A prophet, or a prophetess, is an individual regarded as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. The mission of a prophet is to communicate God’s will to His people. This mission is not measured by popularity or acceptance but by faithfulness to God’s message. A true prophet proclaims the divine will regardless of whether the message is received or rejected. In today’s Gospel reading from Mark, we see that the people in Jesus’ hometown did not accept Him as a prophet because of their lack of faith (Mark 6:1-6). Despite His wisdom and miraculous works, they were unable to see beyond their familiarity with Him as the carpenter, the son of Mary.
Throughout history, God has communicated with humanity in various ways, including voices, visions, and extraordinary phenomena like the burning bush. Ultimately, God spoke to us through His Son. As the Letter to the Hebrews states, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
Indeed, Jesus is God’s glory, the exact imprint of God’s very being, the Word of God that became flesh and lived among us, the ‘Emmanuel’ – God with us. In Jesus, God humbled Himself to speak to us directly, live among us as one of us, teach us wisdom as our Head, die for us as Savior, and rise again from the dead for our sake. This assures us that God always keeps His promises that He had spoken through His prophets and ambassadors. In Jesus Christ, God has come in person not to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).
Today, we are reminded that everyone who has been baptized and knows the Word of God is also a prophet. As foretold by the prophet Joel, “I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28-29). So, let us remember our noble prophetic mission entrusted to us by God: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18).
Fr. Tien Cao
