Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
We tend to give credence to people who have an established track record in a given area, either personally or by association (family, community, guild, school, etc.). If this were not the case, we would not see people proudly advertise that their community had been involved in a particular activity for a certain number of decades or centuries, or that their family had been a member of such and such church or organization for so many generations, and so on. People naturally intuit that our belonging, directly or by association, to a certain reality for an extended period of time gives us the right to speak more authoritatively about that reality. This extends even to the Church: how much more weight we give to people who have simply “been there” for many years. This is not a bad thing. In many cases we are right to turn to such people for wisdom and guidance when we face the future.
Nonetheless, God often raises the greatest of the prophets to proclaim the most profound truths without the authority that would come from any obvious “natural” association that would cause others to give credence to their claim. Their authority comes, not from blood or human respect, but from God, and only those who discern the spirits can properly recognize the work of God in this person, who often seems like a troublemaker to the establishment folks. This was the case for Amos, who goes out of his way to highlight his utter lack of qualification for the task that God called him to: “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel!’” (Amos 7). Jesus also seemed to be one who had no human qualifications that would allow him to credibly proclaim the forgiveness of sins (Mt 9). And so, those who were in the synagogue before Jesus arrived judge him. But Jesus calls these thoughts out for what they are: “evil thoughts” (Mt 9:4). So often, we too judge and reject those whom God sends to renew our churches and communities because they do not have the right credentials or “have not put in the time here.” But if that is the case, then let us ask God to reveal to us our hardness of heart in our daily Examens so that we might let God’s grace reform our evil thoughts and help us be open to the “new thing” that the Lord wishes to work in our midst.