Homily for Saturday, 28 March 2015‒ Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Readings of the day: Ezekiel 37:21-28; Responsorial Canticle: Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13; John 11:45-56

Who are prophets among us today, those whom we recognize and those whom we do not recognize?

Our Gospel reading today from John presents us with an unlikely prophet: The high priest Caiaphas. How many of us are thinking, “Caiaphas, a prophet, really? Does Caiaphas not contribute to the evil that results in Jesus’ death?”

Indeed Caiaphas contributes to Jesus’ death, but he speaks some of the most prophetic words in John’s Gospel to the Sanhedrin, the governing body of Jewish religious authorities in Jesus’ time. Caiaphas says: “You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” John explains that Caiaphas prophesies Jesus’ death “not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.”

Let us put John’s explanation here into historical context: By the time of Jesus, the people of Israel had a long history of failing to listen to prophets. True prophets like Ezekiel, whom we have heard in our first reading today, and Jeremiah, whom we have heard in our Responsorial Canticle, were ignored, persecuted, or even killed for doing exactly what Jesus did: Trying to gather Israel, God’s chosen people, into one nation. Because these true prophets were ignored and prosecuted, the people of Israel suffered periods of exile and occupation by neighboring nations.

Ironically, precisely because most religious authorities ignored and then planned to kill Jesus, Caiaphas’ prophecy that Jesus was the one “to gather into one the dispersed children of God” by his death came true; is still coming true today. We are a people being gathered together under Christ our Lord.

Who are the prophets today who signal our being gathered together as one people; as God’s people? Who are the unrecognized; unheralded prophets among us? Can we think of anybody today who, like the high priest Caiaphas, is disagreeable or even wicked, but who occasionally speaks profound words of truth, even unintentionally: Words that unite; words that examine our motivations; words that might expose some of our own sin; our own need for repentance?

Who are the Caiaphas figures of our time? Does it not take more discernment; more effort on our part to find the grain of truth that a false prophet like Caiaphas speaks, and to live this truth for our own good? This it does, and yet this is the calling to us through the Word of God today: To discern prophecy; to discern truth even from the unlikeliest of sources. The dull, those of weak faith, the disagreeable, and even the wicked are sometimes as much instruments of God as the strong, true, and faithful prophets to do God’s work: To gather us together as one people under Christ our Lord.

Homily for Wednesday, 25 June 2014– Ferial

Wednesday of the 12th week in Ordinary Time 

Readings of the day: 2 Kings 22:8-13, 23:1-3; Psalm 119:34, 35, 36, 37, 40; Matthew 7:15-20

Do any of us remember a great teacher; someone who continues to have an influence in our lives? I can think of several excellent teachers I had growing up: Teachers who explained difficult concepts clearly; teachers who were stern or gentle with me when I needed sternness or gentleness; teachers I admired for their sense of humor; teachers with memorable catch phrases or rhetorical style…

The Gospel of Matthew, particularly our Gospel reading today, presents Jesus as a great teacher. Jesus is remembered for phrases still commonly used, even outside of Scripture, for instance “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Jesus uses contrasts like a “good tree” that always bears “good fruit” versus a “rotten tree” that “bears bad fruit” to clarify more complex concepts like discernment of true from false prophets. Jesus uses rhetorical questions that, I am sure, were originally humorous if not mildly sarcastic: “Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles”? Jesus’ hearers’ response to these questions would have been an emphatic “No,” perhaps with a few laughs added as if to say, “Of course not!”

Amid Jesus’ clear explanations, memorable phrases, rhetorical questions, and even humor, though, is a serious message: There are many true prophets who lead us toward God and, in Jesus’ time as in ours, there are a few false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing who behave as though they are gods and so lead us away from the truth; away from God. For the false prophet, the message they preach is not about God but about them.

Good fruit from bad fruit or wolves in sheep’s clothing are not always easy to discern, but this kind of discernment is possible with prayer and sometimes with experiences of failure; of our own naïveté.

In the national parks of the Rocky Mountains a few hours’ drive from my native city, Edmonton, there are repeated signs warning tourists not to feed the bears. One of my favorite t-shirts from this park’s tourist shops shows a bear standing beside a sign that reads, “Do not feed the bears.” The bear wears moose antlers on his head and holds a sign that says “I am not a bear. Trust me.”

Wolves in sheep’s clothing do not usually carry signs that read, “I am not a wolf. Trust me.” And yet Jesus teaches that we can know true prophets from false prophets; true sheep from wolves in sheep’s clothing “by their fruits.” We can know true prophets; shepherds; teachers by how authentically they speak for the Good Shepherd; Christ the Teacher instead of presenting personal whims, opinions, or social trends as truth.

For a true prophet or a great teacher of our faith, “it’s not about me” but ultimately about God. And so we pray to be able to discern true from false teachers and prophets; to discern the presence of the Teacher, Jesus Christ, among us, especially when this discernment is not easy.