You Are Called To Be A Prophet

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Corcoran, MN

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Amos is not one of the well known prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. He is one of the Minor Prophets, meaning that his prophetic writing is shorter than that of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. But Amos is a very important figure. Historically speaking, he is the oldest of these written prophets in the Bible. He flourished in the 8th century BC, that is a couple centuries after King David, but a couple of centuries before Ezekiel and Jeremiah. He is the first and the earliest prophet we have in the Bible. We know almost nothing about him personally. Today’s First Reading is about Amaziah, the priest of Bethel’s confrontation with Amos. Prophets usually say disturbing things, and Amos is saying disturbing things about the nation of Israel. So, Amaziah confronts him and orders him to run and return to his village where he came from. In his chastisement of Amos, he accuses him of conspiring against King Jeroboam. He calls Amos “chozeh” which means a seer or visionary or prophet. But the manner he used it is derogatory and insulting in nature. He is accusing Amos of being a prophet for hire and a foreigner as well. But Amos counters him and said, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged  to a company of prophet, I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.” Amos is basically saying to the priest, look, I was not a priest, I was not a professional prophet, I was not formally trained in religious business, rather a keeper of sycamore and a shepherd. I was an ordinary working man before I got a call from God to speak God’s saving and challenging word. What is it that Amos was called to speak? 

It was the great German philosopher, Karl Jasper, who made the connection long ago between philosophers who arose in Greece and prophets who arose in Israel. What do they have in common? Both the philosophers in Greece and prophets in Israel are very critical of the received religion of their time. The philosophers did it with their rational language; they critiqued the mythology of their time, while the prophets of Israel did it, not so much with the philosophical language, but with the fiery language they claim is from God: “Thus said the Lord…” With that phrase, they spoke against the religious and political power establishment of their time. The words of prophets are often very revolutionary. In the course of history prior to the time of the prophets, what people had was praise of government, praise of the king, praise of the social establishment. That’s what was common. There were some religious figures who would justify the ways of the king and the ways of the ruling class. Then there were prophets. And Amos is the first person we know about. Within his religious tradition, he sharply criticizes the establishment, the king, and the ruling class. What is the focus of his criticism? Social injustice! He blasts the nation of Israel for abandoning the law of God. He says that the heart of the law, the law of Yahweh going to back to the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and so on comes down to our compassion for the poor, the neglected, the widow, the orphaned, and the needy. For Amos, the criterion, the test, how we are going to be judged is how we love the neediest members of the society. He insists that everything else in the law like liturgy, ritual, social practice etc is meant to lead us to this point where we become better in caring for the neediest among us. Whenever anyone perceives that the heart of religion is compassion, they are standing in the tradition that goes right back to this prophetic figure— Amos. 

Now, what does this intuition for social justice lead people to do? It leads someone to criticize the power of establishment. It leads one to say some very harsh things about those who in someway perpetuate social injustice. Amos is not a diplomat. One thing you will never find in Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc. is diplomatic sensibility. Never! They are enraptured with deep unconditioned passion to set things right and it leads them to say very strong things. Critiquing the wealthy women of Samaria, Amos said, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who live on the mount of Samaria: who oppress the destitute, abuse the needy; who say to your husbands, ‘Bring us a drink!’ The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: Truly, days are coming upon you when they shall drag you away with ropes, your children with fishhooks” (Amos 4:1-2). Amos is not trying to win friends with influential people. His passion for the poor, the needy, the homeless and the neglected is what drives him! If you go back to the Greek philosophers, you won’t find this kind of language, someone like Socrates may talk about taking care of the needy, but he would never make it the center of the enterprise as Amos does. If we feel in our bones that this is what religious and moral life is about, we are being influenced by this prophetic tradition. Prophets Amos is not critiquing wealth itself, rather the indifference to the poor. He is warning the wealthy who indulge themselves while being indifferent to those who gather at their doorsteps— the hungry, the jobless, the needy with no physical comforts that Yahweh sees everything, that Yahweh does not forget, and that Yahweh will set things right. To them he says, “Woe to you!” 

We have a just God who wants to set things right! The voice of Amos continues to echo up to all the prophets and in that great figure who happily claims for himself the title of a prophet— Jesus. Today’s Gospel tells us that he summons the Twelve, sends them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He has come to set things right, to set humanity free from all shackles of moral, spiritual and economic slavery. He wants his disciples to be about setting people free. He is not interested in the master-slave dynamic of this world that enslaves and holds people down. He also instructs them to take nothing for the journey— no food, no sack, no money etc. The prohibition highlights the urgency of the mission. There should be no distraction. The “fierce urgency of now” is to proclaim “The kingdom of God is at hand.” The reign of God is here. Like the Twelve, each of us by the virtue of our baptism is also called to be a prophet and an evangelist. We are summoned, baptized and commissioned to announce the Word of God by words and by the very actions of our lives. Don’t let any worldly goods or desire distract you from this mission. If you notice a deliberate suppression, oppression, repression and mistreatment of another person anywhere, especially where you live and work and worship, speak up like Amos. Speak up like Jesus. That’s what the Lord calls us to do. You are called to be a prophet!