THE CALL TO BE A PROPHET

IV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19

In this Sunday’s liturgy, we are presented with the calling of Jeremiah to be a prophet. He was still a young lad, when he heard the call of the Lord, and  like all the prophets he gave an excuse, a very plausible one: I am only a boy, I do not know how to speak.

However, when God calls, there are no excuses, because he will be the source of strength and knowledge. He will put his words in our mouths and we ourselves will be surprised of what we say and how we say it.

It is not easy to be a prophet. You have to stand up and speak out, proclaiming, denouncing and challenging. The prophet is always someone who sees into the future with hope and analyses the present in function of that vision, given to him by the Lord. He is never a conformist or a man of the status quo, satisfied with himself or with the society in which he lives. He calls for change, denouncing the shortcomings and the failures of the people with whom he lives. He looks at everything with the eyes of God and sees everything in reference to God. For him, God’s word is the standard by which he measures everything. He does not care about the politically correct, but about faithfulness to God’s word. That’s why a prophet enters into conflict with the leaders of the people, be they religious or political.

We can see all that in Jeremiah. While still a boy, God called him, and he was full of enthusiasm, because he felt God’s love burning in his heart. However, he went through a lot of difficulties, with the powerful turning against him and denouncing him as traitor to the nation. He was persecuted, thrown into prison and threatened with death. And Jeremiah complained to God, thinking even of giving up and turn his back on God’s call, but he had experienced the love of God in so deep a way that he couldn’t do it. And the reassuring word of God came to him:

They will fight against you

but shall not overcome you,

for I am with you to deliver you –

it is the Lord who speaks.

As we look at Jeremiah, it is good to remember Paul and the sufferings he went through because of the proclamation of the Gospel. He also had experienced the deep love of God, and in that love he felt the strength to go on and to be faithful to the end.

Filled with that deep experience of God’s love, he could write about love:

 If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, 

but speak without love, 

I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. 

If I have the gift of prophecy, 

understanding all the mysteries there are, 

and knowing everything, 

and if I have faith in all its fullness, 

to move mountains, 

but without love, 

then I am nothing at all. 

If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, 

and if I even let them take my body to burn it, 

but am without love, 

it will do me no good whatever.

Love is always patient and kind; 

it is never jealous;
love is never boastful or conceited; 

it is never rude or selfish; 

it does not take offence, 

and is not resentful. 

Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins 

but delights in the truth; 

it is always ready to excuse, 

to trust, to hope, 

and to endure whatever comes.

Love does not come to an end. 

1 Co 13: 1-8