YOU COULD LOSE YOUR HEAD

John the Baptist's Head on a Platter 
Delivered, As Promised, by King Herod

When John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees,

he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned

you to flee from the coming wrath?”

Matthew 3:1-12

Today, we hear about the prophet John the Baptist. When people hear the word “prophet,” they tend to think of people who specialize in predicting the future – almost like “fortune tellers.” Yes, prophets can predict the future sometimes, but they are mainly people who can see clearly what is going on in the present that people try not to look at or admit to.  

A “prophet” is really a person of “insight,” more than “foresight.” When prophets” are rejected, run out of town and even killed, it’s not because they predict the future, nearly as much as because they have the guts to point out the truth right under people’s noses, because they make people look at some truth that they would just as soon not look at!  “Prophets” get on people’s nerves because they stir up the dust, rock the boat and refuse to let sleeping dogs lie. “Prophets” will not leave “well enough” alone. They call us to be better than we are. They hold us to our commitments. They shake us awake. They will not let us cover our eyes or go blind to what’s really happening right there in front of us!

The opposites of “prophets” are what we now call “enablers,” people who are always telling us, “Don’t look! Don’t see! You might have to do something about it!”  If we were on the Titanic. They would be the people who would go up and down the hallways of an obviously sinking ship telling people “Don’t panic! It’s only a leak!” These are the people who try to make us feel good, rather than face the music. They try to make it easy for us to believe that we are incapable of doing any better than that what we are doing now. They encourage us to give into our laziest inclinations. Instead of shaking us awake, they rock us to sleep. These people try to shut “prophets” down for being “too negative,” no matter how badly things may be falling apart.  Yes, instead of shaking us awake, as prophets do, enablers rock us to sleep.       

I have been called a “prophet” more than once by members of our local body of priests. I don’t know if being called a “prophet” one or two times really qualifies me for actually being a “prophet,” but for years I have loudly preached the message that we priests need to “to wake up and smell the coffee” because things around us have changed radically while we keep repeating the same old ways of doing things. My reward for my unrelenting message has been an unspoken challenge that I should take my message somewhere else! I finally took the hint and hit the road! The farther away from home I got, the better the reception I got for my ideas. Over the last twenty years, I have delivered my message to bishops and priests in 150 dioceses in 10 countries with enough success to be invited back a second time to places like Toronto, Saginaw, Crookston, London (Ontario) and Beaumont (Texas). Several bishops have thanked me after they have heard my message, saying that I had said many things they have wanted to say to their priests but were afraid to!  Several thousand priests have bought my little book on building the unity of priests with their bishops and I have had many articles published that challenge priests to be all that they can be! At home, I have been ignored, basically. As Jesus said, “A prophet is never accepted in his own country!” I am OK with being ignored, I just don’t want my head cut off, so I try more and more to keep my mouth shut at home!

I have been begged by Bishop County down in the island country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where I have been volunteering since I retired, to lead a workshop on “diocesan revitalization” in March for the clergy, religious and lay leaders of the diocese. So far, I have resisted because I think I know what needs to be said, but I am not sure they really want to really hear it. What they are asking for is a “prophet” to come speak to them. Prophets name the problems, rub people’s noses in their self-defeating behaviors and do not let them off the hook with weak excuses. I have a graduate degree in “parish revitalization” and I have learned a long time ago that church people often say they want to see things change, but they usually want it without themselves personally ever having to change.  I love the people of SVG, but I am still reluctant to deliver my message. So far, I have written 125 pages of things I propose to say to them. After 12 trips down there and five years of working with them from here, I have no idea how many of them will receive the insights that I am prepared to share with them. Some of them may have already dismissed me as just another out-of-town “American expert,” who doesn’t have the foggiest idea what the real situation is in the Caribbean. The bishop has told me that he and some of his priests and diocesan leaders are eager to hear some straight talk from a priest who sees that they can do better if they would only rise above a sense of hopelessness and some self-limiting behaviors so as to seize the many wonderful opportunities within their reach!   

I am reluctant to lead this workshop because I know that naming problems and dragging the truth out into the light of day could, in the long run, lead to some improvements for them, but also lead to some painful rejection for me in the short run.  If they take the message to heart, I believe they could, in time, move from good to great. Between now and March, I need to decide whether this is a risk I really want to take. If I do it, I hope they will understand that people who tell them what they want to hear are not necessarily their friends and people who tell them what they don’t want to hear are not necessarily their enemies. For that reason, courage is needed from prophets who are called to speak, but courage is also needed from those who are called to listen to them.   

Now I have some questions for you! How do you accept the words of everyday “prophets” in your life? Maybe you’ve been told you are drinking too much. Maybe you have been told that you need to go to the doctor to have a medical problem checked that you have been ignoring. Maybe you’ve been told by someone that the way you treat people is too sharp and mean spirited. Maybe you’ve been told by the people you love that you need to quit smoking or to lose weight. Maybe you’ve been confronted by your friends about your adultery, petty theft or lying. Maybe you’ve been confronted by a family member for your gambling or wasteful spending, for setting a bad example for the young, for texting while driving or for your abusive and crude language?

Because the truth hurts, did you react by “killing the messenger” with an angry outburst, with punishing silence or some form of vindictive sabotage? Maybe that person who told you something you did not want to hear was really doing you a favor by jarring you awake? Remember this! People who tell you what you want to hear are not necessarily your friends and people who tell you what you don’t want to hear and not necessarily your enemies! 
That's what prophets do - they name the elephant in the room and let the chips fall where they may!