumin, and dill, but all the while you
distract yourself from the weightier matters of the Law, like justice, compassion, and honesty
Who speaks that way is not a very “nice guy.” Who
speaks that way is a prophet. Who speaks that way disturbs the peace. Who speaks politically incorrectly only goes
down, never goes up, or simply never goes anywhere. Pope John Paul II recently elevated (i.e. raised up) some thirty
men to the honorary position of cardinal. At first glance there seems not to be
a single prophet among them. And that will make it difficult for a college of
non-prophetic cardinals to chose a prophetic Pope. But nothing is impossible
for God, whose Holy Spirit sometimes tricks people, and lets a prophet slip
through every now and then.
When will we Christians
stop stoning the prophet in Jesus, by turning him into a “nice guy,”
always politically correct, and therefore always harmless and irrelevant?
That’s makes the cross of Christ quite incomprehensible, because nice guys die
peacefully in bed and not violently upon a cross.
When will we stop stoning
the prophet in us, calling us to ”stand up and tell’em”?
Is there something we should be
telling someone (especially a loved one),
and we are not telling it?
When will we stop stoning the prophets and start giving them positive welcome, not “stomping out” but hearing them out, and thanking them for telling us what we need to hear? That's a priceless ministry. While it takes great courage to be a prophet (the commission makes us stutter), it also takes great courage to receive a prophet. That's why Jesus said one day, "Whoever gives welcome to a prophet in my name shall receive the reward of a prophet" (Mt 10:41).