Homily (2) 14th Sunday of ordinary season year B:
Fr.Michael Ufok Udoekpo
Readings: Ezekiel 2:2-5;Ps 123:1-4; 2 Cor 12:7-10 and Mark
6:1-6
Mission and Challenges of a Prophet
The Bible readings of today speak of the challenges that
faces a true prophet. First of all a true prophet does not send himself. He is sent
by God. He does not speak on his behalf but on behalf of the one who sent. He or she is brave, courageous, truthful, and remains
the conscience of his or her society, people and next door neighbor. Secondly,
a prophet is human, and could even be weak in eloquence and stature. Besides human weaknesses, he could be
rejected by those he, or she is sent to evangelize. Thirdly, there may be many
other forms of hardships and sufferings, a prophet must have to endure in the
course of fulfilling his or her ministry.
In the case Ezekiel’s
ministry captured in today’s first reading, he was sent as a human prophet to
preach to the rebellious Israelites. His
prophetic humanity is made clear repeatedly in the entire book of Ezekiel where
he is constantly addressed by God, as ‘the son of man” or “mortal,” about 93 times. That
Ezekiel knew that he was human, mortal, son of man, imperfect helped him relied totally on the
grace of God in his prophecy of hope and change of heart to the exiled
community of Israel in Babylon.
In the Gospel reading (Mark 6:1-6) , Jesus also called
himself a prophet. Having been insulted and rejected in his home town of
Nazareth, Jesus said to himself, “a prophet is not without honor except in his
native place among his own kin and his own house.” By calling himself a prophet
Jesus recognizes his father who sent him to do his will: baptize the
unbaptized, forgive sinners, teach courageously in the synagogue and healed the
sick without charge. By calling himself a prophet, in the likes of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and other
Israel’s prophet, Jesus recognizes that human honor was immaterial to the
mission that his father had sent him. In spite of his hardships that span through the garden of
Gethsameni and via delorosa and even to the cross(which we relived this afternoon
in the Holy Land), the spirit of the
Lord was upon him (Luke 4:18), as he walked his way heroically to the calvary!
Saint Paul in his
mission to the Church in Corinth understood these challenges. In the 2nd
reading Paul says, “a thorn in the flesh was given to me, to keep me from been
too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect
in weakness.” Throughout his missionary journeys, Paul, like Ezekiel, and
Christ endured insults, hardships, rejections, persecutions, constraints and
dishonor, for the sake of Christ.
How many of us today in our various places of ministries first
of all would be humble to recognize that we are human, weak and vunerable? How
many realizes that they are mere messengers, mortals, sons and daughters of
men, like the prophets Ezekiel, or instruments in God’s hands? Does dishonors, insults, persecutions and
hardships, challenges stopped us from doing
the good that must be done(love our neighbors, be charitable and forgiving), or from preaching the gospel that needs be preached?
Taking Ezekiel, Saint
Paul and Christ our prophet as our prophetical models of depature, may we recognize that there is that hidden divine strength
in a every seeming human weaknesses and dishonor we may face in the course of
doing good, evangelizing,or in the course of being faithfully and truly prophetic to our
neighbors.
