13th Sunday Year A - Homily 3

Homily 3 - 2020

Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a prophets’ reward. What is a prophet’s reward? During the week when talking to a friend, she promptly answered with a wry smile, “Wasn’t it to get killed”? Could be! But here, Jesus was talking of something else. Prophets particularly seem to be those who have deep insight into God and God’s ways — people who see the world through the eyes of God and criticise or encourage accordingly.

What does that say of one who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet? Notice two things Jesus said: who welcomes the prophet, and precisely because he is a prophet. What does that say about the welcomer? To me, welcoming would indicate attraction to what is special about prophets — perhaps their closeness to God that enables them to see the world through God’s eyes, and their courage to criticise or encourage what they see.

What then might be the prophet’s reward that the welcomer receives from God? God can give only love, because that is all God is. And God has only one level of love — and that is infinite and unconditional. However … because we humans are finite, our receptivity necessarily limits and shapes the form that God’s love takes in us. The prophet’s reward, then, might be something along the line of God’s nourishing the welcomer’s thirst to draw closer to God and to see the world through God’s eyes and to respond to it accordingly.

This brings us back to my friend’s earlier comment. Is there a cost? Certainly, Jesus said: “… Those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” That is not threat — but promise.