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!
